Abstract

In order to highlight the significance of the book I'm reviewing here, let me recount a recent academic experience: A conference on the Zhuangzi is hosted by a leading scholar in the field with the sponsorship of a major university in mainland China. Several prominent scholars present papers focusing on various different passages of the text. The addresses cover the mystical, the performative, the epistemological, the ethical and several other facets of Zhuangzian thought. Yet one topic is conspicuous by its absence: the political. Not a single paper addresses this matter. Romain Graziani's book effectively rectifies this situation by perceptively showing how Zhuangzian thought ran counter to many of the political...