Manipular y persuadir en la antigua China: El Guiguzi. Traducción del capítulo 9

Abstract

In this paper we introduce the book that, not uncontroversially, has been dubbed “China's first treatise on rhetoric”: the Guiguzi. There is no Spanish translation of it as yet. It is attributed to a thinker and teacher who lived around mid-4th Century B.C., during the final stage of Chinese Classicism (Warring States). Until recently, the book has been marginalized, considered dangerous and traditionally excluded from canonical collections. Its idea of rhetorical efficacy has been linked to that of “manipulation” by sinologists such as François Jullien, who has used the expression “anti-rhetoric” to define its content. Its pecularities, such as the emphasis in listening and psychological insight, can be properly understood in the defensive context derived from the physical danger in which the suasor in Classical China incurs. As a contribution for the book to be known, we offer our translation of chapter 9, the first one in Spanish.

Keywords

• Ancient Chinese Rhetoric
• Guiguzi
• Manipulation
• Persuasion
• Translation