Fa yan

Fa yan

Author	Yang Xiong
Original title	法言
Country	China
Language	Classical Chinese
Genre	Philosophy
Publication date	c. AD 9

Fa yan
Chinese	法言
Literal meaning	"Exemplary Sayings"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fǎ yán Wade–Giles Fa3 yen2 IPA [fà i̯ɛ̌n] Gwoyeu Romatzyh Faa yan Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Faat3 jin4 Yale Romanization Faat yìhn Southern Min Tâi-lô Huat giân Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Pjop ngjon

The Fa yan (Chinese: 法言), or "Exemplary Sayings", is an ancient Chinese text by the Han dynasty writer and poet Yang Xiong comprising a collection of dialogues and aphorisms in which Yang gives responses to a wide variety of questions relating to philosophy, politics, literature, ethics, and scholarship. Completed around AD 9, the Fa yan was meant to counter the ideas of the "syncretic" philosophical school, which Yang believed was contrary to the orthodox teachings of Confucianism and the ancient Chinese sages, and is deliberately modeled on the Analects of Confucius (Lunyu 論語).

The text of the Fa yan is divided into 13 chapters, and is presented in the form of dialogues between Yang and an anonymous interlocutor who asks him questions, to which Yang responds with terse, authoritative pronouncements—following Confucius' style in the Analects—that rely more on wit and puns than on logical exposition.

Translations

• (German) von Zach, Erwin (1939). Yang Hsiungs Fa-yen (Worte strenger Ermahnung) [Yang Xiong's Fa-yen (Words of Strict Admonition)]. Sinologische Beitrage IV.1. Batavia.
• (Japanese) Suzuki, Yoshikazu 鈴木喜一 (1972). Hōgen 法言 [Fa yan]. Tokyo: Meitoku shuppansha.

References

Footnotes

Works cited

• Knechtges (2010), p. 213.
• Knechtges (1993), p. 100.