The first full translation and analysis of a newly discovered fourth-century manuscript containing the earliest known Confucian sayings.

Unearthed from the Warring States period, a time of intellectual ferment and manuscript culture, Flowers Aplenty presents twenty-five sayings attributed to Confucius, many of which are previously unknown or appear in variant forms from the received Analects. Translated and introduced by Dirk Meyer and Adam Craig Schwartz, it redefines our understanding of Confucian thought.

Meyer and Schwartz challenge the conventional view of the Analects as a disconnected compilation. They reveal Flowers Aplenty as a carefully structured, argumentative text that enacts Confucian philosophy through its design and sequencing. The manuscript's thematic coherence and rhetorical strategies suggest a tradition of Analects beyond the canonical version. We are offered fresh insight into the transformation of Confucius as a philosophical institution and superstar.

This groundbreaking translation is accompanied by philological and philosophical commentary. Packed with insights into how texts shape meaning and cultural legacy, it offers innovative readings of Confucian philosophy and manuscript culture.

For anyone interested in the evolution of Confucianism and its place in China today, this is essential reading and a landmark contribution to Chinese intellectual history.

Dirk Meyer is Professor of Chinese Philosophy and Fellow of The Queen's College at the University of Oxford, UK. He is Director of the Oxford Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures (CMTC) and he is the Director of the newly-launched Centre for Study of Excavated Manuscripts at Nanjing University, China. He is Senior Editor of Manuscript and Text Cultures (MTC), Senior Editor of Library of Sinology and Senior Editor of the new Chinese-language book series Manuscript Cultures (Fenghuang Press).

Adam Craig Schwartz holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature and the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology and serves as Associate Director of the Jao Tsung-i Academy of Sinology at Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.