Huainanzi in the Western Han Dynasty preserved many ancient myths, legends and historical materials. "Huainan" in the title of the book probably means that the author is Liu An, the king of Huainan in Han Dynasty, and his disciples.

According to legend, Huai Nan Zi was written by Liu An, the king of Huai Nan in the Western Han Dynasty, hence its name. On the basis of inheriting the pre-Qin Taoist thought, this book integrates the essence of a hundred schools of thought and plays an irreplaceable role in the study of Qin and Han cultures in later generations. Ban Gu listed it as a "miscellaneous family" in the Records of Han Shu Literature and Art, and the General Catalogue of Sikuquanshu was listed as a "miscellaneous family", belonging to the Ministry.

Book content

The account of Huainanzi is divided into twenty-one, eight and thirty-three, with Taoism in the inner part, health preservation in the middle part and miscellaneous remarks in the outer part. Mainly based on Taoist thought, it combines Confucianism, law, yin and yang. , and generally listed Huai Nan Zi as a saint. In fact, this book is the representative work of Huang Lao's research theory system, which is guided by Taoism and absorbed hundreds of theories from the Warring States to the early Han Dynasty.

In explaining philosophy, Huainanzi refers to strange things and ghosts and gods, and retains some mythological materials, such as Goddess Mending the Heaven, Shooting the Sun in Houyi, Public Anger Can't Touch the Surrounding Mountains, the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, A Saiweng Lost His Horse and other ancient myths, which are mainly circulated in this book.