An open library of thought
Wander freely among things as they transform.
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
These records present the Inner Chapters, the outer and miscellaneous chapters and Guo Xiang’s commentary. Authorship is layered: only the Inner Chapters are traditionally assigned to Zhuang Zhou, and even that attribution is debated. Translations, later commentaries and modern studies are not indexed; this is a selection, not a complete bibliography.
01c. 320–280 BCE
Traditionally regarded as Zhuang Zhou’s own writing, the Inner Chapters are more unified in style and vocabulary than the rest of the book. Their authorship, their dating and their separation from the other chapters, fixed by later editors, remain debated.
02c. 300–100 BCE
These chapters were written by several hands between the late Warring States period and the early Han. Scholars such as A. C. Graham distinguish a school of Zhuangzi and primitivist, Yangist and syncretist strands; the grouping into outer and miscellaneous sections reflects Guo Xiang’s edition rather than an original plan.
03c. 300 CE
Guo Xiang, who died in 312, belonged to the Wei-Jin current of “dark learning”, which reread the Laozi, the Zhuangzi and the Book of Changes. Medieval sources accused him of appropriating Xiang Xiu’s earlier commentary; current scholarship regards him as the principal author, drawing on predecessors.