The Huáinánzǐ (淮南子) is one of the great synthetic works of early Daoism. It weaves together cosmology, statecraft, and self-cultivation into a vision of the Dào (道) as the formless, generative source of all order. It is also known under its full title Huáinán Hóngliè (淮南鸿烈, “The Great Light of Huainan”) rendered by Balfour as the Hung Lieh Chuan (鸿烈传, Hóng Liè Zhuàn).

This is the foundational first chapter of the Huáinánzǐ, the Yuándào Xùn (原道訓, “Original Instructions in Tao” or “Searching out Dao”). It explores Dào’s ineffable power and how rulers can harness the principle of wúwéi — effortless action aligned with the natural order — to govern wisely. This was key to Huáng-Lǎo statecraft (黃老), which enjoyed imperial favour during the early Hàn dynasty. Huáng-Lǎo thought fused the Dào with practical techniques of governance such as law, personnel management, and military strategy, advocating a ruler who governs through wúwéi (無爲) while a well‑ordered administrative system functions spontaneously beneath him. It was was compiled around 139 BCE under the patronage of Liú Ān, Prince of Huainan, and encompasses everything from astronomy to statecraft, all grounded in a Daoist framework.

Balfour was a Shanghai-based editor and translator already known for his early English versions of the Dàodé Jīng (道德经) and the Zhuāngzǐ (庄子). He was the first person to introduce the more esoteric Daoist texts to the Anglophone world, and published this chapter in 1884 as part of Taoist Texts: Ethical, Political, and Speculative.

Discover the roots of Daoist statecraft and cosmology as first introduced to Western eyes.