Dimensions: Length: 31cm; width: 13cm; height: 24cm

Origin: Unearthed from Tomb 3 at Mawangdui, Changsha

The book, copied on half a length of silk, is an ancient book of anecdotes mainly recording the correspondences and speeches by such political strategists as Su Qin of the Warring States Period. 

The book is so titled because of its similarity to The Records of the Warring States Period. As the book avoided mentioning the name of Liu Bang, it can thus be inferred that this was copied during the reign of Han Dynasty Emperor Huidi. 

The existing 27 chapters contain 325 lines and over 11,000 Chinese characters. The contents of 11 chapters can also be found in both The Records of the Warring States Period and Records of the Grand Scribe, even with similar wording, therefore it is a selection of speeches by political strategists of the Warring States Period. 

The other 16 chapters are anecdotes that mainly record Su Qin’s lobbyist activities. This book shows important historical events and facts of the Warring States Period and has great value for revising and supplementing The Records of the Warring States Period. Thirteen chapters of this book copied on silk are related to Su Qin, but the his deeds as recorded here are greatly different from those recorded in both The Records of the Warring States Period and Records of the Grand Scribe.

The excavation of this Book of Political Strategists of the Warring States Period copied on silk enables us to discover that the records in both The Records of the Warring States Period and Records of the Grand Scribe more than often wrongly antedated Su Qin’s activities. Sima Qian provided a powerful and vivid description of Su Qin and Zhang Yi putting in efforts in annexing and uniting with neighboring states, but this Book of Political Strategists of the Warring States Period shows that Su Qin and Zhang Yi were people of different times. Su Qin was a tactician advocating annexation and union with other states after Zhang Yi. The one who lived synchronously with and who fought with Zhang Yi was Gongsun Yan.

In spite of the similarities in the recorded dates of the Book of Political Strategists of Warring States Period and The Records of the Warring States Period, the two books show slight differences in recorded events and writing style. This book, though quite like The Records of the Warring States Period in its artistic feature, has its own unique qualities and should equally be considered as a collection of outstanding historical prose essays of the pre-Qin days. Furthermore, its discovery also helps us to have a better understanding of the events of that historical period and even to correct some errors in other historical documents.