Political Economy in Ancient China: Annotated Translation of the Discourses on Salt and Iron

FAIN: HB-281500-22

Anthony Jerome Barbieri
University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA 93106-0001)

Translation and critical annotations of a Han Dynasty manuscript called the Discourses on Salt and Iron, dating from the first century BCE.

I will write the first complete English translation of one of the most important political and economic texts from early imperial China, the Yantielun (Discourses on Salt and Iron). An English translation of this text from nearly a century ago is quite dated and more than half incomplete. This project will generate an entirely new English translation of the whole text, with significant annotation based on the latest scholarship. A lengthy introduction will also discuss various aspects of the text, such as dating, and the economic and political arguments advanced.