The Guanzi 管子 [Book of Master Guan] bears the name of a famous seventh-century BC minister of the State of Qi 齊，Guan Zhong 管仲（685-645 BC). It has been described by Czech Sinologist Gustav Haloun (1898-1951) as an “amorphous and vast repository of ancient literature.’’  It is one of the largest of the pre-Han 漢，or early Han politico-philosophical works. It exceeds 135,000 characters and contains material written by a number of anonymous writers over an extended period of time. This makes theGuanzione of the largest collections of ancient Chinese writings yet found. Allyn Rickett completes the first full translation of theGuanziinto English. This represents a monumental effort, as theGuanziis a long and notoriously difficult work. It was compiled in its present form ca 26 BC by the Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang.Surviving text consists of some seventy-six anonymous essays dating from the fifth century BC. to the first century BC.The forty-two chapters contained in this volume include several which present Daoist theories concerning self-cultivation and the relationship between the body and mind as well as the development of Huang-Lao political and economic thought. The "Dizi zhi" chapter provides one of the oldest discussions of education in China. The "Shui di" chapter refers to the circulation of blood some two thousand years before the discoveries of William Harvey in the West. Other chapters deal with various aspects of statecraft, Yin-Yang and Five Phases thought, folk beliefs, seasonal calendars, and farming. Perhaps the best-known chapters are those that deal with various methods of controlling and stimulating the economy. They constitute one of the world's earliest presentations of a quantity theory of money. Throughout the text, Rickett provides extensive notes. He also supplies an introduction to the volume and a comprehensive index.