Reflections on the Figure and Ideas of Ji Ran 計然

This presentation discusses teachings and accounts of Ji Ran, aide to King Goujian of Yue. Unmentioned in the extant pre-Qin sources, this enigmatic gigure gradually rose to prominence, to be regarded as the main reason for Goujian’s success in several Han sources. I argue that this character was gictitious, and the designation “Ji Ran”, alongside the variants Jini 計倪 or Jiyan 計𥓋, go back to the occupation title “accountant boy” (ji er 計兒). Based on this assumption, I girst establish a connection between the different variants of the moniker “Ji Ran”. Then, I discuss how portrayals of Ji Ran incorporated references to two other prominent ministers of King Goujian, Wen Zhong 文種 and Fan Li 范蠡, and why Ji Ran came to be closely associated with the latter. Then, I show how Ji Ran’s lore, while agreeing with Wen Zhong and Fan Li on the cyclical nature of Heaven, presents a further development of their (very different) ideas, by introducing the concept of “counter-Jupiter” 9 (tai yin 太陰 ), techniques of hemerology, such as the Orphan-Empty (guxu 孤虛) method, and economic ideas.

These “theoretical” innovations have, in turn, ramigications for the depiction of the history of the Wu-Yue conglict. Finally, I investigate the identity of Ji Ran as Laozi’s disciple, Master Wen 文子. I maintain that the received Wenzi was informed by this identity and forged an image of Laozi supporting it.