It is unclear just how the “Man from Song” (Songren) acquired his reputation, but classical literature is replete with stories of his stupidity. These stories were commonly used in early China, as they appear in more than one text and serve more than one purpose. For instance, the story of the Man from Song who spent three years fashioning a mulberry leaf out of precious material (some say ivory, some say jade) appears in the Liezi, Hanfeizi, and Huainanzi.
The story relates that the end ...
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