Songzi 宋子

Songzi 宋子 "Master Song" is a philosophical treatise written during the Warring States period 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE) by the dialectician Song Xing 宋銒, who belonged to a philosophical tradition called the Song-Yin school 宋尹學派.

An 18-juan-long book Songzi is listed in the imperial bibliography Yiwen zhi 藝文志 in the official dynastic history Hanshu 漢書 among the novelists (xiaoshuojia 小說家), with the comment that Sun Qing 孙卿 says, this book belongs to the writings of the Huang-Lao school 黃老學派. This book Songzi was lost before the Tang period 唐 (618-907).

The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ma Guohan 馬國翰 (1794-1857) collected fragments of the Songzi quoted in the Daoist book Zhuangzi 莊子. These statements against aggressive war were often attributed to the book Yinwenzi 尹文子, but are not included in the transmitted form of the Yinwenzi. They must be a product of Song Xing. The editors of the modern series Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書 quoted from the legalist book Hanfeizi 韓非子, where it is said that the theories of Song Xing were worth considering. They can be categorised as Daoist. The Songzi fragments collected by Ma Guohan are included in his series Yuhan shanfang yiji shu 玉函山房輯佚書.