Review: History Speaks - The Four Princes of the Warring States

This is my first review of one of Tsai Chih Chung's comics about Chinese history/philosophy. My last post mentioned that I have 15 of his books that I want to get through. The first book I have read is History Speaks. Before I get into the summary of the book's content, here is the description of Tsai Chih Chung from the back cover:

TSAI CHIH CHUNG - First came to prominence through his award winning animated movies and his immensely popular daily comic strips. When he turned his hand to the classics after a prolonged period of self-education, they were acclaimed by critics and shot to the top of the bestsellers lists.

History Speaks retells the major aspects of the lives of four princes from the Warring States period of Chinese history (475--221 BCE). The four princes covered are Lord Mengchang of Qi, Lord Pingyuan of Zhao, Lord Xinling of Wei, and Lord Chunshen of Chu. Before the princes are described, the life of historian Sima Qian is introduced. It was Sima Qian who documented 2000 years of Chinese history in his Historian's Records. This was completed a little more than 100 years after the Warring States period ended. It is, presumably, from Sima Qian's record that Tsai Chih Chung based his retelling.

The history described is, for me, of inherent interest. However, the telling of the story is also interspersed with snippets of wisdom on how to deal with people and situations that are seemingly relevant even today. These snippets are usually conveyed through the mechanism of a retainer advising a prince on how to act.

One such example occurs after Lord Xinling of Wei has ridden to the aid of Zhao to beat back the invading Qin. Xinling had to usurp power over the Wei army in order to support Zhao as the King of Wei feared subsequent reprisal from Qin. After successfully repelling the Qin, the King of Zhao offered Xinling a fiefdom of five cities within Zhao. Lord Xinling felt quite chuffed about this but was then advised by a retainer that some things shouldn't be forgotten and some things should be forgotten. Other people's kindness to one shouldn't be forgotten whereas one's kindness to others should be forgotten. The retainer reminded Xinling that he deceived Wei in order to save Zhao and his achievement should not be celebrated or rewarded.

It is said in the book that the four princes were constantly competing with each other to attract the best retainers. This attitude is somewhat evident today in the technology industry with various companies (eg, Google, FogCreek) going above and beyond to get the best talent. Joel Spolsky has even written a book on the topic: Smart and Gets Things Done: Joel Spolsky's Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent. Each of the four princes was said to have been their abilities to hire good and talented people and to engender loyalty within those that were hired. Lord Mengchang, for example, would immediately send a gift to the household of the interviewees that he deemed worthy. When the interviewee returned home, the gift was waiting. Lord Xinling would wait on anyone he deemed worthy of respect, regardless of their status or age.

The book is interesting historically and morally. The illustrations, which I haven't mentioned, are clean, clear, and uncluttered. I can't make any claims as to the correctness of the content or the translation and there are some spelling/typography errors, but these concerns don't detract from the overall pleasure derived from reading this book.