The Taoist-influenced text compiled under Liu An, prince of Huainan, was the Huainanzi.
The Huainanzi was produced in the second century BCE during the Western Han dynasty. Liu An, a member of the imperial Liu family, hosted scholars at his court, and the work is traditionally associated with this scholarly circle. It is a wide-ranging text rather than a short collection of sayings, covering cosmology, governance, ethics, natural processes, geography, and military strategy.
The book draws on several intellectual traditions, including Daoist, Confucian, Legalist, and naturalist ideas. Its mixture reflects the diverse scholarly culture of Han China. Although it is often classified as a Daoist classic, it is not simply a restatement of the Daodejing or the Zhuangzi.
The Huainanzi is also important for historians of early Chinese science and cosmology because it records theories about the structure and transformations of the natural world. Liu An died in 122 BCE after a failed rebellion against Emperor Wu of Han.