When Confucius entered the Grand Temple (the ancestral temple of the ruler), he asked about every detail of the rites.
This article recounts the diplomatic rescue of Lord Mengchang’s fiefdom of Xue during the Warring States period. When the State of Chu invaded Xue, the renowned diplomat Chunyu Kun was tasked with saving it. Instead of pleading for help, Chunyu Kun used a brilliant rhetorical strategy: he convinced King Min of Qi that the…