For official purposes, and to avoid confusion with namesakes, my work is linked to these numbers: ISNI: 0000 0003 7775 5498; ORCID: 0000-0003-4856-0368.
van Els, Paul. The Wenzi: Creativity and Intertextuality in Early Chinese Philosophy. Studies in the History of Chinese Texts, Volume: 9. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
This monograph, the first of its kind in English, offers a detailed study of the Wenzi, a controversial Chinese philosophical text. The book also sheds light on text production and reception in Chinese history, with its changing views on authorship, originality, authenticity, and forgery.
More information about the book is available here.
van Els, Paul, and Sarah A. Queen. Between History and Philosophy: Anecdotes in Early China. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2017.
Collection of papers on the rhetorical function of anecdotes in early China, edited in collaboration with Sarah A. Queen, with further contributions by Paul R. Goldin, Andrew Seth Meyer, Ting-mien Lee, Wai-yee Li, Christian Schwermann, Heng Du, Yuri Pines, and Rens Krijgsman.
More information about the book is available here.
van Els, Paul. Van orakelbot tot weblog, Lesboek Klassiek Chinees, deel 1 (From Oracle Bones to Blogs: Course Book of Classical Chinese, Volume 1). Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2011, 2015 (revised edition).
Full-color textbook for beginning learners of Classical Chinese. Featuring plenty of exercises, a gradual build-up of vocabulary and grammar, numerous illustrations, copious notes, and references to relevant literature, this book is a gateway to Chinese history and culture.
van Els, Paul. Van orakelbot tot weblog, Lesboek Klassiek Chinees, deel 2 (From Oracle Bones to Blogs: Course Book of Classical Chinese, Volume 2). Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2011, 2019 (revised edition).
Full-color textbook for beginning learners of Classical Chinese. Featuring plenty of exercises, a gradual build-up of vocabulary and grammar, numerous illustrations, copious notes, and references to relevant literature, this book is a gateway to Chinese history and culture.
Defoort, Carine, and Paul van Els. Confucius spreekt: De Chinese meester zet ons aan het denken (Confucius Speaks: The Chinese Master Makes Us Think). Kalmthout: Pelckmans, 2021.
This book contains translations of roughly fifty statements attributed to Confucius. Each statement is followed by an explanation and a reflection on how Confucius can continue to inspire, whether it's on the importance of learning or rituals, self-examination and self-improvement, or virtuous leadership.
van Els, Paul, Romain Graziani, Yuri Pines, and Elisa Sabattini. Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 34 (2012). Theme: "Political Rhetoric in Early China." https://doi.org/10.4000/extremeorient.241
Each issue of Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident is devoted to a single theme related to Chinese civilization. This issue, co-edited by Romain Graziani, Yuri Pines, Elisa Sabattini, and myself, focuses on the topic of political rhetoric in early China. The Guest Editor's Introduction to this issue, written by Elisa Sabattini and myself, is available here.
De Meyer, Jan, and Paul van Els. Het trage vuur 40 (2007). Theme: "Filosofie" (Philosophy). ISBN: 978-90-75910-40-7.
Each issue of the former journal Het Trage Vuur (Slow Fire) features Chinese literature in Dutch translation. This issue, co-edited by Jan De Meyer and myself, contains translations of philosophical writings ascribed to Mozi, Mengzi, Huainanzi, Liezi, Wang Chong, Ge Hong, and others. The Guest Editor's Introduction to this issue is available here (in Dutch).
van Els, Paul. Contemporary Chinese Thought 34, no. 1 (2002). Theme: "The Many Faces of Huang-Lao." https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/mcsp20/34/1
The academic journal Contemporary Chinese Thought features translations of current and influential Chinese writings on aspects of philosophy. This issue, edited and translated by myself, with additional translations by Katia Chirkova, contains essays by Guo Zhanbo, Yu Mingguang, Zhang Weihua, and Tan Jianhui on Huang-Lao, the politico-philosophical tradition named after Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) and Laozi (the Old Master). The Guest Editor's Introduction to this issue is available here.
van Els, Paul. "Moral Beauty and the Beast: Ethical Dilemmas in the Mencius." Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture 35 (2021): 13–45. https://doi.org/10.22916/jcpc.2021..35.13.
Note: An earlier version of this article was published in Dutch under the title "De heer en het beest: De eerbare mens volgens Mencius," Tijdschrift voor Filosofie 82 (2020): 241–64.
van Els, Paul, and Frank Witkam. "Schoolyard Soldiers: The Art of Adapting the Art of War." Journal of Chinese Military History 8, no. 2 (2019): 191–224. https://doi.org/10.1163/22127453-12341346.
van Els, Paul, and Elisa Sabattini. "Political Rhetoric in Early China." Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 34 (2012): 5–14. https://doi.org/10.4000/extremeorient.247
van Els, Paul. "Tilting Vessels and Collapsing Walls: On the Rhetorical Function of Anecdotes in Early Chinese Texts." Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 34 (2012): 141–66. https://doi.org/10.4000/extremeorient.259
van Els, Paul. "Dingzhou: The Story of an Unfortunate Tomb." Asiatische Studien / Études asiatiques 63 (2009): 909–41. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-31868
van Els, Paul. "Persuasion through Definition: Argumentative Features of the Ancient Wenzi." Oriens Extremus 45 (2005–2006): 211–34.
This article has been translated into Chinese:
van Els, Paul (叶波). "Shiyi yi youshuo: guben Wenzi de lunshuo tedian 释义以游说：古本《文子》的论说特点." Translated by Kong Rui 孔銳. In Sixiang yu wenhua 思想與文化 (Thought and Culture), Vol. 9 "Fenxi zhexue yu zhongxi zhi xue 分析哲學與中西之學 (Analytic Philosophy and East-West Learning)," edited by Yang Guorong 楊國榮, 181–203. Shanghai 上海: Huadong shifan daxue chubanshe 華東師範大學出版社, 2009.
A copy of the Chinese translation is available here.
van Els, Paul. "Confucius’s Sayings Entombed: On Two Han Dynasty Bamboo Lunyu Manuscripts." In Confucius and the Analects Revisited: New Perspectives on Composition, Dating, and Authorship, edited by Michael Hunter and Martin Kern, 152–86. Leiden: Brill, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004382947_008
van Els, Paul, and Sarah A. Queen. "Anecdotes in Early China." In Between History and Philosophy: Anecdotes in Early China, edited by Paul van Els and Sarah A. Queen, 1–37. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2017.
van Els, Paul. "Old Stories No Longer Told: The End of the Anecdotes Tradition of Early China." In Between History and Philosophy: Anecdotes in Early China, edited by Paul van Els and Sarah A. Queen, 331–56. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2017.
van Els, Paul. "The Philosophy of the Proto-Wenzi." In Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy, edited by Xiaogan Liu, 325–40. New York: Springer, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2927-0_14
van Els, Paul. "How to End Wars with Words: Three Argumentative Strategies by Mozi and his Followers." In The Mozi as an Evolving Text: Different Voices in Early Chinese Thought, edited by Carine Defoort and Nicolas Standaert, 69–94. Leiden: Brill, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004246201_004
van Els, Paul. "Righteous, Furious, or Arrogant? On Classifications of Warfare in Early Chinese Texts." In Debating War in Chinese History, edited by Peter Lorge, 13–40. Leiden: Brill, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004244795_003
van Els, Paul. Review of Sun Tzu: The Art of War, by Michael Nylan. Journal of Chinese Studies 74 (January 2022): 286–92. https://doi.org/10.29708/JCS.CUHK.202201_(74).0017.
van Els, Paul. Review of Wenzi zhuzuo niandai xinzheng 《文子》著作年代新證 (New Evidence for the Date of the Wenzi), by Ho Che Wah 何志華. China Review International 12, no. 1 (2005): 121–23. https://doi.org/10.1353/cri.2005.0126
van Els, Paul. “Differentiation and Integration in Daoism.” Review of Daoist Identity. History, Lineage, and Ritual, by Livia Kohn and Harold D. Roth. IIAS Newsletter 30 (March 2003): 37.
van Els, Paul. Review of Wenzi xinlun 《文子》新論 (New Perspectives on the Wenzi), Wenzi ziliao tansuo 《文子》資料探索 (Exploration of the Wenzi Materials), and Huainanzi yu Wenzi kaobian 《淮南子》與《文子》考辨 (Examination of the Huainanzi and the Wenzi), by Ding Yuanzhi 丁原植. China Review International 9, no. 1 (2002): 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1353/cri.2003.0012
van Els, Paul. Review of Le Wen zi à la lumière de l’histoire et de l’archéologie (The Wenzi in the Light of History and Archaeology), by Charles Le Blanc. China Review International 8, no. 2 (2001): 426–30. https://doi.org/10.1353/cri.2001.0076
van Els, Paul, and Matthew Hamm. "Wenzi 文子." In Database of Religious History. University of British Columbia. Published June 17, 2021. https://doi.org/10.14288/1.0401435 / https://religiondatabase.org/browse/1054/
van Els, Paul. "The Wenzi (Wen Tzu) Treatise." In Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy, edited by Antonio S. Cua, 781–83. New York: Routledge, 2003.
van Els, Paul. “In Memoriam: Burchard J. Mansvelt Beck (May 20, 1947 – October 31, 2020).” Leiden University. Published: November 26, 2020.
