 Earlier forms of syncretism involved the intentional combination of aspects of different schools and textual traditions, such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. While we see this to some extent in texts like the Chunqiu Fanlu, these forms of syncretism were often not explicit. The Huainanzi, on the other hand, openly discusses its synthesis of ideas from across previously opposing schools and traditions. In the Huainanzi, we find a specific methodology for and justification of synthesis built from a framework using ideas primarily from the Zhuangzi and Daodejing, but involving Confucian, Legalist, and even Mohist ideas as well. Numerous scholars have debated the ultimate purpose of the Huainanzi’s syncretism (see Goldin 1999; Vankeerberghen 2001). Clearly there is a political aim of the overall project. Liu An (179–122 BCE), the vassal ruler of the territory of Huainan, brought together the scholars who constructed the text. Liu was concerned with the ideology of empire. His primary aim was the development of a system synthesizing the numerous and diverse peoples, cultures, systems, languages, and ways of life throughout the still relatively new Han empire. The ways of governance and social ideologies of the past, Liu recognized, may have been acceptable in the smaller-scale societies in which they developed. But these societies were already unified by language, culture, and social norms. Imposing the norms and ideology of a single people on others simply would not work in a territory as large and diverse as that controlled by the Han. What was needed was a political, ethical, and metaphysical system that unified the variety of peoples in a single social project while at the same time allowing for the independence and individuality of their local approaches. What resulted from this reflection by the committee of scholars at Liu An’s court was one of the most comprehensive and powerful syntheses in the history of human thought. Liu An’s scholars almost seamlessly combined all of the known philosophical, political, scientific, and religious systems of their day into one overarching explanation of the cosmos.