 Xunzi alludes to Deng Xi’s thought in three places, each time pairing him with  Hui Shi,  though the men were from different states and lived about 200 years apart. This incongruity suggests that the pair are being used iconically to represent a certain general intellectual style or orientation. Thus the sophistries Xunzi ascribes to them may not be their invention, or at least not Deng Xi’s. Xunzi describes them as “fond of dealing with strange doctrines and playing with bizarre expressions” (6.6), of which he gives these examples (3.1):