“The Dispute over Salt and Iron” is the only major monument of an ancient Chinese dispute that has reached us, the most important source of information about the ideology, history and culture of the Western Han (II-I centuries BC). Until now, only one complete - Japanese - translation of the monument with brief notes has been published. The Russian translation is being undertaken for the first time and is distinguished by a much more detailed commentary. The publication is published in two volumes. The first volume includes an introduction, a translation of 12 chapters of the monument, a commentary on them and a bibliography. The publication is intended for sinologists, as well as for everyone interested in the culture of ancient China. CONTENTS: Introduction 7I. The creation of the “Salt and Iron Dispute” and its background. 7Notes 23II. “The Dispute about Salt and Iron” as a monument of Chinese culture 28 Notes 112 THE DISPUTE ABOUT SALT AND IRON (YAN TE LUN) SCROLL 1Chapter 1. Basic judgments 131Chapter 2. Plow hard 137Chapter 3. Put into circulation what [the people] have 141Chapter 4. Casting money 173Chapter 12. Concern with boundaries 177 Commentary 181 Appendices 365 Bibliography 367 List of abbreviations 395 Hieroglyphs for the text of the introduction and commentary 397