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The character 捭 (bǎi) means to open, separate, or spread apart, and is best known from the compound 捭阖 (bǎihé), "opening and closing", referring to diplomatic maneuvering. It is a phono-semantic compound: the hand radical 扌 (shǒu) signals manual action, while the component 卑 (bēi) gives the pronunciation. The character is closely linked to the Guiguzi (鬼谷子), a classic of strategy and rhetoric, where opening up and revealing information is central to manipulating political adversaries and conducting statecraft.
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