If the term is defined vaguely, a number of pre-Qin texts might retroactively be included under the term Huang-Lao. Excepting the Huangdi Neijing, most Huang–Lao texts vanished, and traditional scholarship associated the philosophical school with syncretist Chinese classics, namely the legalistic Hanfeizi, the Taoistic Huainanzi, but also the more Confucian Xunzi and Guanzi. Other proposals include parts of the Daoist Zhuangzi, sections of the historical Guoyu ("Discourses of the States"), Chunqiu Fanlu ("Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals"), and Lüshi Chunqiu ("Mister Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals"), the Heguanzi ("Book of Master Pheasant-Cap"), and the military Huang Shigong San Lüe ("Three Strategies of Huang Shigong").
