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Texts of the work
The Book of Lord Shang (商君書; Shāng jūn shū) is an ancient Chinese text from the 3rd century BCE, regarded as a foundational work of "Chinese Legalism". The earliest surviving of such texts (the second being the Han Feizi), it is named for and to some extent attributed to major Qin reformer Shang Yang, who served as minister to Duke Xiao of Qin (r. 361 – 338 BCE) from 359 BCE until his death in 338 BCE and is generally considered to be the father of that state's "legalism".
The Book of Lord Shang includes a large number of ordinances, essays, and courtly petitions attributed to Shang Yang, as well as discourses delivered at the Qin court. The book focuses mainly on maintaining societal order through a system of impartial laws that strictly mete out rewards and punishments for citizens' actions. The first chapters advise promoting agriculture and suppressing other low-priority secondary activities, as well as encouraging martial virtues for use in creating and maintaining a state army for wars of conquest.
The Book of Lord Shang includes a large number of ordinances, essays, and courtly petitions attributed to Shang Yang, as well as discourses delivered at the Qin court. The book focuses mainly on maintaining societal order through a system of impartial laws that strictly mete out rewards and punishments for citizens' actions. The first chapters advise promoting agriculture and suppressing other low-priority secondary activities, as well as encouraging martial virtues for use in creating and maintaining a state army for wars of conquest.
The Book of Lord Shang teaches that "The law is an expression of love for the people... The sage, if he is able to strengthen the state thereby, does not model himself on antiquity, and if he is able to benefit the people thereby, does not adhere to the established rites."As such, the philosophy espoused is quite explicitly anti-Confucian:
Comment: "There exists an ancient masterpiece one of 7 emperor's children must study book called "The Book of Lord Shang" aka "商君书“, the book details what is "驭民五术" - "The Five Arts of Controlling the People". This book is considered an "important classic" in the royal family to train the young Lord since 338 BCE and is still a "must read" in some of China's MBA program, and Chinese leader certainly knows and practice it even to this day. The following text was a short summary, directly translated from the Chinese wiki. "The Book of Lord Shang" discusses a large number of policies for the weakening [of the] people, as well as the Legalist scholars' viewpoint of depriving the people of their rights to consolidate the emperor's political power. For example, "The Book of Lord Shang" believes that there is a contradictory relationship between the state and the people. If the people are strong, the state is weak; if the state wants to be strong, it must weaken the people. To defeat strong enemies and dominate the world, the country must subdue its own people. Only by making the people simple-minded, honest, and loyal, can the people be prevented from rebelling against the country and the monarch, so that the country can be easily governed, and the monarch's position can be secure. "The Book of Lord Shang" believes that governing the country requires the use of evil to control good in order to make the country strong. "The Book of Lord Shang" advocates heavy punishment and light rewards. He believes that increasing punishments and reducing rewards will make the monarch love the people, and the people will fight hard to win rewards; while increasing rewards and reducing punishments will make the monarch not love the people, and the people will not fight to the death for rewards. " The text in the chinese wiki is as follows, you may translate it your self, if you don't believe me《商君书》论述了大量弱民政策，以及法家士子为帝王稳固政权而剥夺百姓人权的观点。例如：《商君书》认为，国家与人民是矛盾的关系。人民强大，则国家虚弱；想要国家强大，则必须削弱人民。能够战胜强敌、称霸天下的国家，必须制服本国的人民。只有使人民思想单纯、朴实忠厚，人民才不易反抗国家和君主，这样国家才会容易治理，君主的地位才会牢固。《商君书》认为治理国家要以恶治善才能使国家强大。《商君书》中主张重刑轻赏，他认为加重刑罚，减少奖赏，是君主爱护民众，民众就会拼命争夺奖赏；增加奖赏，减轻刑罚，是君主不爱护民众，民众就不会为奖赏而拼死奋斗。Just quote directly from the book (which is much more arbitary to understand) you get "Sophistry and cleverness are an aid to lawlessness; rites and music are symptoms of dissipations and licence; kindness and benevolence are the foster‑mother of transgressions; employment and promotion are opportunities for the rapacity of the wicked. If lawlessness is aided, it becomes current; if there are symptoms of dissipation and licence, they will become the practice; if there is a foster‑mother for transgressions, they will arise; if there are opportunities for the rapacity of the wicked, they will never cease. If these eight things come together, the people will be stronger than the government; but if these eight things are non‑existent in a state, the government will be stronger than the people. If the people are stronger than the government, the state is weak; if the government is stronger than the people, the army is strong. For if these eight things exist, the ruler has no one to use for defence and war, with the result that the state will be dismembered and will come to ruin; but if there are not these eight things, the ruler has the wherewithal for defence and war, with the result that the state will flourish and attain supremacy." I highly recommend anyone interested in Chinese culture to give a read in this timeless masterpiece, as Chinese culture and history are so deeply inherited from ancient times. This book from 338 BC will certainly aid you well in how understanding Chinese thinking from an emperor's mindset. All those Confucious stuff is for subordinate servants, ordinary people/peasants, or ministerss who serve the lord, and the Lord read a book like these."
Sophistry and cleverness are an aid to lawlessness; rites and music are symptoms of dissipations and licence; kindness and benevolence are the foster‑mother of transgressions; employment and promotion are opportunities for the rapacity of the wicked. If lawlessness is aided, it becomes current; if there are symptoms of dissipation and licence, they will become the practice; if there is a foster‑mother for transgressions, they will arise; if there are opportunities for the rapacity of the wicked, they will never cease. If these eight things come together, the people will be stronger than the government; but if these eight things are non‑existent in a state, the government will be stronger than the people. If the people are stronger than the government, the state is weak; if the government is stronger than the people, the army is strong. For if these eight things exist, the ruler has no one to use for defence and war, with the result that the state will be dismembered and will come to ruin; but if there are not these eight things, the ruler has the wherewithal for defence and war, with the result that the state will flourish and attain supremacy.
— Chapter 2, Paragraph 5 of The Book of Lord Shang, pg 109 of J.J.-L. Duyvendak, 1928
- Make the people ignorant: unify their thinking.
- Weaken the people: if the country is strong, the people must be weak, and the way to govern the country is to focus on the weak.
- Exhaust the people: keep them busy with trivial matters so they have no time to think about other things.
- Humiliate the people: make them lose their self-esteem and confidence, encourage them to denounce each other, and live in a constant state of fear.
- Impoverish the people: strip them of their wealth. leaving them with only the necessities of life. Poverty leads to short-sightedness.
If these methods do not work, kill them. Let's take a closer look at each point. The first point is to unify the people's thinking, which is important to prevent disagreements and conflicts among the population. This can be achieved by issuing guidelines that everyone must follow. The second point is to weaken the people so as to better manage them. If they are too powerful, they may pose a threat to the government. The third point is to exhaust the people by keeping them busy with various tasks and duties, leaving them no room to think about anything else but their daily survival. This ensures stability for the ruling class. The fourth point is to humiliate the people by destroying their self-esteem and causing them to distrust each other. This makes it difficult for them to unite and pose a threat to the government. The divided people will fight among [themselves], and government can aid some of these to divide the people, so people never unite to against the government. The fifth point is to impoverish the people by depriving them of their wealth, making them desperate to pursue even the smallest reward or benefit. This keeps them focused on their immediate needs rather than more long-term objectives. Finally, if none of these methods work, the ruling class may resort to silencing or eliminating those who resist or pose a threat."
Texts of the work
- The Book of Lord Shang Chinese-English parallel text, Chinese Text Project
- Text of The Book of Lord Shang -(translated by J.J.-L. Duyvendak (1889-1954) into English in 1928)
- Shangzi by Lord Shang -(Chinese; from Project Gutenberg)
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