Legalism is a school of thought in Chinese history that studies the way the country is governed, and proposes to rule the country by law. The law is achieved through specific punishments, rewards and punishments. Its scope covers the social sciences of law, economics, administration, organization and management, as well as social reform, law, economics, finance, currency, international trade, administrative management, organizational theory and operations research. Unlike other schools of thought that mainly study philosophy and religion, the scope of Legalism is social science. The main representatives of Legalism include Li Kui, Guan Zhong, Zichan, Shen Buxian, Shang Ying, Han Feizi, Li Si, Sang Hongyang, Wang Anshi, Zhang Juzheng, Yan Fu, Liang Qichao, etc. We advocate social change and strengthen the rule of law. According to the Legalist theory divided into Chinese history, it was mainly developed into the theory of market economy and mercantilism under private property rights of the Spring and Autumn vassal states, represented by Guan Zhong. and the economic theory of public ownership under the monarchy centralized state of the Warring States Qin and Han dynasties, represented by Shang Ying. Legalist thought can also be borrowed from today. For example, the moral pursuit of 'abolishing private and public', on this point, all Legalist figures have reached a consensus. 'Abolishing the private public' is consistent with what we now call the public and private concept of 'great public and selflessness', and it is the most noble public and private concept, which has pushed the 'altruistic' spirit of our nation to the highest position, and has a very positive significance for future generations and the present. For example, it is mentioned in the "Guanzi" that 'if the four dimensions are not open, the country will perish', and the 'four dimensions' (courtesy, righteousness, honesty and shame) mentioned by the Qi Legalists, as the four traditional virtues, still have their unique value today. In layman's terms, 'li' refers to civilized and polite, 'yi' refers to righteous behavior, 'lian' refers to the spirit of honesty and dedication, and 'shame' refers to having a sense of shame. The rational elements of these ideas should still be inherited for us today. Chinese Legalism arose in the middle of the Shang Dynasty and developed in the early Spring and Autumn Period. The representative figures include Guan Zhong, Zi Property, Shang Ying, Shen Dao, Shen Bu Harm, etc. Han Feizi at the end of the Warring States period was the master of Legalist thought.

In Chinese history. The first Legalist figure was Guan Zhong, who assisted Duke Huan of Qi to implement the policy of state monopoly capitalism and mercantilism, which allowed Qi to gain great wealth and become the first of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period without bloodshed. Guan Zhong's most famous is the "Right Stone Wall Scheme" under the Emperor: Guan Zhong asked the Duke of Qi Huan to bring a piece of the "Tonggong Stone Wall" that is a specialty of the Qi State to meet Zhou Tianzi to express his heartfelt feelings, and persuaded all the vassal states of Zhou Tianzi to bring such a stone wall to the audience, otherwise it would be rebellion. The princes could only go to Qi to buy "Tonggong Stone Wall" with "gold, pearls, jade and five grains and cultural cloth", and Qi State raised the price of the stone wall sharply, so they made a fortune. This matter was also greatly praised by Confucius because of the slogan of respecting the king, and it was recorded in the Analects: "Zi said: Micro Tube Zhong. I've been sent to the left!". This event marked the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period. After that, the Qi State did this many times, which had a huge impact on the ritual and music system of the Zhou Dynasty, and the Qi State became the first overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, and Guan Zhong appeared in the history books as the first representative of the Legalists.

The economic regulation and control measures of the country and the country. When the price of rice is low, the state purchases grain at the benchmark price. When the price of rice rises to the benchmark price, the state sells grain at the benchmark price. Polishing until stock. Zheng Guozi carried out internal political reforms in Zheng Guo and promulgated relevant decrees, including the cultivation of the land system. Rectify the establishment of aristocratic fields and peasant households, establish a registration system for private property rights in land, and levy taxes according to the number of acres of land, and so on. Zichan used 200 catties of iron to cast a tripod vessel, cast the newly formulated penal book on the tripod, and placed it at the gate of the palace, so that the people knew the new criminal law. This is the famous "criminal ding" in history. Shang Ying emphasizes "law", and Shen does not harm "art". "The sorcerer, because of the appointment of the official, according to the name and responsibility, the handle of killing, the ability of the ministers, this person is also the master" ("Han Feizi's Law"). In order to prevent ministers from manipulating power and playing with legal authority, Shen Buxian suggested that the supreme ruler must use magic, and the monarch should rule by means of "seeing alone", "listening alone", and "making decisions". He believes that "those who see alone are clear, and those who hear alone are deaf." Those who can make decisions can be the lord of the world", and the monarch "rules the world with the right opportunity, so the world is determined by a word, and the world is beautiful when a word is leaned". The words and opinions of the monarch can determine the rise or fall of the state, indicating the idea of absolutism and dictatorship. Prudence is a faction of Legalists that emphasizes the rule of "potential", advocating that the monarch can "grasp the law and deal with the situation" and "rule the world by doing nothing". Starting from the viewpoint of "abandoning knowledge and leaving oneself", he proposed that "if the monarch obeys the law and bows to it, the matter will be judged by the law". He took the law as the highest criterion, advocating that "officials do not have personal relatives, the law does not leave love, there is nothing to do, only the law is located" ("Monarchs and Ministers"), emphasizing that "law" must be combined with "power", and regarded the power of the monarch as the strength of the law, the so-called "wisdom is not enough to convince the public, but the position is enough to tie the sage", but he also believes that the survival of the country is not all determined by the strength of the monarch alone. "The king of the dead country is not the sin of one person, and the king of the country is not the power of one person." He acknowledged that the "law" is not immutable, and proposed that "abiding by the law and not changing will decline". At the end of the Warring States Period, Han Fei collected the culmination of Qin and Jin Legalist thoughts, blending the three of "law", "technique" and "potential", and absorbing Taoist thought to systematize the theory of the rule of law. He advocated strengthening the centralization of monarchical power, cutting off the power of private affairs, "taking the law as a teaching", strictly rewarding and punishing, and rewarding ploughing and warfare.

Before Han Feizi, the Legalists were divided into three factions. One faction, led by Shen Dao, advocates that in politics and statecraft, "power," that is, power and prestige, are the most important. One faction is headed by Shen Buxian, emphasizing "art" and political power. One faction, led by Shang Ying, emphasized "law", laws and rules and regulations. Han Feizi believes that "you can't do nothing, all of them are the tools of the emperor". When a king controls people, he is elusive and unpredictable, which is "art"; when a king has majesty, his orders are like a mountain, and this is "power."

It can be said that the Legalist philosophical view of history is a completely new and revolutionary viewpoint compared with other philosophical schools. Although the three schools of Confucianism, Moism, and Taoism have different ideological propositions, they have one thing in common: the golden age of human society is in the past, not in the future. History has been gradually degrading since the "Golden Age" of antiquity, so that the salvation of man lies not in innovation, but in returning to antiquity. This is the "view of historical degradation" of the three companies. This concept of the three schools comes from China's traditional way of thinking based on past experience. The Chinese are mostly peasants, and peasants are usually bound by the land they cultivate. Rarely travels. Farmers farming, cultivating and cultivating according to seasonal changes, only need to rely on past experience, encounter new things, and think about what experience can be followed in the past. Confucius liked to cite the ancient authorities King Wen of Zhou and Duke of Zhou to support his doctrines, which had a great influence on many philosophers such as Han Yu in later generations. Mozi argued with Confucianism, invoking Xia Yu, who was older than Zhou Wen, and Mencius, in order to be above the Mohists, often invoked Yao Shun, the legendary sage king older than Xia Yu. In order to defeat Confucianism and Moism, Taoism invited the three emperors and five emperors such as Fuxi and Shennong to be hundreds of years earlier than Yao Shun. Legalism was the most popular of the philosophical schools of the pre-Qin period. They think. The changes of each era have their own reasons for having to change, so we can only realistically treat the world of today. The people of ancient times were relatively simple, but it was only caused by the low material conditions at that time, and the moral character of the ancient people was not necessarily higher than that of the contemporary people. The Ancients. "The people are few and the wealth is surplus. The people are indisputable. ...... It is not too many to have five sons today. And the son had five sons, and the eldest father was not dead but had twenty-five grandchildren. It is the people who have few goods and wealth, and the people who work hard to provide for the poor. So the people fight. Han Feizi once commented on the story of guarding the plant and waiting for the rabbit: Now I want to use the government of the previous king to govern the people of the world, and they all keep the plant. "It is to use the saint to repair the ancients unexpectedly, and the lawlessness is often allowed, and the things of the world are prepared because of them. Shang Ying also mentioned: "The world has changed and the way is different." "A school of thought advocating the "rule of law" in the "Hundred Schools of Thought" during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The last master of Confucianism, Xunzi (Xun Qing), was its forerunner, and his disciple Han Feizi (Han Fei) was the master of the Legalist school. As a master of Confucianism, Xunzi developed Mencius's doctrine in terms of political ideas. On the basis of respecting the royal way and promoting meritocracy, Xunzi advocated hegemony and the queen of the law; he did not believe in heaven and ghosts and gods, but emphasized human initiative, and had the ideological element of materialism. Han Feizi's political ideas were also different from those of his teacher, and he sharply attacked the way of Confucianism and Mo, and put forward the idea of combining law, art, and power with the rule of law as the center, forming a relatively complete theory of feudal absolutism. From the perspective of literary style, Xunzi's prose is rich in vocabulary, neat sentences, clear levels, and clear arguments, while Han Fei's prose is good at using fables and metaphors, with sharp edges and penetrating arguments. The prose of the master and apprentice had a great influence on later generations, especially on the political essays of many political commentators in the early Han Dynasty. Representative figures: Warring States Period: Shen Dao, Han Fei, Shang Ying, Li Si, Shen Buxian, Wu Qi, Li Kui.

Shang Ying: formerly known as Wei Ying, also known as Gongsun Marting, a native of Wei during the Warring States Period. In his early years, Shang Ying was the prime minister of Wei and his uncle, a retainer. After Gongsun died of acne, the king of Wei did not reuse Shang martingale. Later, I heard that Qin Xiaogong ordered those who sought sage to go to Qin with Li Kui's "Book of Law". Through Qin Xiaogong's favored minister Jing Jian, seeing Xiaogong three times, Shang Ying talked about the policy of changing the rule of law, Xiaogong was overjoyed, and Shang Ying got a stage to display his ideal of changing the law. The main contents of the Shang Dynasty reform law were: to establish a new type of military merit system to encourage soldiers to fight bravely to kill the enemy; to reward cultivation and weaving to ensure that there was sufficient grain and grass in the rear of the Qin state; and to formulate a new law to enable the people to perform their duties and keep to themselves. After the Shang Dynasty changed the law, the Qin State quickly became a powerful vassal state, laying the foundation for the unification of the world in later generations. Han Feizi: Han Fei is the master of Legalism. Han Fei was originally a royal nobleman in Korea, but his theory was not adopted by the king of Han at that time. Under the grief and indignation, he wrote more than 100,000 words of works such as "Lonely Anger", "Five Worms", "Inner and Outer Reserves", "Speaking of Forest" and "Speaking of Difficulty". Later, these works were transmitted to the Qin State, and after reading them, Qin Wangzheng exclaimed, "Wow! The widow can see this person swimming with him, and he will not hate it." However, when Han Fei was on an envoy to Qin, he did not gain the trust of Qin Wangzheng, and was framed by Li Si and Yao Jia, and later committed suicide in Qin prison. Although Han Fei failed to fulfill his ambitions in his life, he wrote "Han Feizi" that has been passed down through the ages. A native of Chu in the last years of the Warring States period. In his early years, he was a county official, and later learned the art of the emperor from Xunzi and entered Qin. At the beginning, he was appointed by Lü Buwei as a lang, and then persuaded the king of Qin to destroy the princes and become the emperor, and was appointed as a long history. The king of Qin adopted his strategy, sent strategists to lobby the six countries of Kwantung with gold and jade, separated the monarchs and ministers of various countries, and appointed him as a guest secretary. In the tenth year of the reign of King Qin (237 BC), he ordered the expulsion of the guest secretaries of the six countries. Li Si was stopped by the "Book of Expulsion of Guests", which was adopted by the Qin Wangzheng, and soon the official became a court lieutenant. It played a great role in the cause of the unification of the six countries by the Qin Dynasty. After Qin unified the world, he agreed with Wang Juan and Feng Zai to respect Qin Wang Zheng as emperor and formulate relevant etiquette systems. He was appointed prime minister. He also proposed the demolition of the county city walls and the destruction of the people's weapons in order to strengthen the rule of the people; opposed the feudal system and adhered to the county system; and also advocated the burning of the people's collection of "poems", "books", and the hundred schools of thought, and the prohibition of private learning, so as to strengthen the centralized rule of absolutism. He also participated in the development of laws. Unified system of rails, writing, and weights and measures. After the death of Qin Shi Huang, he conspired with Zhao Gao to forge an edict and force the first emperor's eldest son Fusu to commit suicide and appoint his young son Hu Hai as the second emperor. Later, it was jealous of Zhao Gao, and in the second year of Qin II (208 years ago), he was beheaded in the downtown of Xianyang, and razed the three clans.

The way of statecraft. 1. Formulating laws: "Those who compile the law shall set up the books in the government and distribute them to the people." "The function of the law is to restrain the behavior of the people. And the king has the power to punish those who break the law. You can reward those who obey the royal law. The theoretical basis for urging the people through rewards and punishments is that human nature seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages. At the same time, Han Feizi also added: "The rule of the husband and the saint. Don't rely on others for my goodness, and use it for nothing. It is also good for me to use people, and there are not many people in the territory; no one can do anything wrong, and one country can make all. For the sake of the ruler and the many, and the widow is sacrificed. Therefore, it is not a matter of virtue but of law. "The way of the sage's governance. It is not up to everyone to do good. but that no one may do evil. There are countless people who do good in a country [this is the factor that makes society peaceful], and those who make a few do evil [this is a factor of social unrest]) If people do not do evil, the country can be peaceful. A king rules by the strength of the multitude, and removes the wickedness. So. Instead of always focusing on promoting good morality, aim to establish provisions that govern a few evildoers. It follows from this that the king only needs to master the law and rule the people by law, and the society will be peaceful, and it is futile to govern the country only by preaching good morals. 2. Follow the name and be responsible: This is the Legalist interpretation of "correct name". The king needs to have a set of powers to control his courtiers. Officials who hold certain positions are responsible for completing the tasks required of their duties. The king's duty is to delegate a nominal office to someone, and the work required by this office has been clearly defined in the relevant laws, and the king is only concerned with whether a certain official is responsible for his duty, and how to complete the work is the courtier's own business, and does not need the king's guidance. All the king has to do is to reward him for completing the task, and punish him for failing to complete it. The key is how the king chooses the right person to hold a particular office. "As far as Chen, who is a minister, is responsible for what he says. If the merit is not in its own way, and if it is not in its words, it will be punished. In this way, the capable will be on top, and the incompetent will be eliminated. 3. Therefore, in general, the Legalists do not expect to transform the masses into new people through education. Rather, it is by proceeding from reality, making laws, and matching the power and power of a king to rule over his subjects. Then why is Han Feizi so disdainful of the cultural education of "virtue"? The root cause of this is that Han Feizi is convinced of the evil of human nature. Because he is a student of Xunzi.

Among the pre-Qin princes, Confucianism advocated benevolence, Mohists advocated both love, and Taoism believed that neither benevolence nor love could save the world, and that the only way was to do nothing, i.e., the idea of "non-action." The three argue fiercely, but they all advocate a return to the past. At this time, the Legalists who advocated facing the future were born. The representatives of the Legalist school are Shang Ying and Han Fei during the Warring States Period. In terms of political system, Legalism advocated the county system. In terms of ruling ideology, Legalism advocates the rule of punishment, foolishness of the people, and power.

The role of the law. The first function is to "settle the division and stop the dispute", that is, to clarify the ownership of things. One of the Legalists made a very simple analogy: "When a rabbit goes, a hundred people chase it." Accumulate rabbits in the city, and ignore them. If you don't want a rabbit, you can't fight for it. This means that when a rabbit runs, many people chase it, but they don't look at so many rabbits in the market. It's not that you don't want rabbits, it's that the ownership has been determined and you can't fight for it anymore, otherwise it's against the law and you're going to be sanctioned. The second function is to "promote merit and fear violence", that is, to encourage people to make military exploits, and to make those lawbreakers feel fearful. The ultimate goal of Xinggong is to enrich the country and strengthen the army and win the annexation war.

Legalists believe that all human beings have the nature of "good and evil" or "good and bad and avoid harm". As Guan Zi said, a businessman travels day and night, and he doesn't feel far away from traveling thousands of miles, because interests attract him in front. Fishermen are not afraid of danger, sail against the current, and do not care about the distance of hundreds of miles, but also pursue the interests of fishing. With this same thought, Shang Ying came to the conclusion: "There are likes and dislikes in life, so the people can be governed." Therefore, the Legalists combined the "good and evil" to gain humanity with the prosperity and strength of the country, and used rewards and punishments to induce and drive people to "plow", "fight", and "sue for adultery"; anyone who produced a lot of food, killed the enemy with meritorious service, and exposed the law and crime could get an official title and a farmhouse, and anyone, regardless of his background, as long as he worked hard to follow the laws and regulations of the state, could obtain wealth and glory, and the country would become rich and strong.

Legalists oppose conservative retro ideas and advocate resolute reforms. They believe that history is moving forward, and that all laws and systems must develop along with the development of history, and that they cannot go backwards or follow the old ways. Shang Ying clearly put forward the proposition of "lawless in the past, not in the present". Han Fei further developed Shang Ying's proposition, proposing that "time changes and it is not easy to cure chaos", and he caricatured the old-fashioned Confucianism as a stupid person who waits for the rabbit.

Shang Ying, Shen Dao, and Shen Bu Harm respectively advocated emphasizing the law, the situation, and the technique, each with its own characteristics. When it came to Han Fei, the master of Legalist thought, Han Fei put forward the idea of closely combining the three. Law refers to the sound legal system, power refers to the power of the monarch, to monopolize military and political power, and art refers to the strategy and means of controlling the ministers, grasping political power, and implementing laws and regulations. The main thing is to detect and prevent rebellion and maintain the status of the monarch. Contemporary scholar Liu Muyu (Liu Duo) mentioned in "Illegal and Inhuman Rule": "The defense of the law depends on the monarchy, and what the government does depends on the same."

Legalism established a feudal system of rules and regulations called "rule of law" called rule by law, and law was a tool for the king to rule and restrain his subjects (see below: The difference between Legalism and the spirit of modern rule of law), rather than modern democracy "governing the country according to law". Moreover, a whole set of theories and methods have been proposed. This provided an effective theoretical basis for the centralized Qin Dynasty that was established later, and the later Han Dynasty inherited the centralized system and legal system of the Qin Dynasty, which was the main body of politics and human rule in China's ancient feudal society. But Legalism also has its shortcomings. For example, they vigorously exaggerate the role of the law, emphasize the use of heavy punishments to govern the country, and "use punishment to remove punishment", and moreover, impose heavy penalties for minor crimes, and superstitious about the role of the law. They believe that human nature is to pursue interests, and there is no moral standard to speak of, so it is necessary to use interests and honor to induce the people to do it, and the "people" here only refer to ordinary people, and the lower the people, the more they are regarded as the presumed object of "sexual evil", and the more high-level people are regarded as the object of "sexual goodness", therefore, the "theory of sexual evil" of Legalism and the "theory of sexual evil" originating from Western Christianity cannot be the same. (To be continued......)