Interview with
a Legalist
…BY A FAIRLY CLUELESS REPORTER
WRITTEN BORROWING HEAVILY FROM:
BENTLEY, JERRY H. AND HERBERT F. ZIEGLER.
TRADITIONS AND ENCOUNTERS: A GLOBAL
PERSPECTIVE ON THE PAST. BOSTON: MCGRAW
HILL. 2008.
Why does China need something new? What’s
wrong with the Confucianists and Legalists?
 Neither of the two has ended the Period of the
Warring States. Ethics, morality, and codes of
behavior are of little importance. Who cares about
the place of human beings in nature? We need
action!
So what will end the Period of the Warring
States?
 One state needs to finally be strong enough to defeat
all the others and unite China by force.
And you have a plan for that…?
 Yes. If people can be made to serve the state and
expand it at the cost of everything else, becoming
strong enough to end the Period of Warring States
can be done. There must be no sympathy and no
selfishness.
But what will make a state stronger?
 All resources must be used for the only two
important professions: the military, and farming to
feed the military. All else is a waste of labor and
resources. Worthless activities like business-forprofit, scholarship, art, education, and philosophy
are a waste and therefore hurt the potential of the
state.
But will people want to serve the state in the
military or farming? What if they do not want to?
 Then they will be made to do so. If people want to act
selfishly, they will be made unselfish. Anyone
breaking the rules, no matter how small, will be
punished severely, either by death or forced labor
until they die.
You can’t possibly mean that!
 Absolutely, I do. We’re talking about a lifetime of
hard labor for littering or amputation of one’s feet
for stealing. Desperate times call for desperate
measures.
But what is the point of that?
 There are two. First, harsh penalties for small crimes
will give the government the large supply of bodies it
needs for large-scale military campaigns and
projects. Second, it will scare people so badly that
they will do what the state wants them to do without
question.
But how can these rules be enforced? You’ll need
a huge police force that will be expensive.
 No, and that’s the genius of Legalism. We’ll use
collective punishment, meaning that if one person
fails to report a crime, his or her whole
neighborhood will be punished. We won’t need a lot
of policemen since everyone will be forced to be a
police informant! They’ll be too scared NOT to turn
people in.
And you really think this will make you popular?
 Not at all. People will hate us. But future generations
will thank us for unifying China, making it great once
again, and for finally ending the Period of the
Warring States.