PKU3 GOVERNANCE 3 Hanfeizi, the Legalist View
Hanfeizi: Authority Works by Strict Laws
Introduction:
Hanfeizi (died 233 BCE), a student of Xunzi, is identified with the school of Legalists
who, for the reasons he spells out here, recommended strong and uniformly applied
laws as necessary for governing human beings effectively [link: text]. His principles were
applied by Qin Shihuang, often called the first emperor, in the process of unifying China.
To some extent, these models have never been seriously called into question by any
Chinese governing system since then.
An imagined portrait of Hanfeizi (died 233 BCE)
[Source: http://thai.cri.cn/mmsource/images/2005/07/19/20050719hanfeizi1.jpg, 111229]
Text:
Past and present have different customs; new and old adopt different measures. To
try to use the ways of a generous and lenient government to rule the people of a critical
age is like trying to drive a runaway horse without using reins or wood. This is the
misfortune that ignorance invites. . . .
Now here is a young man of bad character. His parents rail at him, but he does not
reform; the neighbors scold, but he is unmoved; his teachers instruct him, but he
refuses to change his ways. Thus, although three fine influences are brought to bear on
him – the love of his parents, the efforts of the neighbors, the wisdom of his teachers –
yet he remains unmoved and refuses to change so much as a hair on his chin. But let
the district magistrate send out the government soldiers to enforce the law and search
for evil doers, and then he is filled with terror, reforms his conduct, and changes his
ways. Thus the love of parents is not enough to make children learn what is right, but
must be backed up by the strict penalties of the local officials; for people by nature tend
to be spoiled by love, but they listen to authority. . . .
Hardly ten men of true integrity and good faith can be found today, and yet the
offices of the state number in the hundreds. If they must be filled by men of integrity and
good faith, then there will never be enough men to go around; and if the offices are left
unfilled, then those whose business is to govern will dwindle in numbers while disorderly
men increase. Therefore the way of the enlightened ruler is to unify the laws instead of
seeking for wise men, to lay down firm policies instead of longing for men of good faith.
Hence his laws never fail him, and there is no felony or deceit among his officials.
...
In the state of an enlightened ruler, there are no books written on bamboo slips (as
were all books in China at the time); law supplies the only instruction. There are no sermons
on former kings; the officials serve as the only teachers. There are no fierce feuds of
private swordsmen; cutting off the heads of the enemy is the only deed of valor. Hence,
when the people of such a state make a speech, they say nothing that is in contradiction
to the law; when they act, it is in some way that will bring useful results; and when they
do brave deeds, they do them in the army. Therefore, in times of peace the state is rich,
and in times of trouble its armies are strong.
[Source: William Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2nd edition, Vol
1, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, 200-203, translated by Burton Watson, modified.]
韩非子 《五蠹》
夫古今异俗，新故异备。如欲以宽缓之政，治急世之民，犹无辔策而御駻马，此不知
之患也……
今有不才之子，父母怒之弗为改，乡人谯之弗为动，师长教之弗为变。夫以父母之爱、
乡人之行、师长之智，三美加焉，而终不动，其胫毛不改。州部之吏，操官兵，推公法，
而求索奸人，然后恐惧，变其节，易其行矣。故父母之爱不足以教子，必待州部之严刑
者，民固骄于爱、听于威矣……
今贞信之士不盈于十，而境内之官以百数，必任贞信之士，则人不足官。人不足官，
则治者寡而乱者众矣。故明主之道，一法而不求智，固术而不慕信，故法不败，而群官
无奸诈矣。
韩非子 五蠹
故明主之国，无书简之文，以法为教；无先王之语，以吏为师；无私剑之捍，以斩首
为勇。是境内之民，其言谈者必轨于法，动作者归之于功，为勇者尽之于军。是故无事
则国富，有事则兵强。
Study questions:
1. When in the first paragraph Hanfeizi emphasizes that old and new rightly adopt
different governing policies, what alternative position is he implicitly criticizing? Which
position is more convincing? Why?
2. Any government in any country may have difficulty locating enough competent and
honest employees. What are the biggest dangers that the author foresees? How well
would you expect Hanfeizi’s measures to work to assure good government? Why?
3. How could “firm policies” and unified laws guarantee “no felony or deceit” among
such a ruler’s officials?
4. If Hanfeizi were to participate in the Han debates on iron and salt [link: text], what
position would you expect him to adopt?
5. Note that bamboo strips tied together were the standard form for books in his time.
What sort of “books written on bamboo” does Hanfeizi want to ban and why?
Commentary:
It is interesting to consider why Machiavelli’s early-modern justification of power
politics only emerges more than 1500 years after the Chinese views of Hanfeizi and
other Legalists [link: text]. Between the two, the Roman Emperors exercised absolute
power during centuries without any great need to theorize it. Then the dominance of
Christianity for still more centuries often relegated secular politics to secondary
importance compared to sacred authority as interpreted by the Church. In short,
theories of political leadership only came into their own in the West when the influence
of the (Roman Catholic) Church began to decline in early modern Europe [link: cultural
legacies]. Once the so-called “Divine Right of Kings” lost credibility, first in 17th-century
England, then elsewhere, monarchies had to search for non-religious grounds for
legitimacy. Thomas Hobbes provided the first step [link: Thomas Hobbes].
In China, on the other hand, once the Han Dynasty had established a coherent
worldview that justified its power hierarchy, there was little need for theorists of power.
The emperors maintained their authority on the basis of their position atop an allinclusive and broadly accepted hierarchy. Their unrestrained power no longer needed
any justification as such. Therefore, though the origins of Hanfeizi’s thought are
intimately tied to Warring States China, many of his ideas have been applied as a
matter of course in the way central powers have governed as of the Han Dynasty.
Excerpted from Western Civilization with Chinese Comparisons, 3rd ed,(Shanghai:
Fudan University Press, 2010), pp 390-92.