As the Roman Empire was taking shape in the Mediterranean basin, a powerful Chinese empire emerged in East Asia. More than in the Roman world, the political ideas and practices of imperial China drew on the past. The notion of China as a unified state ruled by a single sage/emperor who mediated between heaven and the human realm had an ancient pedigree. After a long period of political fragmentation, known as the era of warring states, such a unified Chinese state took shape once again during the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 B.C.E.), led by its formidable ruler Shihuangdi (see pp. 133–36). That state operated under a version of Legalism (see “The Legalist Answer”), a political philosophy that found expression in the writings of Han Fei (280–233 B.C.E.) and that in large measure guided the practices of Shihuangdi and the Qin dynasty. Han Fei’s Legalist thinking was discredited by the brutality and excesses of Shihuangdi’s reign, and the Han dynasty that followed was sharply critical of his ideas, favoring instead the “government by morality” approach of Confucianism. Nonetheless, Han Fei’s emphasis on the importance of laws and the need to enforce them influenced all succeeding Chinese dynasties.

The Writings of Master Han Fei

Third Century B.C.E.

No state is forever strong or forever weak. If those who would uphold the law are strong, the state will be strong; if they are weak, the state will be weak…

In the present age, he who can put an end to private scheming and make men uphold the public law will see his people secure and his state well-ordered; he who can block selfish pursuits and enforce the public law will see his army growing stronger and his enemies weakening. Find men who have a clear understanding of what is beneficial to the nation and a feeling for the system of laws and regulations, and place them in charge of the lesser officials; then the ruler can never be deceived by lies and falsehoods…

A truly enlightened ruler uses the law to select men for him; he does not choose them himself. He uses the law to weigh their merits; he does not attempt to judge them for himself. Hence men of true worth will not be able to hide their talents, nor spoilers to gloss over their faults. Men cannot advance on the basis of praise alone, nor be driven from court by calumny [false charges]…

What the law has decreed the wise man cannot dispute nor the brave man venture to contest. When faults are to be punished, the highest minister cannot escape; when good is to be rewarded, the lowest peasant must not be passed over. Hence, for correcting the faults of superiors, chastising the misdeeds of subordinates, restoring order, exposing error, checking excesses, remedying evil, and unifying the standards of the people, nothing can compare to law…If penalties are heavy, men dare not use high position to abuse the humble; if laws are clearly defined, superiors will be honored and their rights will not be invaded…Were the ruler of men to discard law and follow his private whim, then all distinction between high and low would cease to exist.

The enlightened ruler controls his ministers by means of two handles alone. The two handles are punishment and favor. What do I mean by punishment and favor? To inflict mutilation and death on men is called punishment; to bestow honor and reward is called favor. Those who act as ministers fear the penalties and hope to profit by the rewards. Hence if the ruler wields his punishments and favors, the ministers will fear his sternness and flock to receive his benefits. But the evil ministers of the age are different. They cajole the ruler into letting them inflict punishments themselves on men they hate and bestow rewards on men they like. Now if the ruler of men does not insist on reserving to himself the right to dispense profit in the form of rewards and show his sternness in punishments, but instead hands them out on the advice of his ministers, then the people of the state will all fear the ministers and hold the ruler in contempt, will flock to the ministers and desert the ruler. This is the danger that arises when the ruler loses control of punishments and favors.