One answer to the problem of disorder — though not the first to emerge — was a hardheaded and practical philosophy known as Legalism. To Legalist thinkers, the solution to China’s problems lay in rules or laws, clearly spelled out and strictly enforced through a system of rewards and punishments. “If rewards are high,” wrote Han Fei, one of the most prominent Legalist philosophers, “then what the ruler wants will be quickly effected; if punishments are heavy, what he does not want will be swiftly prevented.”3 Legalists generally entertained a rather pessimistic view of human nature. Most people, they believed, were stupid and shortsighted. Only the state and its rulers could act in their long-term interests. Doing so meant promoting farmers and soldiers, the only two groups in society who performed essential functions, while suppressing merchants, aristocrats, scholars, and other classes regarded as useless.

Legalist thinking provided inspiration and methods for the harsh reunification of China under Shihuangdi and the Qin dynasty (221–206 B.C.E.), but the brutality of that short dynasty thoroughly discredited Legalism (see “China: From Warring States to Empire”). Although its techniques and practices played a role in subsequent Chinese statecraft, few philosophers or rulers ever again openly advocated its ideas as the sole guide for Chinese political life. The Han and all subsequent dynasties drew instead on the teachings of China’s greatest sage — Confucius.