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Guan Zhong (Chinese: ??, Wade-Giles: Kuan Chung) (born 725 BC, died in 645 BC) was a Chinese
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 politician in the Spring and Autumn Period
Spring and Autumn Period

The Spring and Autumn Period was a period in Chinese history, which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty . Its name comes from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 BC and 481 BC, which tradition associates with Confucius....
. His given name
Given name

A given name is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name ....
 was Yíwú. Zhong was his courtesy name. Recommended by Bao Shuya
Bao Shuya

Bao Shuya : ???) was a famous official of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period. He was a contemporary and friend of Guan Zhong....
, he was appointed Prime Minister
Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
 by Duke Huan of Qi in 685 BC.

Guan Zhong modernized the state
State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
 of Qi
Qi (state)

Qi was a powerful state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States. Its capital was Linzi, which is part of the present city of Zibo in Shandong Province....
 by starting multiple reforms. Politically, he centralized power and divided the state into different village
Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, larger than a hamlet , but smaller than a town or city. Though generally located in rural areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban area neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon....
s, each carrying out a specific trade
Trade

Tradeis the willing exchange of goods, Service , or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter , the direct exchange of goods and services....
.






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Guan Zhong (Chinese: ??, Wade-Giles: Kuan Chung) (born 725 BC, died in 645 BC) was a Chinese
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 politician in the Spring and Autumn Period
Spring and Autumn Period

The Spring and Autumn Period was a period in Chinese history, which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty . Its name comes from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 BC and 481 BC, which tradition associates with Confucius....
. His given name
Given name

A given name is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name ....
 was Yíwú. Zhong was his courtesy name. Recommended by Bao Shuya
Bao Shuya

Bao Shuya : ???) was a famous official of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period. He was a contemporary and friend of Guan Zhong....
, he was appointed Prime Minister
Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
 by Duke Huan of Qi in 685 BC.

Guan Zhong modernized the state
State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
 of Qi
Qi (state)

Qi was a powerful state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States. Its capital was Linzi, which is part of the present city of Zibo in Shandong Province....
 by starting multiple reforms. Politically, he centralized power and divided the state into different village
Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, larger than a hamlet , but smaller than a town or city. Though generally located in rural areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban area neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon....
s, each carrying out a specific trade
Trade

Tradeis the willing exchange of goods, Service , or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter , the direct exchange of goods and services....
. Instead of relying on the tradition
Tradition

The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem, acc. of traditio which means "handing over, passing on", and is used in a number of ways in the English language:...
al aristocracy
Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number....
 for manpower
Manpower

Manpower may refer to:...
, he applied levies to the village units directly. He also developed a better method for choosing talent to be governor
Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the Executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state. In federations, a governor may be the title of each appointed or elected politician who governs a constitutive state....
s. Under Guan Zhong, Qi shifted administrative
Public administration

Public administration can be broadly described as the development, implementation and study of branches of government public policy. The pursuit of the public good by enhancing civil society and social justice is the ultimate goal of the field....
 responsibilities from hereditary aristocrats to profession
Profession

"A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain"....
al bureaucrat
Bureaucrat

A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government....
s.

Guan Zhong also introduced several important economic reforms. He created a uniform tax code
Tax code

In the United Kingdom, every person paid under the PAYE scheme is allocated a tax code by HM Revenue & Customs. This is in the form of a number followed by a letter or letters, or a letter followed by numbers....
. He also used state power to encourage the production of salt
Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
 and iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
; historian
Historian

A historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time....
s usually credit Guan Zhong for introducing state monopolies of salt and iron. During his term of office, the state of Qi became much stronger and Duke
Duke

A duke is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy or a dukedom. The title comes from the Latin language Dux Bellorum, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed by both the Germanic peoples themselves and by the Ancient Rome authors covering them to r...
 Huan of Qi gained hegemony
Five Hegemons

During the Spring and Autumn Period there were several states which rose to hegemony over other states; the term Five Hegemons refers to any of several lists of these hegemons....
 among the states.

He is listed as the author
Author

An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created....
 of the Guanzi encyclopedia
Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a comprehensive written compendium that holds information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
, actually a much later (of the late "Warring States" period) compilation of works from the scholars of the Jixia Academy.

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