Shang Yang

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Shang Yang

Shang Yang (d. 338 BC) was an important statesman of Qin

Qin (state)

Q?n or Ch'in , was a state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Periods of China. It eventually grew to dominate the country and unite it in 221 BC, after which it is referred to as the Qin Dynasty....
in the Warring States Period

Warring States Period

The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from 476 BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE....
of ancient China

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....
. With the support of Duke Xiao of Qin, Shang enacted numerous reforms (in accordance with his legalist philosophy recorded in The Book of Lord Shang
The Book of Lord Shang

The Book of Lord Shang was an early Legalism work generally attributed to the eponymous Lord Shang. It is a foundational work of that harsh tradition: ""The Book of Lord Shang teaches that laws are designed to maintain the stability of the state from the people, who are innately selfish and ignorant....
) in the state of Qin that helped to change Qin from a peripheral state into a militarily powerful and strongly centralized kingdom, changing the administration by emphasizing meritocracy

Meritocracy

Meritocracy is a -cracy or other organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and ability , rather than by wealth , family connections , social class privilege , friends , seniority , popularity or other historical determinants of social position and political power....
and devolving power from the nobility

Nobility

Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary or for a lifetime. Titles of nobility exist today in many countries although it is usually associated with present or former monarchies....
.

vast majority of Shang's reforms were taken from policies instituted elsewhere, such as from Wu Qi

Wu Qi

Wu Qi was a China military leader and politician in the Warring States period. Born in the State of Wei , he was good at leading an army. He had served in the states of Lu and Wei....
of Chu

Chu

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Encyclopedia

Shang Yang (d. 338 BC) was an important statesman of Qin

Qin (state)

Warring States Period

The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from 476 BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE....
of ancient China

China

Meritocracy

Nobility

Reforms

The vast majority of Shang's reforms were taken from policies instituted elsewhere, such as from Wu Qi

Wu Qi

Wu Qi was a China military leader and politician in the Warring States period. Born in the State of Wei , he was good at leading an army. He had served in the states of Lu and Wei....
of Chu

Chu

Chu or CHU may refer to:Surname:* Chu , a common Chinese surname* Spanish writing Chu is the surname ? from Guangzhou, Guangdong .Places:...
; however, Shang's reforms were more thorough and extreme than those of other states. Under Shang's tenure, Qin quickly caught up with and surpassed the reforms of other states.

After Duke Xiao of Qin, posthumously Qin Xiaogong, ascended to the Qin throne, Shang left his lowly position in Wei

Wei (state)

The Wei was a state during the Warring States Period in China. Its territory lay between the states of Qin and Qi and included modern areas in Henan, Hebei and Shanxi and Shandong....
(to whose ruling family he had been born, but had to obtain a high position in) to become the chief adviser in Qin, at Duke Xiao's behest. There his changes to the state's legal system (which built upon Li Kui

Li Kui (legalism)

Li Kui was an ancient Chinese government minister and court advisor to Marquis Wen of Wei in the state of Wei . In 407 BC, he wrote the Book of Law , which was the basis for the codified laws of the Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty dynasties....
's Book of Law or Fajing, ??) propelled the Qin to prosperity. His policies built the foundation that enabled Qin to conquer all of China, uniting the country for the first time and ushering in the Qin dynasty

Qin Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty was preceded by the feudal Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. The unification of China in 221 BCE under the Qin Shi Huang marked the beginning of Imperial China, a period which lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912 CE....
.

He is credited by Han Feizi with the creation of two theories;

Ding Fa (??; fixing the standards)
Yi Min (??; treating the people as one)

Legalist approach

Shang believed in the rule of law and considered loyalty to the state to be above that of the family.

Shang introduced two sets of changes to the Qin state. The first, in 356 BC, were as follows:

Li Kui's Book of Law was implemented, with the important addition of a rule providing punishment equal to that of the perpetrator for those aware of a crime but failing to inform the government; codified reforms into enforceable laws.
Stripped the nobility of land right and assigned land to soldiers based upon military success. The army was also separated into twenty military rank
Military rank

Military rank is a system of hierarchy relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms....
s, based upon battlefield success.
As manpower was short in Qin, Shang encouraged the cultivation of unsettled lands and wastelands, and favoured agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
over commerce
Commerce

Commerce is a division of trade or production, costs, and pricing which deals with the Trade of goods and service from production, costs, and pricing to final consumer....
Shang burnt Confucian
Confucianism

Confucianism is a China Ethics and Philosophy developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . It focuses on human morality and right action....
books in an effort to curb the philosophy's influence.

Shang introduced his second set of changes in 350 BC, which included a new, standardised system of land allocation and reforms to taxation.

Domestic policies

Shang introduced land reform

Land reform

Land reforms is an often-Land reform#Arguments for and against land reform alteration in the societal arrangements whereby government administers possession and use of land....
s, privatized land, rewarded farmers who exceeded harvest quotas, enslaved farmers who failed to meet quotas, and used enslaved citizens as rewards for those who met government policies.

As manpower

Manpower

Manpower may refer to:...
was short in Qin relative to the other states at the time, Shang enacted policies to increase its manpower. As Qin peasants were recruited into the military, he encouraged active immigration

Immigration

While the movement of people has thought throughout history at various levels, modern immigration tourism are considered non-immigrants . Immigration that violates the immigration laws of the destination country is termed illegal immigration or undocumented immigration....
of peasants from other states into Qin as a replacement workforce; this policy simultaneously increased the manpower of Qin and weakened the manpower of Qin's rivals. Shang made laws forcing citizens to marry at a young age and passed tax laws to encourage raising multiple children. He also enacted policies to free convict

Convict

A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con"....
s who worked in opening wastelands for agriculture.

Shang abolished primogeniture

Primogeniture

Primogeniture is the common law right of the firstborn son to inherit the entire Estate , to the exclusion of younger siblings. It is the tradition brought by the Normans to England in 1066....
and created a double tax on households that had more than one son living in the household, to break up large clans into nuclear families.

Shang moved the capital to reduce the influence of nobles on the administration.

Diplomatic intrigue

During Shang's tenure, the state of Wei was a highly powerful neighboring state. During a battle during the 340 BC invasion of Wei, Shang feigned interest in a peace treaty, met with the commander of the Wei army and captured him. Without their leader, the Wei army easily lost to the army of Qin and lost territory.

Shang Yang's death

Deeply despised by the Qin nobility, Shang could not survive Qin Xiaogong's death. The next ruler, King Huiwen, ordered the execution of Shang and his family, on grounds of rebellion; Shang had previously humiliated the new Duke "by causing him to be punished for an offense as though he were an ordinary citizen." Shang went into hiding and tried to stay at a hotel. Ironically, the hotel owner refused because it was against Shang's laws to admit a guest without proper identification. Shang is said to have been executed by being fastened to four chariot

Chariot

The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC....
s and pulled apart. Despite his death, King Huiwen kept the reforms enacted by Yang("Shang" is not his family name, not a name actually, his name is Yang).

Confucian scholars were highly opposed to Shang's legalist approach.

External links

Hong Kong University Philosophy Department,
Chinese-English parallel text, Chinese Text Project
???

Shang Yang

Reforms

Legalist approach

Domestic policies

Diplomatic intrigue

Shang Yang's death

See also

Further reading

External links