Shang Yang
Encyclopedia
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
of the State of Qin
Qin (state)
The State of Qin was a Chinese feudal state that existed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history...
during the Warring States Period
Warring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
of Chinese history. Born Wei Yang in the State of Wei
Wei (state)
The State of Wei was a Zhou Dynasty vassal state during the Warring States Period of Chinese history. Its territory lay between the states of Qin and Qi and included parts of modern day Henan, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong...
, with the support of Duke Xiao of Qin Yang enacted numerous reforms in Qin. These were in accordance with his legalist philosophy as recorded in The Book of Lord Shang
The Book of Lord Shang
The Book of Lord Shang was an early Legalist 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...
and assisted Qin in its change from a peripheral state to that of a militarily powerful and strongly centralized kingdom. He changed the administration of the state through an emphasis on meritocracy
Meritocracy
Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...
and devolvement of power from the nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
.
Reforms
The vast majority of Yang's reforms were taken from policies instituted elsewhere, such as from Wu QiWu Qi
Wu Qi was a Chinese military leader and politician in the Warring States period.-Biography:Born in the State of Wei , he was skilled in leading armies and military strategy. He had served in the states of Lu and Wei. In the state of Wei he commanded many great battles and was appointed Xihe Shou...
of the State of Chu
Chu (state)
The State of Chu was a Zhou Dynasty vassal state in present-day central and southern China during the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States Period . Its ruling house had the surname Nai , and clan name Yan , later evolved to surname Mi , and clan name Xiong...
; however, Yang's reforms were more thorough and extreme than those of other states. Under Yang's tenure, Qin quickly caught up with and surpassed the reforms of other states.
After Duke Xiao of Qin, ascended the Qin throne, Yang left his lowly position in the State of Wei
Wei (state)
The State of Wei was a Zhou Dynasty vassal state during the Warring States Period of Chinese history. Its territory lay between the states of Qin and Qi and included parts of modern day Henan, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong...
(to whose ruling family he had been born, but had yet 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 were said to have 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 and Han dynasties...
's Canon of Laws) 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 the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
.
He is credited by Han Feizi with the creation of two theories;
- Ding Fa (定法; fixing the standards)
- Yi Min (一民; treating the people as one)
Philosophy
Yang believed in the rule of law and considered loyalty to the state to be above that of the family.Yang introduced two sets of changes to the State of Qin. The first, in 356 BC, were:
- 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.
- Stripping the nobility of land rights and assigning land to soldiers based upon their military successes. The army was also separated into twenty military rankMilitary rankMilitary rank is a system of hierarchical 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 achievements. - As manpower was short in Qin, Yang encouraged the cultivation of unsettled lands and wastelands, favoring agricultureAgricultureAgriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
over commerceCommerceWhile business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
Yang introduced his second set of changes in 350 BC, which included a new standardised system of land allocation and reforms to taxation.
Domestic policies
Yang introduced land reformLand reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
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:*Human resourcesOrganizations:*Manpower Inc., an international employment agency, headquartered in the United States*Manpower Incorporated, a criminal enterprise in the Honor Harrington science fiction series...
was short in Qin relative to the other states at the time, Yang enacted policies to increase its manpower. As Qin peasants were recruited into the military, he encouraged active immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
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. Yang 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". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
s who worked in opening wastelands for agriculture.
Yang abolished primogeniture
Primogeniture
Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...
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.
Yang moved the capital to reduce the influence of nobles on the administration.
Shang Yang's death
Deeply despised by the Qin nobility, Yang could not survive Qin Xiaogong's death. The next ruler, King Huiwen, ordered the execution of Yang and his family, on the grounds of fomenting rebellion. Yang had previously humiliated the new Duke "by causing him to be punished for an offense as though he were an ordinary citizen." Yang went into hiding and tried to stay at a hotel. The hotel owner refused because it was against Yang's laws to admit a guest without proper identification, a law Yang himself had implemented. Yang is said to have been executed by being fastened to five chariotChariot
The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...
s and torn to pieces. Despite his death, King Huiwen kept the reforms enacted by Yang. A number of alternate version of Shang Yang's death have survived. According to Sima Qian
Sima Qian
Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
in his Records of the Grand Historian
Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name Shiji , written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the Magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time...
Shang Yang fled to his fiefdom, where he raised a rebel army but was killed in battle. After the battle, King Hui of Qin had Yang's corpse torn apart by chariots as a warning to others.
Confucian scholars were highly opposed to Shang Yang's legalist approach.
See also
- The Book of Lord ShangThe Book of Lord ShangThe Book of Lord Shang was an early Legalist 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...
- Chinese philosophyChinese philosophyChinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and...
- Han Feizi
- Li KuiLi 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 and Han dynasties...
- QinQin (state)The State of Qin was a Chinese feudal state that existed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history...
- Qin DynastyQin DynastyThe Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
- Warring States PeriodWarring States PeriodThe Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
External links
- Hong Kong University Philosophy Department, Lord Shang
- The Book of Lord Shang Chinese-English parallel text, Chinese Text Project
- 戰國策 秦第一 (in Chinese)
- Lord Shang (died 338 BC)
- China TV dramatisation of Shang Yang's story