The Book of Lord Shang

The Book of Lord Shang
Traditional Chinese	商君書
Simplified Chinese	商君书
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shāng jūn shū Wade–Giles Shang1 chün1 shu1 IPA [ʂáŋ tɕýn ʂú] Gwoyeu Romatzyh Shang jiun shu Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Soeng1 gwan1 syu1 Yale Romanization Sēung gwān syū Southern Min Hokkien POJ Siong kun chhu Tâi-lô Siong kun tshu Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *s-taŋ C.qur s-ta
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	商子
Literal meaning	"[Writings of] Master Shang"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shāngzǐ Wade–Giles Shang1-tzu3 IPA [ʂáŋtsɨ̀] Gwoyeu Romatzyh Shangtzyy Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Soeng1-zi2 Yale Romanization Sēung-jí Southern Min Tâi-lô Siong-tzú Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *s-taŋ tsəʔ

The Book of Lord Shang (Chinese: 商君書; pinyin: Shāng jūn shū) is an ancient Chinese text from the 3rd century BC that is regarded as a foundational work of the more legalistic aspect of Chinese Realpolitik. It is named for and attributed to the 4th century BC official and philosopher Shang Yang, who served as minister to Duke Xiao of Qin (r. 361 – 338 BC) from 359 BC until his death in 338 BC and is generally considered to be the father of Qin Legalism.

The Book of Lord Shang includes a large number of ordinances, essays, and courtly petitions attributed to Shang Yang, as well as discourses delivered at the Qin court. The book focuses mainly on maintaining societal order through a system of impartial laws that strictly mete out rewards and punishments for citizens' actions. The first chapters advise promoting agriculture and suppressing other low priority secondary activities, as well as encouraging martial virtues for use in creating and maintaining a state army for wars of conquest.

The introduction of the freely available J.J.L. Duyvendak edition includes background information, such as short biography and a statement of likelihood that Lord Shang was responsible for the reform that phased out the old land-well system, making land tradeable provided that it would used productively.

Overview

The Book of Lord Shang teaches that "The law is an expression of love for the people; rites are a means for making things run smoothly. The sage, if he is able to strengthen the state thereby, does not model himself on antiquity, and if he is able to benefit the people thereby, does not adhere to the established rites." As such, the philosophy espoused is quite explicitly anti-Confucian:

Sophistry and cleverness are an aid to lawlessness; rites and music are symptoms of dissipations and licence; kindness and benevolence are the foster‑mother of transgressions; employment and promotion are opportunities for the rapacity of the wicked. If lawlessness is aided, it becomes current; if there are symptoms of dissipation and licence, they will become the practice; if there is a foster‑mother for transgressions, they will arise; if there are opportunities for the rapacity of the wicked, they will never cease. If these eight things come together, the people will be stronger than the government; but if these eight things are non‑existent in a state, the government will be stronger than the people. If the people are stronger than the government, the state is weak; if the government is stronger than the people, the army is strong. For if these eight things exist, the ruler has no one to use for defence and war, with the result that the state will be dismembered and will come to ruin; but if there are not these eight things, the ruler has the wherewithal for defence and war, with the result that the state will flourish and attain supremacy.

— Chapter 2, Paragraph 5 of The Book of Lord Shang, pg 109 of J.J.-L. Duyvendak, 1928

Translations

• Duyvendak, J. J. L. (1928). The Book of Lord Shang. London: Arthur Probsthain; reprinted (1963), Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• (Japanese) Shimizu, Kiyoshi 清水潔 (1970). Shōshi 商子 [Shangzi]. Tokyo: Meitoku shuppansha.
• (French) Levi, Jean (1981). Le Livre du prince Shang [The Book of Prince Shang]. Paris: Flammarion.

References

Footnotes

Works cited

External links

Text of the work

• The Book of Lord Shang Chinese-English parallel text, Chinese Text Project
• Text of The Book of Lord Shang -(translated by J.J.-L. Duyvendak (1889-1954) into English in 1928)
• Shangzi by Lord Shang -(Chinese; from Project Gutenberg)