Page 2 of 3 SINOGRAPH China no longer a law unto itself
By Francesco Sisci
philosophers created an efficient, orderly state ready for war, and the
instruments to increase this efficiency were laws and standardization, as we
can see from the following passage from Hanfei zi you du :
1. A country's strength depends on law, fa.
No country is permanently strong. Nor is any country permanently weak. If
conformers to law are strong, the country is strong; if conformers to law are
weak, the country is weak.
2. Promote followers of the law
Therefore, at present, any ruler able to expel private crookedness and uphold
public law, finds the people safe and the state in order; and any ruler able to
expunge private action and act on public law, finds his army strong and his
enemy weak. So, find out men following the discipline of laws and regulations,
and place them above the body of officials. Then the sovereign cannot be
deceived by anybody with fraud and falsehood. Find out men able to weigh
different situations, and put them in charge of distant affairs. Then the
sovereign cannot be deceived by anybody in matters of world politics.
3. Beware of promotion by reputation or partisanship
Now, supposing promotions were made because of mere reputations, then ministers
would be estranged from the sovereign and all officials would associate for
treasonable purposes. Supposing officials were appointed on account of their
partisanship, then the people would strive to cultivate friendships and never
seek employment in accordance with the law. Thus, if the government lacks able
men, the state will fall into confusion.
If rewards are bestowed according to mere reputation, and punishments are
inflicted according to mere defamation, then men who love rewards and hate
punishments will discard the law of the public and practice self-seeking tricks
and associate for wicked purposes. If ministers forget the interest of the
sovereign, make friends with outside people, and thereby promote their
adherents, then their inferiors will be in low spirits to serve the sovereign.
Their friends are many; their adherents, numerous. When they form juntas in and
out, then though they have great faults, their ways of disguise will be
innumerable.
4. Civil decay follows punishment of the innocent
For such reasons, loyal ministers, innocent as they are, are always facing
danger and the death penalty, whereas wicked ministers, though of no merit,
always enjoy security and prosperity. Should loyal ministers meet danger and
death without committing any crime, good ministers would withdraw. Should
wicked ministers enjoy security and prosperity without rendering any
meritorious service, villainous ministers would advance. This is the beginning
of decay.
Were such the case, all officials would discard legalism, practicing favoritism
and despising public law. They would frequent the gates of the residences of
cunning men, but never once would they visit the court of the sovereign. For
one hundred times they would ponder the interests of private families, but
never once would they scheme for the state welfare of the sovereign.
5. Efficient administration depends on upholding the law
The law of the early kings said: "Every minister shall not exercise his
authority nor shall he scheme for his own advantage but shall follow his
majesty's instructions. He shall not do evil but shall follow his majesty's
path." Thus, in antiquity the people of an orderly age abode by the public law,
discarded all self-seeking tricks, devoted their attention and united their
actions to wait for employment by their superiors.
Indeed, the lord of men, if he has to inspect all officials himself, finds the
day not long enough and his energy not great enough. Moreover, if the superior
uses his eyes, the inferior ornaments his looks; if the superior uses his ears,
the inferior ornaments his voice; and, if the superior uses his mind, the
inferior twists his sentences. Regarding these three faculties as insufficient,
the early kings left aside their own talents and relied on laws and numbers and
acted carefully on the principles of reward and punishment.
Thus, what the early kings did was to the purpose of political order. Their
laws, however simplified, were not violated. Despite the autocratic rule within
the four seas, the cunning could not apply their fabrications; the deceitful
could not practice their plausibilities; and the wicked found no means to
resort to, so that, though as far away from His Majesty as beyond a thousand
li, they dared not change their words, and though as near by His Majesty as the
courtiers, they dared not cover the good and disguise the wrong. The officials
in the court, high and low, never trespassed against each other nor did they
ever override their posts. Accordingly the sovereign's administrative routine
did not take up all his time while each day afforded enough leisure. Such was
due to the way the ruler trusted to his position.
6. Let the law select leaders
Therefore, the intelligent sovereign makes the law select men and makes no
arbitrary promotion himself. He makes the law measure merits and makes no
arbitrary regulation himself. In consequence, able men cannot be obscured, bad
characters cannot be disguised; falsely praised fellows cannot be advanced,
wrongly defamed people cannot be degraded. Accordingly, between ruler and
minister distinction becomes clear and order is attained. Thus it suffices only
if the sovereign can scrutinize laws.
7. The law treats all alike
The law does not fawn on the noble; the string does not yield to the crooked.
Whatever the law applies to, the wise cannot reject nor can the brave defy.
Punishment for fault never skips ministers, reward for good never misses
commoners. Therefore, to correct the faults of the high, to rebuke the vices of
the low, to suppress disorders, to decide against mistakes, to subdue the
arrogant, to straighten the crooked, and to unify the folkways of the masses,
nothing could match the law. To warn the officials and overawe the people, to
rebuke obscenity and danger, and to forbid falsehood and deceit, nothing could
match penalty. If penalty is severe, the noble cannot discriminate against the
humble. If law is definite, the superiors are esteemed and not violated. If the
superiors are not violated, the sovereign will become strong and able to
maintain the proper course of government. Such was the reason why the early
kings esteemed legalism and handed it down to posterity. Should the lord of men
discard law and practice selfishness, high and low would have no distinction.
Hence to govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong.
[2]
In fact, there is broad consensus among historians that
the legal reforms in the state of Qin, which used Hanfei's zi theories,
made possible the accumulation of wealth, social cohesion and massive
mobilization of resources that fueled and produced the unification campaigns of
the first Chinese emperor. The law, fa, served the purpose of the
sovereign, which at that time was victory in wars against all enemies. Victory
in war ultimately achieved through the proper use of fa has left a
feeling of nostalgia in China's strategic thinking for inflexible law that
permits the organization of the state along almost military lines.
This creates a mental continuum between war and peace, which runs very deep in
the tradition of Chinese thought [3]. The state is organized so that it can
efficiently deal with war. Indeed, it is so strong and ready that it is able to
defeat the enemy before it even intends to attack or that its demands are met
immediately, without a fight, because just the possibility of conflict scares
potential enemies.
The emergence of the value and efficiency of fa in strengthening the
pre-Qin state went hand-in-hand with profound social changes. The aristocrats
surrounding the monarch, who were treated according to li, were wiped
out. An idea of "social equality" blossomed, holding that ministers and
monarchs were to be selected and chosen for their abilities and not because of
their lineage. These abilities ensured the ultimate success of the state. (See
for example the Shang Xian chapters in Mozi.)
This was also accompanied by a major transformation of the army. The virtues of
an individual combatant, requiring years of specific training, such as in
archery or driving a chariot, become much less important after the introduction
of the mass infantry. The individual soldier or infantryman was, though,
willing to risk his life in war if in return he received a chance of social
advancement.
But in pre-Qin China, the road to the top echelons of the state was not that of
military virtue. No "government leaders" came to the top because of their
merits in battle. Promotion within the state (which was organized for military
purposes) was by merit of "civilian" virtues, by the ability to administer the
state. This was the case with two prime ministers who contributed much to the
strengthening of the state administration - Guang Zhong (mythical author of Guanzi)
and Shang Guan (legendary author of Guanjun).
This transformation canceled the powerful old aristocracies and concentrated
power in the hands of the sovereign (the guarantor of the interests of the
state) and his ministers; "managers" of the state chosen by the sovereign from
a large mass of citizens, in theory all equal and different only on the basis
of individual merit.
Also during the five centuries passing from the collapse of the Zhou king's
power until the unification of the Qin Empire in 221 BCE, the fortunes of the
individual states were ephemeral. Large and small states were destroyed (mie),
some states managed to assert their "hegemony" (ba) in the central
plains, but this hegemony did not last long - it changed hands if a rival state
adopted more effective domestic policies.
In short, there was a situation of great competition between rival states, and
everyone was fighting life-or-death - something that required the adoption of
policies for ruthless efficiency. Otherwise, the state and all its population
faced a death penalty. Yet, lasting success came not really from victory in the
battlefield, but from a "domestic resilience/endurance" created by an efficient
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