Shang Yang and The Book of Lord Shang

The Book of Lord Shang (Shangjunshu 商君書), associated with the major Qin reformer, Shang Yang 商鞅 (d. 338 BCE) and his followers, is one of the foundational texts of the fa tradition. The text’s philosophical premises and practical recommendations are deeply connected to the reforms initiated by historical Shang Yang. Its evolutionary view of history, according to which everything—even basic social relations and human morality—is changeable, serves to justify Shang Yang’s radical departure from existent sociopolitical patterns. The notion that humans are uniformly motivated by the quest for riches and “the name” (referring both to repute and status) serves, in turn, as the foundation of the authors’ program of social engineering. Skillful application of negative (merciless punishments) and positive (ranks of merit and the adjacent privileges) incentives will direct the entire population towards the mutually related tasks of agriculture and warfare, making the state rich and powerful, and eventually allowing the establishment of the new unifying dynasty. However, to succeed, these impartial norms should be not just fair and transparent but, most notably, exclusive. To prevent alternative avenues of socioeconomic advancement, the ruler should fully control society. This advocacy of the “total state” became the most immediately recognizable feature of Shang Yang’s and his followers’ ideology.