Electronic Passport to the Legalists and the Burning of the Books

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Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport Chinese History

The Legalists

Confucius believed that people are good, but a group of scholars known as the Legalists had a different view. The Legalists believed that man would look out for himself first and was therefore evil. Like Confucius, the Legalists wanted to unify China, but they wanted to do it very differently. They believed that society functioned best through strong state control and absolute obedience to authority. They created laws that ordered strict punishments and rewards for behavior. The Legalists believed that all human activity should be directed toward increasing the power of the ruler and the government. Confucius believed in virtue and natural order; the Legalists held power by suppressing anyone who disagreed with them.

The Legalists ruled China for about fifteen years. The ruler of the Ch’in state embraced the Legalist philosophy and united all of China about 214BC. He took the title Hwang-ti, which means August Lord or First Emperor, and began the Ch’in Dynasty. To stop any criticism, Shih Huang-ti and the Legalists banned all books on history and of classics glorifying past rulers. The First Emperor ordered all "non-essential" books collected and burned, and hundreds of scholars put to death. He allowed only books on agriculture, medicine and pharmacy. Books written about Confucius and his philosophy were destroyed. The Legalists lost power shortly after the death of the First Emperor, and the succeeding rulers ended laws against books. Confucius’ teaching managed to survive the Burning of the Books because his philosophy was often handed down orally from master to student; thus it was possible to reconstruct the texts from memory and preserved manuscripts.

Chinese History

To cite this page:
Dowling, Mike., "The Electronic Passport to the Legalists," available from http://www.mrdowling.com/613-legalists.html; Internet; updated Tuesday, April 30, 2002 11:57 PM