18 China in World History
irrelevant to the needs of the present. Human nature is evil, he declared
with confi dence, and the only things that motivate people are promises
of pleasure and threats of pain. Laws should govern everything, and
there should be no exceptions. The ruler can trust no one, not even his
wife and children, perhaps especially his wife and children, because they
might have the most to gain by plotting against him. Rulers should be
aloof, remain mysterious in the eyes of all people, and never let their
own thoughts and feelings be known to others. Offi cials are mere tools
of the ruler in the effi cient organization of the state and the army, and
they should be promoted and demoted solely on the basis of their effec-
tiveness in carrying out their assigned duties. If an offi cial failed in his
duty or exceeded his duty, he should be punished equally in either case,
because any “extraordinary service” was likely nothing more than a
bald attempt to curry favor with the ruler.
In some ways, the Book of Han Feizi only summarized what was
already happening in the Warring States period, but it spelled out more
clearly than any other source how to organize a political, economic,
and military machine devoted entirely to building the power of the state
and its king. Its insights have proven remarkably prophetic (1,800 years
before Machiavelli developed similar ideas in The Prince) in describing
much of the functioning of the nation state in modern times.
In the dangerous era of the Warring States, political knowledge was
both precious and dangerous, as illustrated by the historian Sima Qian,
who told the following story. When Han Feizi visited the state of Qin,
Prime Minister Li Si recognized his brilliance and had him imprisoned
and forced him to drink poison, because he feared that if the King of
Qin conferred with the Han prince, Li Si’s own position might be threat-
ened. In the end, in Sima Qian’s view, Han Feizi’s sad fate demonstrated
the same sad truths he preached. If power was all that mattered, it was
to be expected that the most brilliant Legalist thinker of all time might
be killed by a rival in the name and the game of power.
Although the Legalists triumphed in wiping out all rivals to the
Qin state in 221 bce, their triumph resulted in a sophisticated imperial
state system that ultimately ensured the survival of texts from most of
the schools of thought in the Hundred Schools period. The rich fer-
ment of ideas in the Warring States period was not as clearly divided
into “schools” as later divisions between Confucians and Daoists and
Legalists would suggest. For example, the writings found in Warring
States tombs have consistently been eclectic, representing many strands
of thought including Legalist, Daoist, and Confucian. The Confucian
Xunzi once taught the Legalists Han Feizi and Li Si, and even strict