Shāngzǐ 商子
Master Shāng (= Shāngjūn shū 商君書, Book of Lord Shāng) attributed to 商鞅 (Shāng Yāng, ca. 390–338 BCE, 秦)
About the work
A 5-juan, 26-篇 (received recension) classical Legalist text traditionally attributed to Shāng Yāng but in actual form a Warring States compilation by his successors and disciples in the Qín legal-administrative tradition. The work is the principal pre-Qín Legalist text alongside the Hán Fēizǐ (KR3c0005), and one of the most important pre-modern Chinese works on state-power theory. Substantively the text covers the foundational Legalist program: agriculture-and-warfare (nóng zhàn) as the dual basis of state power, fǎ (law) as the universal mechanism of governance, suppression of liù shī (six pests — Confucian virtues that weaken the state), and the radical-statist doctrine of yī jūn 一君 (a single ruler).
Abstract
The Shāngzǐ / Shāngjūn shū is one of the foundational classical Legalist texts. Composition window: Warring States, post-Shāng-Yāng (post-338 BCE) compilation incorporating his principles. The frontmatter brackets to ca. -350 to -200.
The bibliographic record: Hàn shū yìwén zhì (商君 29 篇, Fǎjiā); Suí shū jīngjí zhì; SKQS Zǐbù — Fǎjiā lèi.
Translations and research
- J. J. L. Duyvendak, The Book of Lord Shang, London: Probsthain, 1928. The classic Western translation.
- Yuri Pines, The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China, Columbia UP, 2017. The current standard scholarly translation and study.
- Standard modern Chinese editions integrate Jiǎng Lǐ-hóng 蔣禮鴻’s Shāng-jūn shū zhuī zhǐ 商君書錐指.
Links
- Hán Fēizǐ (KR3c0005) — the parallel canonical Legalist text.
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikipedia
- Wikidata