legalism

MY BLOG ON CHINESE LEGALISM

May 9, 2007 Dear Diary,

Today I witnessed the coolest thing. The founder of legalism Yang Shang came back from the dead and I was there to see it. I managed to ask him a few questions, before the scientists and press crowded me out, this is what he had to say:

Q: Why did you start the belief of legalism?

A: I started the belief of legalism because the rulers needed a way to control the people and bring them back to greatness after the warring states period. Legalism gives great control to the ruler and causes the people to fear him. This is what the people needed after such a time of freedom and warring, and Shi Haung Di needed to be able to control his people very well.

Q: What was one of the main beliefs of the legalist people?

A: Well, we believed in very harsh punishments and that people were naturally bad. We also believed that education was a waste of time so many books were destroyed. We didn’t realize what we were destroying.

Q: What was the first dynasty to use legalism?

A: The first dynasty to use legalism was the Qin dynasty. As this was the time when china was just beginning to form, and order was most needed.

Q: How did legalism get its name?

A: Well, one of the beliefs of legalism was that humans were evil by nature and would commit the worst acts of selfishness if they were given the chance, so the legalists had to come up with the most terrible punishments for selfishness. So the base for a well-organized happy society is a set of strict cruel rules against evil or selfish acts. Thus they earned the name legalism.

Q: Why did you burn so many books?

A: We not only believed that humans were evil but that doing something that was not productive like reading and writing was evil as well. We thought that the only productive things were farming and weaving and that other things were a waste of time and money. All books other than books on farming or weaving were burned, and no more were made. Any scholar who refused to oblige was buried alive.

ME: Ouch, sounds harsh.

Yang Shang: It was.

Now that you have read this entry it is time to test your skills. I will ask you three questions about this article. All you have to do is answer them the best you can. I don’t mind if you look back in the reading a little bit but try not to.

1.Who started legalism? Hint: He is the person I interviewed.

2. What happened to scholars who refused to burn their books?

3. Why did they burn the books?

That’s the end of this report but I’m sure there are others some where.

AWNSER KEY

1. Yang Shang started legalism.

2. Scholars who refused to burn their books were buried alive.

3. They burned the books because they believed thing that were not productive, like reading and writing, were evil so they burned the books.