A Study On Shang Yang's Thought Of Inter-States Politics With The Background Of The Rise Of Qin

The famous American scholar Joseph S. Nye, Jr. once said the achievement in material could make its culture and ideology appealing, while under-development on military and economy might lead to self-doubt and identification crisis. It is time now to construct a Chinese School of international relations on the basis of Chinese history and culture.As the name implies, the research on Shang Yang's political thoughts among countries is a study of his international political thoughts. The Analysis of the Shang Yang's political thoughts among countries in this paper is placed in the context of the rise of Qin focusing on how Shang's political thoughts gave impetus to the rise and hegemony of Qin, and finally brought on a great unification of Qin Empire. The using of concept-'inter-state politics' aims solely at observing Chinese history from theoretical perspective which is not contrary to the 'traditional view' on Chinese history or patriotism towards the unification of China. As a fact, the main purpose of this research on Shang Yang's political thoughts among countries is to seek the historical rationality of China's unification.By analyzing the object of this study -Shang Yang's political thoughts among countries, this paper reveals not only the possibilities and causes of the rise and Qin's final domination but also the reflection and criticism on Western International Relations Theories. This paper consists of four parts including introduction.The introduction briefly demonstrates the significance of this study, the empirical and recent studies of political thoughts among countries in Spring and Autumn Period domestically and abroad as well as a concise elaboration of the study methods. The first part emphasizes on investigating and analyzing the relation between Shang Yang and the rise of Qin started with an introduction of historical background of Shang Yang Reform. Then, it expounds the process of the rise of Qin and the vicissitude of Qin's international status. At the end, it focuses on how Shang's political thoughts gave impetus to the rise and hegemony of Qin. In this part, it indicates that Shang's reform thoughts, in another words, the idea of the self-oriented reform was not a revolutionary innovation but a reference and imitation of reforming experiences from other states at that time.The second part which is also the core of this study thoroughly analyzed the concept, logic and pattern of Shang's political thoughts among countries.The third part discusses the effect and limitation of Shang's political thoughts among countries. It enabled Qin break the inter-states balance in the Warring States Period and ultimately achieved the first great unification in Chinese history. Yet, it also caused over-expansion of the national power of Qin Empire with excessive shrinking of the social power, which resulted in excessive domestic power imbalance and the rapid collapse of Qin Empire.The last part talked about the significance of Shang Yang's thought on Inter-states politics,which will help discipline of International relations to establish Chinese School.