| ShangYang is the main representative person of the Legalist in ZhanGuo. He is a great thinker and a man of active. Under the chaotic social and cultural background, ShangYang put forward his theory in time, and applied it into practice. He promoted the thought of the rule of law and realized the target of making the country rich and strong. ShangYang is a controversy person, and people had different opinions to his theory. Because of that, ShangYang and his theory would never be forgotten by the history. He and his theory have been always commented by many persons in different times. The person who promoted the theory of reform would be considered a heresy in ancient China which pursued Stabilization and diapason and had a bad ending finally. Although ShangYang died, his theory was kept, his thought is a huge wealth.This text has five parts to discuss ShangYang's political reform theory.Firstly, the origin of ShangYang's political reform theory. ShangYang lived in a chaotic time when the wars happened frequently. There was not a central government at that time, although there were many great thinkers, their theories couldn't replace the position of Li to resolve the social problem. ShangYang is a strict person and he was addicted to the theory of law in his young, which had a direct connection to his theory. Qin was different from the other countries in customs and cultures, the king of Qin were eager to find talented persons who could reform. All of these factors were beneficial of ShangYang's theory.Secondly, the view that law should be drawn up according to the state. Shangyang believed that law should be made as useful as possible,which was the essence and soul of ShangYang's theory. He viewed law should push the economy to develop. He put forward two concepts, one was the time, the other one was the state. As the time and the state changed, the law should be changed. So law shouldn't be made according to the past. ShangYang absorbed many useful things from the ancients to prove his theory.Thirdly, the main content of ShangYang's theory was agriculture and war. He believed that it was the most important thing to make the country rich and strong, so all of the policies should be made to realize this aim. He put forward to inhibit other thinkers'theories, suppress the business and the small handicraft industry and strengthen the management to the officials. All of these policies were established to realize the main aim. The relationship between the praise and the punishment was that the praise should be huge and the punishment should be scathing. The praise shouldn't be given multifariously in order to make the praise seem huge. The punishment should be scathing, in that case the people didn't dare to make mistakes and go against the law, so the scathing penalty means no penalty.Fourthly, ShangYang's ideal was the rule of law and the view of the rule of law was very meaningful to the society. He believed that law should be fair without privacy, and everything should be included in law. He put forward the concept of law, which was different from the law in Li. To some extent, ShangYang's law replaced the position of Li. The concept of law was the foundation of the counteraction between law and Li.Fifthly, the main content is that how to evaluate ShangYang's theory and what does that mean to the society. From the positive angle, ShangYang's reform was the most successful one in ZhanGuo period. He put forward his theory in time. His theory was very clear, explicit and logical. His theory and practice made Qin rich and strong. From the negative angle, his principle of the scathing penalty was too ruthless. Some person said his theory couldn't be used for a long time. Some of his policies had negative influences to the development of the country in the future.In fact, ShangYang didn't have a kind of theory named reforming theory. The five parts of this text are just concluded by myself and maybe they are incomplete. However, it is a kind of try, because I think ShangYang's theory and his practice are both very precious. It is worthy for us to make a research. Although ShangYang's personality and his theory are not very perfect, which lead to some negative influences, we can never neglect his effort and success. I wish this kind of research useful and worthy. |
