The Food Security Thought Of Leading Philosophers In Pre-Qin And Its Contemporary Value

There is an old Chinese saying which goes like "Food is the paramount necessity of the people, and grain is the main food". Food is necessary for the survival and development of humankind, and it’s also fundamental for the national security. It is not only a kind of common commodity, but also important national strategic resource. Food security is the foundation of national security. So ensuring national food security has much to do with a country’s political, economic and social development and the stability of a country and the society, and it matters the maintenance of national sovereignty. The maintenance of national security is a major strategic issue with overall importance and the priority for the country’s governance. Ensuring national food security is of great significance no matter in ancient times or in contemporary times.Traditional Chinese historical culture is extensive and profound. The thought of national food security has formed during its long-term process of evolution and development. In the age of Schools’ Contend over2000years ago, the thought of national food security was systematically discussed for the first time in the history of Chinese. The pre-Qin leading philosophers put forward a series of important ideas like that "grain is the master of people" and "food is the treasure for the country". Also they discussed how to ensure national food security from the level of system, mainly from the protection of agricultural production, the establishment of national food reserves, the food circulation, the national macro-regulation. Moreover, the pre-Qin scholars also applied these ideas into practice, using the food as weapons to serve the war. And this is the earliest food war. Therefore, we even can say the thought of national food security of pre-Qin scholars system is the trinity of the concept, institution and strategy, achieving the organic unity.Though Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism and military strategist in pre-Qin all recognize the importance of food security, they have arrived at different lessons on the routines of securitization, the dimensions of the state power and the strategy choice about how to implement the national food security because of different positions and the starting points. These differences can be divided into three parts. Firstly, on the routines of securitization, Confucianism and Mohism focus on the personal security, while the legalism and military strategist focus on national security. Secondly, about the dimensions of state power, Confucianism and Mohism give an emphasis on the national soft power, while the legalism emphasized on the hard power of a country. Thirdly, about the strategy choice how to implement the national food security, the Confucianism and Mohism who view man as an integral part of nature claim the concept of sustainable development to achieve food security, while the proposal of legalism is unsustainable like draining the pond to get all the fish.At present, the food security situation China face is not optimistic, and the pressure of population, resources and environment is the persistent challenge for the increase of China’s future food production. Therefore, the18th NCCPC report points out that we should speed up the development of modern agriculture, raise the overall production capacity of agriculture, and ensure food security and effective supply of major agricultural products in China. In contemporary times, China should fully absorb the pre-Qin philosophers’ thought of food security, take lessons from the conductions about food security of all dynasties in ancient times, and give the problem of food security more concern in national strategy. Facing severe food security situation, it’s urgent for China set up its own national food security strategy. First, we should mainly rely on domestic production and achieve self-sufficient in food to ensure domestic food security. Also we should actively participate in the global governance of food security, improve the environment for global food trade and safeguard global food security to build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity.