A Study On Shang Yang’s Evaluation In Song Dynasty From The Perspective Of Reform

From the perspective of judging the past and the present,the evaluation of Shang Yang(商鞅)by the people of the Song Dynasty is reflected in the compilation and quotation of The book of Shang Jun,and then in the reform and innovation activities,Shang Yang’s remarks and past events are quoted to comment on the realistic political activities.The book of Shang Jun appeared many times in the records of Song Dynasty.People in Song Dynasty questioned the authenticity of The book of Shang Jun,.The reading of Shang Jun Shu by the public and the literati can be observed in the poems,the speeches of the literati and the lectures of ministers.The"reformers"in the Song Dynasty repeatedly cited Shang Yang and his old reform events,and promoted the smooth development of realistic reform activities by highly appraising Shang Yang.The"anti-reformers"in the song dynasty chose to attack shang Yang according to their own standpoint,and they opposed the establishment of the system and three departments and regulations department,which was embodied in shang Yang’s he way of abolishing“the former king"(先王之道),as the banner of anti-reform in practical politics.The"anti-reformers"used the historical facts of Shang Yang’s"Advocating law"(尚法令)and"heavy agricultural war"(重农战)to allude to the new law in realistic politics and to point out the shortcomings of the reform measures to express their criticism of Wang Anshi’s reform(王安石变法).People of the time believed that it was one of Wang Anshi’s crimes to refer to Shang Yang’s reform methods.They criticized Wang Anshi’s new learning by refuting Shang Yang’s technique of enriching the country and strengthening the army.The scholars who advocated the thought of rule of law in the Song Dynasty affirmed Shang Yang and praised his idea of governing the country with reward and punishment.However,those who advocated the use of Confucianism to govern the country advocated the theory and opposed the legalist utilarianism,thus attacking Shang Yang.The Song people advocated the rule of"benevolent government",(行仁政)criticized Shang Yang’s reform of land system,and lamented Shang Yang’s abolition of"the law of the former king"(先王之法).Facing the dilemma of internal troubles and foreign invasion,scholars paid attention to Shang Yang’s measures to enrich the country and strengthen the army in order to solve the social problems,which reflected the strong realistic concern of Song people.By systematically analyzing the evaluation of Shang Yang by people of the Song Dynasty,it is helpful to promote the development of the study history of Shang Yang and his reform,and to deepen the understanding of the political history,historical history,ideological history and philology of the Song Dynasty.