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Person338 BC

Shang Yang

Also called: Lord Shang, Gongsun Yang

Statesman of Qin in the Warring States period whose Legalist reforms under Duke Xiao laid the foundations of Qin’s wealth and power

A scion of the ruling house of Wey, he studied Legalist thought. Finding no opening in Wei, he went to Duke Xiao of Qin, who was seeking able men, and carried out two rounds of reform. Rewarded with the fief of Shang, he became known as Lord Shang. His strict laws punished even the crown prince’s tutors, earning the nobles’ hatred; when Duke Xiao died he was accused of rebellion and torn apart by chariots. The Book of Lord Shang preserves teachings attributed to him, and Han Feizi later built on his rule of law.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    500 BC – 221 BCThe Hundred Schools of Thoughtrelated figure

    As lords of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods sought able men, Confucians, Daoists, Mohists, Legalists and many others (the Hundred Schools) offered rival ways of governing.

  2. 2
    356 BC – 338 BCThe Reforms of Shang Yangleader

    Employed by Duke Xiao of Qin, Shang Yang introduced Legalist reforms — ranks for military merit, counties and collective responsibility — that laid the foundations of Qin’s wealth and power.

People who appear alongside

  • Confucius551 BC – 479 BC

    Thinker of the state of Lu at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, founder of the Confucian school who taught benevolence (ren) and ritual propriety (li); his words are recorded in the Analects

  • Mencius372 BC – 289 BC

    Confucian thinker of the Warring States period who held that human nature is good and argued for the kingly way of rule by virtue and for the people as the root of the state

  • Han Feizi233 BC

    Legalist thinker of the state of Han at the end of the Warring States period who synthesised Legalism (law, technique and authority); his writings influenced the First Emperor

Themes this person appears in

  • Ancient China and India770 BC – AD 220

    From the Hundred Schools of the Warring States to the unified empires of Qin and Han, and from the Buddha to the Maurya and Kushan empires — the millennium that shaped East and South Asian civilisation