The Book of Lord Shang

Historically, the Book of Lord Shang's first chapter has been especially associated with Shang Yang, purportedly portraying the court debate that saw Shang Yang gain office. However, in the evaluation of modern translator Yuri Pines, while some of the Book of Lord Shang came from Shang Yang's life time, or shortly thereafter, it likely took over a century to write. Even in Imperial China, Huang Zhen of the Southern Song dynasty did not believe the work to have been written by Shang Yang himself, with his biography in the Shiji suggesting him to have been a 'more gifted law official' than the Book of Lord Shang. As noted by the early scholarship of J.J.L. Duyvendak, apart from the work's stylistic inconsistencies, most of it would unlikely have been written by Shang Yang himself if, as Sima Qian states, he was executed almost immediately after resigning from office. References to events from the end part of the Warring State period, and skepticism during the imperial period, contributed to a dismissive attitude toward the work during the Republican period (1912-1949) as compared with the Han Feizi, taking the entire work as late. ==Textual tradition==

Taking Shang Yang as a common referent, it is commonly accepted in modern scholarship that the Book of Lord Shang was produced by Shang Yang and his followers. Together, they are referred to in Chinese-Asian scholarship as "Shang Yang's school" (xuepai 學派 or school of thought), most notably by Malaysian sinologist Zheng Liangshu (1940–2016), or "Qin Legalists", including by Beijing sinologist Lin Cunguang 2014. The term "Shang Yang’s 'school'" has been "hugely popular" since Zheng Liangshu's 1989 work, Shang Yang and His School. While the work's composite nature contributes to skepticism, modern translator Yuri Pines considered it more ideologically consistent than most Warring States texts. He believes that "some chapters were likely penned by Shang Yang himself; others may come from the hand of his immediate disciples and followers", forming a "relatively coherent ideological vision" reflecting the evolution of what, as interpreted by Pines, Zheng Liangshu (1989) dubbed Shang Yang's 'intellectual current' (xuepai 學派), not considering it as self-aware or organized a 'school' as the Confucians or Mohists - in agreement with scholarship at the turn of the century (e.g. Loewe & Shaughnessy's Cambridge History 1999 et al.) Like the later Han Feizi, the Book of Lord Shang insists on the anachronism of the policies of the distant past, drawing on more recent history. In comparison with the Han Feizi, though considering them to be "digressions of minor importance", Pines Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy believes the Book of Lord Shang "allowed for the possibility that the need for excessive reliance on coercion would end and a milder, morality-driven political structure would evolve." In Pines opinion, the Han Feizi does not. Without implying any direct connection, Michael Puett and Mark Edward Lewis compared the Rites of Zhou to the "Legalism" of Shang Yang. ==Dating==

Pines dating for the work's chapters range from 300 BCE to 230 BCE, near the time of the Qin state's unification of China. The work matures philosophically in chapters 6 (Calculating the Land) and 7 (Opening the Blocked), becomes more administrative and accommodating in chapter 14 (Cultivation of Authority), and has its more sophisticated chapters at the end of its work, chapters 24 (Interdicting and Encouraging) and 25 (Attention to Law), with Chapter 26 (Fixing Divisions) "reflecting administrative realities from the eve of imperial unification." Individual chapters While Shang Yang's reforms included peasant levies, chariots were already being exchanged for primarily infantry even before the Warring States period, in the sixth century b.c., with cavalry becoming only supplemental. Not making use of cavalry, Pines believes that military chapters like 10, 11 and 19 definitely did come from the fourth century B.C.. Guo Moruo believed that Chapter 15 “Attracting the People” makes reference to the Changping campaign of the 47th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, 82 years after Shang Yang’s death, so that Guo Muruo believed the Book of Lord Shang was a forgery. Tong Weimin (2016) dates it 78 years after Shang Yang, in King Zhaoxiang's reign, arguing that it is a legitimate work of a follower of Shang Yang stemming from Shang Yang favoring immigration. ==Doctrine of Names==

Following the Han Feizi, discussing Shang Yang and Shen Buhai, the three together were often identified under the Han Feizi's doctrine of Xing-Ming, or "form and name". The Shiji would introduce Shang Yang as having an interest in the discipline of forms and names. Nothing would seem to bare out that Shang Yang studied an identical "Names" doctrine to Shen Buhai and Han Fei, but it does have "Names" doctrine. Pines considers Shang Yang's primary doctrine to be that of connecting people's inborn nature (Qing) or dispositions (different Xing) with names (ming 名). The Book of Lord Shang does not believe that fa laws will be successful without "investigating the people's disposition", recommending enacting laws that allow people to "pursue the desire for a name", namely fame and high social status, or just wealth if acceptable. Ensuring these "names" are connected with actual benefits, it was hoped people would be less likely to commit crimes, and more likely to engage in hard work or fight in wars. Ming names in the work most commonly refers to repute and social status. In Chapter 26 (“Fixing divisions”) however, it refers to legal codes and, "more frequently, something akin to a proper bureaucratic nomenclature". Making use of the per-imperially rare term mingfen (名分) as the "essence of legal and administrative practices", fen refers to such things as "social divisions, distinctions", and individual allotment." ==Overview==

Pines considered the Shangjunshu probably the earliest text taking the ruler's position (not simply the ruler himself) as pivotal for the state's well-being. However, the text is largely focused on the relation between the state and society, not 'monarchical power'. The Book of Lord Shang teaches that "The law is an expression of love for the people... The sage, if he is able to strengthen the state thereby, does not model himself on antiquity, and if he is able to benefit the people thereby, does not adhere to the established rites." As such, the philosophy espoused is quite explicitly anti-Confucian: ==Translations==

• Duyvendak, J. J. L. (1928). The Book of Lord Shang. London: Arthur Probsthain; reprinted (1963), Chicago: University of Chicago Press. • Shimizu, Kiyoshi 清水潔 (1970). Shōshi 商子 [Shangzi]. Tokyo: Meitoku shuppansha. • Levi, Jean (1981). Le Livre du prince Shang [The Book of Prince Shang]. Paris: Flammarion. • Pines, Yuri (2017). The Book of Lord Shang - Apologetics of State Power in Early China (Translations from the Asian Classics). New York: Columbia University Press. • Vogelsang, Kai (2017) Shangjun shu – Schriften des Fürsten von Shang. Stuttgart, Alfred Kröner Verlag, ISBN 978-3-520-16801-6 == See also ==