The Book of Lord Shang

Compiled in China in the fourth–third centuries BCE, The Book of Lord Shang argues for a new powerful government to rule over society and turn every man into a diligent tiller and valiant soldier. Creating a “rich state and a strong army” will be the first step toward unification of “All-under-Heaven.” These ideas served the state of Qin that eventually created the first imperial polity on Chinese soil. In Yuri Pines’s translation, The Book of Lord Shang’s intellectual boldness and surprisingly modern-looking ideas shine through, underscoring the text’s vibrant contribution to global political thought.

The Book of Lord Shang is attributed to the statesman and theorist Shang Yang and his followers. It epitomizes the ideology of China’s so-called Legalist School of thought. In the ninety years since the work’s previous translation, major breakthroughs in studies of the book’s dating and context have recast our understanding of its messages. Pines applies these advances to a whole new reading of the text’s content and function in the sociopolitical life of its times and subsequent centuries. This abridged and revised edition of Pines’s annotated translation is ideal for newcomers to the book while also guiding early Chinese scholars and comparatists. It highlights the text’s practical success and its influence on political thought and political practice in traditional and modern China.

Preface to the Abridged Edition
Acknowledgments
Map of the Warring States World Around 350 BCE
Part I
Introduction
1. Shang Yang and His Times
2. The Text: History, Dating, Style
3. The Ideology of the Total State
4. The Text’s Reception and Impact
Part II: The Book of Lord Shang
Notes on Translation
1. Revising the Laws
2. Orders to Cultivate Wastelands
3. Agriculture and Warfare
4. Eliminating the Strong with 20. Weakening the People and 5. Explaining the People
6. Calculating the Land
7. Opening the Blocked
8. Speaking of the One
9. Implementing Laws
10. Methods of War
11. Establishing the Roots
12. Military Defense
13. Making Orders Strict
14. Cultivation of Authority
15. Attracting the People
16. Essentials of Punishments
17. Rewards and Punishments
18. Charting the Policies
19. Within the Borders
20. See chapter 4
21. Protecting from Robbers
22. External and Internal
23. Ruler and Ministers
24. Interdicting and Encouraging
25. Attention to Law
26. Fixing Divisions
Fragment of “Six Laws”
Notes
Bibliography
Index