The Book of Lord Shang

The Book of Lord Shang
Traditional Chinese商君書
Simplified Chinese商君书
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinShāng jūn shū
Gwoyeu RomatzyhShang jiun shu
Wade–GilesShang1 chün1 shu1
IPA[ʂáŋ tɕýn ʂú]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationSēung gwān syū
JyutpingSoeng1 gwan1 syu1
IPA[sœŋ˥ kʷɐn˥ sy˥]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJSiong kun chhu
Tâi-lôSiong kun tshu
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)*s-taŋ C.qur s-ta

The Book of Lord Shang (traditional Chinese: 商君書; simplified Chinese: 商君书; pinyin: Shāng jūn shū) is an ancient Chinese text from the 3rd century BC, regarded as a foundational work of "Chinese Legalism". The earliest surviving of such texts (the second being the Han Feizi),[1] it is named for and to some extent attributed to major Qin reformer Shang Yang, who served as minister to Duke Xiao of Qin (r. 361 – 338 BC) from 359 BC until his death in 338 BC and is generally considered to be the father of that state's "legalism".[2]

The Book of Lord Shang includes a large number of ordinances, essays, and courtly petitions attributed to Shang Yang, as well as discourses delivered at the Qin court. The book focuses mainly on maintaining societal order through a system of impartial laws that strictly mete out rewards and punishments for citizens' actions. The first chapters advise promoting agriculture and suppressing other low-priority secondary activities, as well as encouraging martial virtues for use in creating and maintaining a state army for wars of conquest.[3]

  1. ^ Pines, Yuri, "Legalism in Chinese Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), 1.1 Major Legalist Texts, http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/chinese-legalism/
  2. ^ Levi (1993), p. 368.
  3. ^ Knechtges & Shi (2014), p. 810.