Preface
Is a seemingly feasible but controversial approach to statecraft really worth revisiting?
Shang Ying, a controversial reformer in Chinese history, has always been criticized for his idea that "the people are foolish and the country is strong". However, should we abandon prejudice and look at the whole process of the Shang Dynasty reform to make a more peaceful evaluation?
Aspiring young people leave their hometowns in search of the realization of the value of life
Shang Ying was born in Weiguo at the end of the Warring States period and was a small country. From an early age, he showed extraordinary wisdom and diligence, often reading various classics and accumulating a great deal of cultural knowledge. But he also clearly realized that if he wanted to do more, he had to leave this place. A small country is destined to limit his lofty political ambitions.
So at the age of 20, Shang Ying decided to leave his hometown and began a long journey. He traveled to various vassal states, hoping to find a stage to display his ambitions.
The experience of this stage made Shang Ying see all kinds of warmth and coldness of feudal society. He found that prominent families often fought for power positions; And the officials are even more deceitful, focusing on looting wealth from the people. This dark social reality made the young Shang Ying feel disappointed.
Just when he was confused about the future of his life, a piece of news about the recruitment of talents in the Qin State suddenly attracted his attention--Could this country, which was on the verge of extinction due to internal and external troubles, be the opportunity for him to show his ambitions? Shang Ying resolutely decided to go to the Qin State to give it a try. He was convinced that a country that was about to fall needed to be saved by young people with vision and ambition like himself. This can be a very fulfilling historical mission!
The Qin state, whose people were struggling to survive, was on the verge of extinction
In 355 BC, the 25-year-old Shang Ying came to the Qin state. At this time, the Qin State was facing the double pressure of internal and external troubles. Qin Xiaogong, who had just ascended the throne, was only in his 20s and obviously did not have enough experience to deal with these serious problems. And the Qin State has been in war for many years, and a large number of talents have left, and the talents are desolate.
Shang Ying soon realized that the state of Qin at this time was already a country on the verge of extinction. The military discipline is lax and morale is low; And the ruling class and the common people are facing profound social problems.
Through field investigations, Shang Ying found that most of the people of Qin were dull and poor, and their lives were hard. They worry about food and clothing all day long, and it is difficult for them to get an education to change their fate. This dooms them to have no energy to care about national affairs, let alone participate in them. The upper echelons of the rulers are mostly corrupt, incompetent, and misbehaving. Officials at all levels have too much power and are corrupt and pervert the law. Such a country is destined to be difficult to take off.
However, Shang Ying's thinking was different from that of ordinary people - he believed that the dullness of the common people could be turned into an advantage. What a country really needs is loyal workers, not intellectuals who are always thinking of rebellion. He believes that too many ideological constraints will also limit a country's development. So, he put forward that sensational proposition: the people are foolish, the country is strong.
"The people are stupid, the country is strong": a subversive logic of governance
Shang Ying explained that the people who live at the bottom are often the hardest working. They had to devote themselves to the heavy work, so there would be no rebellion. In contrast, highly educated intellectuals are more likely to form their own ideas to question and rebel against the rulers.
He also pointed out that dull people are easier to control and exploit. They will neither disagree nor rebel, but will only obey the rulers. This is conducive to the concentrated use of state forces. The state only needs a small elite elite to make plans and govern the country.
It can be said that this kind of thinking was still very subversive and innovative in Chinese history at that time. It reverses the traditional Confucian logic of "teaching the people to make them aware of etiquette and righteousness, and the country will become self-reliant", and provides a completely different plan for governing the country. It attracted the attention of many visionaries, including Qin Xiaogong.
Therefore, with the strong support of Qin Xiaogong, Shang Ying began more than ten years of practice to try to verify his theory. During his long political career, he successively formulated and implemented a series of important policies, the most important of which was the military merit system.
Reward military merits: open the channel for the people to get rich
According to the idea that "the people are foolish, the country is strong", the military merit system formulated by Shang Ying opened the channel for the people to change their fate. Under this system, all people, regardless of their birth status, can get official positions and knighthoods as long as they have made military achievements.
For a time, the number of people who actively joined the army and made meritorious contributions increased dramatically. A large number of dull people joined the army to serve the country. On the one hand, this greatly encouraged the fighting enthusiasm of the Chinese people and greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of the Qin army.
On the other hand, it also gives the majority of low-level civilians the opportunity to be promoted by fighting bravely against the enemy. They also hope to change their social status and the fate of their children and grandchildren through meritorious service.
This undoubtedly greatly enhanced the social influence of the Shang Dynasty reform. It opened the way for the lower classes to achieve wealth accumulation and political participation, and won the support of the broadest masses of the people. Of course, this system inevitably violates the vested interests of the worldly powers. However, Qin Xiaogong stepped in to quell their opposition. For the sake of the country's future, these vested interests can only temporarily retreat.
Speech control and harsh laws: Make sure people are honest
In order to ensure that the people kept to themselves, Shang Ying also implemented speech control and harsh criminal laws among the people. The purpose of these measures is also to implement the concept that "the people are foolish, the country is strong".
Specifically, the Shang Dynasty stipulated that the common people were only allowed to talk about agricultural production and military affairs, and were not allowed to discuss major national and social issues. Freedom of speech is severely restricted.
At the same time, extremely cruel Legalist criminal laws were imposed, including torture such as car cracking and cannon burning. These harsh laws punished and deterred the people.
These initiatives, while controversial on a humanitarian level, have strengthened authoritarian rule and ensured that people work honestly without distraction or complaint, thus laying the foundation for rapid prosperity and strength.
Qin's national strength has increased greatly, but reform cannot escape tragedy
Under the reform practice of Shang Yang for more than ten years, the Qin State underwent earth-shaking changes. The national strength has increased several times, and the military strength has also been greatly enhanced. The state of Qin became one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States and began to move towards the unification of the whole country. The theory that "the people are foolish makes the country strong" seems to have been fully verified.
However, this change ultimately failed to escape the tragedy of Shang Yan himself. After the death of Qin Xiaogong, he lost his most important backer. Enemies and conservatives seized the opportunity to launch a frenzied political revenge. Shang Ying was framed for rebellion and eventually died. Soon after, Li Si came to power and took the Shang Dynasty's ideas to the extreme—the tyrannical unification of the Qin Dynasty by extreme military means.
Re-examining "the people are foolish and the country is strong": we need a more dialectical perspective
Looking back at Shang Ying's reforms, we should not be too harsh on the cruelty of his theory that "if the people are foolish, the country will be strong". Because in the context of the chaotic world at that time, this may be the best means to save the Qin State. We must admit that without the seemingly cruel change of Shang Ying, there would not have been a historical miracle of the rise of the Qin State later.
Of course, his approach does significantly discount today's values of human rights and democratic constitutionalism. However, for an ancient feudal country on the verge of extinction and internal and external troubles, it is still unknown whether it is feasible to simply hold high the banner of human rights and democracy in order to complete the salvation and survival in a short period of time. In those troubled times, the considerations of centralization and efficiency may have been more realistic.
Therefore, today, when we evaluate the Shang Martingale Reform, we should abandon the logic of the binary opposition of good and bad. We are not in a position to easily deny the difficult choices made in the troubled times of the Warring States. What line should contemporary China take in order to take into account human rights and democracy in its development? This requires us to think from a broader historical perspective, rather than simply harsh on the ancients based on today's value standards.
epilogue
Simply criticizing Shang Ying's "theory of the foolishness of the people" will not help us to understand the essence of these complex problems. We need a more open, inclusive, and dialectical perspective to examine the ideas and actions of ancient Chinese reformers. Only in this way can people today gain enlightenment and make breakthroughs in these historical experiences.