Han Fei

  • Bian Que Visits Duke Huan of Cai [Han Feizi]

    – by Han Fei Bian Que went to see Duke Huan of Cai. After standing for a while, Bian Que said, “Your Majesty has an illness in the superficial layers of the skin; if left untreated, I fear it will grow worse.”

  • Passing Off as a Yu Player [Han Feizi]

    by Han Fei King Xuan of Qi required three hundred musicians to play the yu (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) for him at the same time.

  • The Xining Reforms: Wang Anshi [Song & Yuan]

    Introduction: This post recounts the background and course of Wang Anshi’s Xining Reforms during the Northern Song Dynasty. It begins with young Prince Zhao Xu’s admiration for Wang Anshi’s reform ideas amid the Song’s crises in finance, military, and governance. It depicts the sharp ideological conflict between Wang Anshi and his former friend Sima…

  • The Man of Zheng Who Buys Shoes [Han Feizi]

    – by Han Fei (Pre-Qin Period) There was a man from the state of Zheng who wanted to buy shoes. He first measured his own feet, then left the measurement on his seat.

  • The wise son and the suspicious neighbor [Han Feizi]

    – by Han Fei (Pre-Qin Period) In the state of Song, there was a wealthy man. After heavy rain, the wall of his house collapsed. His son said: “If we don’t repair it at once, thieves will surely break in.” An old man from his neighborhood also warned him the same thing. That night,…

  • Self-Contradiction [Han Feizi]

    -by Han Fei (Pre-Qin Period) A man from the state of Chu was selling shields and spears.

  • Han Feizi

    Han Feizi is the title of a foundational philosophical text and the culminating work of pre-Qin Legalist thought. Although attributed to Han Fei (c. 280–233 BCE), a prince of the state of Han during the Warring States period, the book was compiled posthumously by later scholars who collected his surviving writings and supplemented them…

  • Han Fei

    Han Fei (c. 280–233 BCE), often revered as Han Feizi or Master Han Fei, stands as one of ancient China’s most influential philosophers and political theorists. Emerging during the tumultuous Warring States Period (475–221 BCE), he hailed from Xinzheng, the capital of the state of Han (in modern-day Henan Province). As a royal descendant…