Книга правителя области Шан. (Шан Цзюнь Шу)

`The Book of the Ruler of the Shang Region' is one of the most significant monuments of the socio-political thought of ancient China. Shang Yang (Ruler of the Shang region, proper name - Gongsun Yang, 390 BC - 338 BC) - an outstanding Chinese thinker, one of the founders of legalism - a philosophical and political doctrine contrary to the teachings of Taoism and Confucianism. In modern historiography, Shang Yang is known primarily as the person who first formulated the complete principle of a totalitarian state and a despotic form of government. His treatise “The Book of the Ruler of the Shang Region” (Shang Jun Shu) has survived to this day. Shang Yang's ideas had a huge impact not only on his contemporaries, but also on many subsequent generations. Thanks to their implementation, the Qin kings, in less than a hundred years, managed to transform their state into the strongest of the Seven Warring Kingdoms (the Zhanguo era), which made it possible for Qin Shi Huang to unite China under Qin rule.

The teachings of Shang Yang, adopted by the Confucians in the period from the 3rd century. BC e. to the 3rd century n. e., contributed to the transformation of Confucianism into a state ideology and had a huge influence on the further development of legislation and legal theories not only of China, but also of many countries of the Far East.

However, Already in ancient times, the assessment of Shang Yang’s ideas was not unambiguous. While recognizing the practical results of their application, many Chinese thinkers could not come to terms with a number of the most important provisions of legalism, most fully developed by Shang Yang. Thus, they did not understand the idea of ​​the natural depravity of man, the idea of ​​​​the benefits of wars and the most aggressive possible foreign policy, the idea of ​​​​establishing a single and common set of punishments for all, the idea of ​​​​introducing mutual responsibility for responsibility for a crime, the idea of ​​​​an unconditional ban on the free distribution of any - or teachings, as well as the physical destruction of any written works that in any way contradicted the norms of legalism.