Read the page linked below. In bullets, summarize the main points of the Legalist form of government as it was practiced by the Qin Emperor Shi Huang Di.

Legalism in Ancient China

• Legalism starts with the basic idea that human nature is selfish and anti-social. Legalists believe individuals will only behave in a way that benefits the larger society if it is rewarded or it is to avoid punishment.
• Han Feizi (great developer of Legalist philosophy during Qin's dynasty) called punishment and reward the "two handles".
• Legalists believe that people are there to serve and strengthen the state. As a result rulers created a government where people were rewarded for helping serve the state and punished for weakening it in any way.
• Legalists believed that severe punishments for minor offenses would scare people into not daring to commit major ones.
• Laws must be enforced without favoritism.
• Ministers and commoners must do what the laws say, no more, no less.
• The state is always more important than the individual.
• Legalism caused the people of the society to be extremely suspicious of each other, leading to mistrust among the people (even within family units).
• People who knew of an offense or crime but failed to report it would be liable for severe punishment.
• Nobles were stripped of their power and had to move out or their country homes into the capital so the emperor could prevent any rebellions from taking place.
• Five to ten families would be put into groups to watch over each other (each family usually consisting of 9 - 10 people). They would all be punished if any individual did something wrong and it wasn't reported. If an individual was accused of a crime, he/she would be punished while the informant would be rewarded. This created mistrust among everyone in the society.
• Armies were controlled by the emperor himself instead of local nobles. That way, anyone could become a soldier if they had enough military skill. Qin's army grew rapidly to an enormous size that was enough to protect the entire state.

Arguments in support of Legalism	Arguments against Legalism
Government and people are interconnected	General happines of people is low.
Shang Yang helped "pursue the welfare of the country and the happiness of the people"	Leads to corruption (Internal decay ) which in turn leads to a revolution or external chaos.
"Shang Yang sought to achieve victory over all the other states and unify the Central Plain"	People lose rights and are treated unfairly
Shang Yang helped "promulgate laws to punish the wicked and rebellious, in order to preserve the rights of people"	No system of justice/unfair punishments. There is no meter of more or less bad. Everything is punished harshly which is impractical and unfair.
Shang Yang "stressed agriculture and weaving, in order to increase the welath of the people"	Easy to abuse power as the people have no say in laws etc. Therefor, becasue the government does not have to worry about being popular, and can inflict harsh punishments without fear of political reprecussions.
"He made slaves of the indigent and idle, in order to put an end to waste"	Destroys society becasue of mistrust and constant spying and suspicion. No loyalties except loyalty to the state, society is unstable and dangerous.
Shang Yang "forcefully pursued military success, in order to increase the prestige of the state"	The people have no representation and cannot have their needs addressed.
Unified China	Government can easily manipulate and abuse their people as it is a dictatorship with noone to punish the higher government officials.
Laws are meant to achieve happiness	No one to keep dictator's power in check, or to make sure that what is being done for the good of the country is good for it's people as well.

What did Mao Zedong think of Legalist philosophy

What were some of the positive things Mao said about Legalism in his essay from 1912?



(Mao's Essay: How Shang Yang Established Confidence by the Moving of a Pole)