SHANG YANG

died 338 BC, China Pinyin Shang Yang, original name (Wade-Giles romanization) Kung-sun Yang Chinese statesman and thinker whose successful reorganization of the state of Ch'in paved the way for the eventual unification of the Chinese empire by the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC). Shang Yang believed that the integrity of a state could be maintained only with power and that power consisted of a large army and full granaries. Entering into the service of Duke Hsiao, head of the state of Ch'in, Shang Yang replaced the feudal division of the country with a system of centrally appointed governors. He instituted compulsory military service and a new system of land division and taxation and insisted on strict and uniform administration of the law. He is also said to have forced all persons into productive occupations, such as farming or soldiering (but not commerce), and to have set up a system of mutual spying among the people. When he fell into disgrace in 338, he was tied to chariots and torn apart. The work Shang Chn shu (Book of the Lord of Shang) probably contains writings and ideas of Shang Yang, although the exact authorship of the book is in doubt. It is one of the major works of the highly pragmatic and authoritarian Legalist school of Chinese philosophy.