Late Warring States prince of Han and student of Xunzi whose writings joined law, statecraft and positional power into one Legalist theory
Mural guide
Mural of the event “Hundred Schools Contention”, which this person took part in.
At the turn of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods the rites collapsed and the old patrilineal social order gradually fragmented. The rise of private academies offered commoner scholars an unprecedented public arena to debate politics and life.
Han Feizi, or Han Fei, was one of the princes of the state of Han in the late Warring States period, and studied under Xunzi alongside Li Si. The biography in the *Records of the Grand Historian* (*Shiji*) says he stammered but wrote well, and that after his memorials to the King of Han went unheeded he wrote over a hundred thousand words, including 'Solitary Indignation', 'The Five Vermin' and 'The Difficulties of Persuasion'. Reading the first two, King Zheng of Qin said he could die content if he could meet the author. In 233 BC Han Fei came to Qin as an envoy; Li Si and Yao Jia slandered him, he was imprisoned, and Li Si sent him poison to take his own life. The *Book of Han* (*Hanshu*) bibliography lists the *Hanzi* in fifty-five chapters under the Legalists. Sima Qian closed the biography regretting that the author of 'The Difficulties of Persuasion' could not save himself.
500 BCEHundred Schools ContentionTook partConfucian, Mohist, Daoist, Legalist, and other thinkers debated ethics, human nature, and government across the rival states.
233 BCEDied
Works
Literature · Prose56
Han FeiziZhouLegalist classic of Han Fei, a prince of Han, fusing law, statecraft and positional power
Han Fei's writings of over a hundred thousand characters
Late Warring States period
The Records of the Grand Historian calls Han Fei one of the princes of Han. He was fond of the study of names and penal methods, which he traced back to the Huang-Lao teaching. He stammered and could not speak well but wrote well, and he studied under Xunzi with Li Si, who thought himself his inferior. He wrote Solitary Indignation, Five Vermin, the Inner and Outer Collections, Forest of Persuasions and Difficulties of Persuasion, over a hundred thousand characters in all. The King of Qin read Solitary Indignation and Five Vermin and said he would die without regret if he could meet and travel with the author. Han Fei was later handed to the officials for trial, and Li Si sent him poison and told him to take his own life.
Zhou
Literature · Prose
