Han Fei and His Thought
2 min readHan Fei（c.280-233 B.C.），a native of the State of Han and a former student of Xun Zi，synthesized the thoughts of the Legalist School of the pre-Qin period.
His doctrines served as the theoretical basis for the State of Qin’s unification ofChina and the establishment of a feudal and autocratic empire.Han Fei’s entire work is collected in Han Fei Zi，a book containing 55 chapters.Han Fei adopted and developed a progressive social and historical view put forward by earlier legalists（Shang Yang，for instance）and further proposed his notions of social development and historical evolution.He pointed out that“one does not have to follow ancient practices in order to govern”and“as conditions in the world change，different principles should be applied accordingly.”He also held that the impetus of social development lies in the material foundation and inner conflicts of the society.
Han Fei believes in the thought of historical development，thinking that“ in ancient times，people contest in morality；in mediaeval times，in resourcefulnessand nowadays，in effort.”He also proposes political reform in order to make the country rich and the army strong，which manifests the spirits of defiance andinnovation.He is the one who advocates the idea of ruling by law-an idea put forward by the Legalist School in early days，which he fuses with the thought of “rule by shu（method or art of conducting）”and“rule by shi（power or authority）”of the School of Huang Lao.Later，by systematic alteration，he builds a new system of the Legalist thought which combines fa，shu and shi.
