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''The Book of Lord Shang'' (商君书, ''Shāng Jūn Shū'') is one of the most important and well-known texts of Legalist Chinese philosophy. It was written over a period of about 100 years during the Warring States Period, lasting roughly 400 BC to 200 BC. Though it is traditionally attributed to Shang Yang, and he does indeed appear to have written ''part'' of it, the last few chapters refer to people and events which didn't occur until after his death.
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''The Book of Lord Shang'' (商君书, ''Shāng Jūn Shū'') is one of the most important and well-known texts of Legalist Chinese philosophy. It was written over a period of about 100 years during the Warring States Period, lasting roughly 400 BC to 200 BC.221 BC (when Qin established the first Chinese empire). Though it is traditionally attributed to Shang Yang, and he does indeed appear to have written ''part'' of it, the last few chapters refer to people and events which didn't occur until after his death.
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* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The extent of meritocracy Lord Sheng suggested means that the ruler might be hereditary, but he sure as hell should be a proactive politician, good manager and supreme commander of his armies (but maybe not a FrontlineGeneral). This is in ''sharp'' contrast with both Daoism and Confucianism, where the ruler should merely ''exist'' and let things flow on their own in accordance with the concept wu wei. Given how Qin turned from a fringe, frontier backwater to the unifier of China within ''a single century'' might have something to do with this sort of mindset.
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* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The extent of meritocracy Lord Sheng suggested means that the ruler might be hereditary, but he sure as hell should be a proactive politician, good manager and supreme commander of his armies (but maybe not a FrontlineGeneral). This is in ''sharp'' contrast with both Daoism and Confucianism, where the ruler should merely ''exist'' and let things flow on their own in accordance with the concept of wu wei. Given how Qin turned from a fringe, frontier backwater to the unifier of China within ''a single century'' might have something to do with this sort of mindset.
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* BadassBureaucrat: You need [[VastBureaucracy a whole lot of those]] to keep enforcing all the orders and laws Lord Shang propose, and the text constantly stress out the importance of the merit, rather than birth or connections as the way to select those. However, as history have shown, they very quickly turn into {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s when they no longer have to whip people into either military mobilisation or at least some PointlessCivicProject.
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* BadassBureaucrat: You need [[VastBureaucracy a whole lot of those]] to keep enforcing all the orders and laws Lord Shang propose, proposes, and the text constantly stress stresses out the importance of the merit, rather than birth or connections as the way to select those. However, as history have shown, they very quickly turn into {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s when they no longer have to whip people into either military mobilisation or at least some PointlessCivicProject.
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* BadassBureaucrat: You need [[VastBureaucracy a whole lot of those]] to keep enforcing all the orders and laws Lord Shang propose, and the text constantly stress out the importance of the merit, rather than birth or connections as the way to select those. However, as history have shown, they very quickly turn into {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s when they no longer have to whip people into either military mobilisation or at least some PointlessCivicProject.
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* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: The treaty proposes a harsh, restrictive society ruled by fear and discipline, both achieved with a hefty use of DisproportionateRetribution, while portraying people as corrupt, lazy and scheming whenever they aren't under someone's boot. It also portrays basic humane behaviours like compassion or remorse as wasteful weaknesses that should be rooted out, as they stand in the way of effectively following orders.
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* DependingUponTheUndependable: While it might seem obvious from a modern perspective, one of the novel things proposed by Lord Shang was to stop doing this. If someone is incompetent, sack them, no matter who they are, what's their lineage or what kind of favour got them into their station in the first place.
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* {{Nepotism}}. [[DefiedTrope Nope]]. Large sections of the treaty are dedicated to portraying it as the worst thing that can happen to any country and just how much it complicates running it when you have to deal with people who got their posts simply due to inheriting them rather than being in any way qualified. The impact of this logic was so strong, it left a permanent mark on other Chinese schools of philosophy and eventually on China itself.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The extent of meritocracy Lord Sheng suggested means that the ruler might be hereditary, but he sure as hell should be a proactive politician, good manager and supreme commander of his armies (but maybe not a FrontlineGeneral). This is in ''sharp'' contrast with both Daoism and Confucianism, where the ruler should merely ''exist'' and let things flow on their own in accordance with the concept wu wei. Given how Qin turned from a fringe, frontier backwater to the unifier of China within ''a single century'' might have something to do with this sort of mindset.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The extent of meritocracy Lord Sheng suggested means that the ruler might be hereditary, but he sure as hell should be a proactive politician, good manager and supreme commander of his armies (but maybe not a FrontlineGeneral). This is in ''sharp'' contrast with both Daoism and Confucianism, where the ruler should merely ''exist'' and let things flow on their own in accordance with the concept wu wei. Given how Qin turned from a fringe, frontier backwater to the unifier of China within ''a single century'' might have something to do with this sort of mindset.
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* CallToAgriculture: Very literally so. If for any reason soldiers aren't fighting in some war (and the book is written in a ForeverWar mindset), they should be turned into farmers to both decrease the costs of maintaining the army ''and'' create a food surplus for the next war. This also includes any kind of garrison that isn't currently mobilised. The ideal subject is a farmer-soldier (in that exact order), who works hard and follows orders, never asking questions. This is probably the only thing from the treaty that survived the test of time, as [[RepressiveButEfficient Qin repeatedly managed to increase the size of their economy, farmland and agriculture output by applying this principle]] and instantly imposing it on every piece of land they've conquered.
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* MachiavelliWasWrong: The book as a whole, and to some extent Legalism, faced a reality check of just how in practice the system works when imposed to all of China - a FullCircleRevolution.
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* MachiavelliWasWrong: The book as a whole, and to some extent Legalism, faced a reality check of just how in practice the system works when imposed to all of China China. Namely - a FullCircleRevolution.
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* WrittenByTheWinners: The reputation of Shang is mostly coloured by his opponents who survived him, and tearing apart the content of his treaty was a favourite past-time of Confucian scholars for the next ''two millennia''. This obviously affects the sort of reputation both gained over said millenia.
* YesMan: Repeatedly warned against.
* YesMan: Repeatedly warned against.
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* WrittenByTheWinners: The reputation of Shang is mostly coloured by his opponents who survived him, and tearing apart the content of his treaty was a favourite past-time of Confucian scholars for the next ''two millennia''. This obviously affects the sort of reputation both gained over said millenia.
millenia, as if the content of the treaty wasn't contentious already.
* YesMan: Repeatedly warnedagainst.
against. This does create a significant dissonance, as on one hand, everyone should display both blind obedience (thus be the very Yes-Men the treaty warns against) ''and'' at the same time offer critique to any kind of bad ideas of their superiors, in the hopes they won't be punished for disobeying a direct order.
* YesMan: Repeatedly warned
