Confucius, Analects, 13.3:

Zhengming,  正名 :

•Tsze-lu said, "The ruler of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. What will you consider the first thing to be done?”

•The Master replied, "What is necessary is to rectify names.”

"If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.

When affairs cannot be carried on to success, proprieties and music do not flourish. When proprieties and music do not flourish, punishments will no be properly awarded. When punishments are not properly awarded, the people do not know how to move hand or foot.

• "Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately, and also that what he speaks may be carried out appropriately.

• What the superior man requires is just that in his words there may be nothing incorrect.”

Analects, 12.11• The Duke Ching, of Ch'i, asked Confucius about

government. Confucius replied, "There is government, when the prince is prince, and the minister is minister; when the father is father, and the son is son.”

jun jun, chen chen, fu fu, zi zi, 君君臣臣父父子子

• "Good!" said the duke; "if, indeed, the prince be not prince, the minister not minister, the father not father, and the son not son, although I have my revenue, can I enjoy it?”

• Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied, "To govern means to rectify. If you lead on the people with correctness, who will dare not to be correct?” (Analects, 12.17)

• "Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.” (Analects, 12.19)

• The Master said, "When a prince's personal conduct is correct, his government is effective without the issuing of orders. If his personal conduct is not correct, he may issue orders, but they will not be followed.” (Analects, 13.6)

• The Master said, ” 'If good men were to govern a country in succession for a hundred years, they would be able to transform the violently bad, and dispense with capital punishments.' True indeed is this saying!” (Analects, 13.11)

• The Master said, "By extensively studying all learning, and keeping himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety, one may thus likewise not err from what is right.”

• The Master said, "The superior man seeks to perfect the admirable qualities of men, and does not seek to perfect their bad qualities. The mean man does the opposite of this.”

• Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied, "To govern means to rectify. If you lead on the people with correctness, who will dare not to be correct?”

(Analects, 12.15-17)

Analects, 12.13

• The Master said, "In hearing litigations, I am like any other body. What is necessary, however, is to cause the people to have no litigations."

Chunqiu Zuo Zhuan, 春秋左傳Zhao Gong, 6th year:

“When the people know what the exact laws are, they do not stand in awe of their superiors.

They also come to have a contentious spirit, and make their appeal to the express words, hoping perhaps to be successful in their argument.

They can no longer be managed”.

Chunqiu Zuo Zhuan, 春秋左傳Zhao Gong, 6th year:

• “When the government of Xia had fallen into disorder, the penal code of Yu was made; under the same circumstances of Shang, the penal code of Tang; and in Zhou, the code of the nine punishments: those three codes all originated in ages of decay”.

商君書 - Shang Jun Shu (the book of Lord Shang)

4th Century B.C. – the Warring States period

Lord Shang was a Minister of Duke Xiao of Qin State

The Legalist School – fa jia, as opposed to the Confucian school, the School of Virtue – ru jia

商君書 - Shang Jun Shu Excerpts

“ The means whereby a country is made prosperous are agriculture and war. The way to organize a country well is, even though the granaries are filled, not to be negligent in agriculture, and even though the country is large and its population numerous, to have no licence of speech. (This being so), the people will be simple and have concentration.”

商君書 - Shang Jun Shu Table of contents

1. Reform of the Law 2. Order to Cultivate Waste Lands 3. Agriculture and War 4. Elimination of Strength 5. Discussion about the People 6. Calculation of Land 7. Opening and Debarring 8. Unification of Words 9. Establishing Laws 10.Method of Warfare 11.Establishment of Fundamentals 12.Military Defence

14.Making Orders Strict15.Cultivation of the Right Standard 16.Encouragement of Immigration 17.Compendium of Penalties18.Rewards and Punishments 19.Policies 20.Within the Borders 21.Weakening the People 22.External and Internal Affairs 23.Prince and Minister 24.Interdicts and Encouragements 25.Attention to Law 26.Fixing of Rights and Duties

“ If taxes are levied according to the measure of grain, then the ruler will have system and consequently the people will have peace.”

“ If hostelries for the reception of travellers are abolished, criminals, agitators, conspirators and those who unsettle the minds of the farmers will not travel and in consequence, hotel-keepers will have no means of subsistence. They will certainly become farmers.”

“If people are not allowed to change their abode unauthorisedly, then stupid and irregular farmers will have no means of subsistence and will certainly turn to agriculture.”

“ There is more than one way to govern the world and there is no necessity to imitate antiquity, in order to take appropriate measures for the state.”

“A wise man creates laws, but a foolish man is controlled by them; a man of talent reforms rites, but a worthless man is enslaved by them. With a man who is enslaved by rites, it is not worth while to speak about matters; with a man who is controlled by laws, it is not worth while to discuss reform.”

“ The way to administer a country well, is for the law for the officials to be clear; therefore one does not rely on intelligent and thoughtful men. The ruler makes the people singleminded, and therefore they will not scheme for selfish profit. A country that loves talking is dismembered.”

“ If the law is clear, government measures are limited; if reliance is placed on force, talking ceases; if government measures are limited, the country enjoys orderly administration; and if talking ceases, the army is strong.”

“ A weak people means a strong state, and a strong people means a weak state.” “ If in a country there are the following ten evils: rites, music, odes, history, virtue, moral culture, filial piety, brotherly duty, integrity and sophistry, the ruler cannot make the people fight and dismemberment is inevitable.”

“ A country where the wicked govern the virtuous, will be orderly, so that it will become strong.”

“ Sophistry and cleverness are an aid to lawlessness; rites and music are symptoms of dissipations and licence; kindness and benevolence are the foster-mother of transgressions; employment and promotion are opportunities for the rapacity of the wicked.”

“ There is no greater benefit for the people in the empire than order, and there is no firmer order to be obtained than by establishing a prince; for establishing a prince, there is no more embracing method than making law supreme; for making law supreme, there is no more urgent task than banishing villainy, and for banishing villainy, there is no deeper basis than severe punishments.”

“ In the application of punishments, light offences should be regarded as serious… [or] there will be no means of stopping the serious ones.”

“ If virtuous officials are employed, the people will love their own relatives, but if wicked officials are employed, the people will love the statutes. To agree with, and to respond to, others is what the virtuous do; to differ from, and to spy upon, others is what the wicked do. If the virtuous are placed in positions of evidence, ransgressions will remain hidden; but if the wicked are employed, crimes will be punished.”

“ If people control each other by law and recommend each other by following systematic rules, then they cannot benefit each other with praise nor harm each other with slander.”

Opposing values:

• “When the government of Xia had fallen into disorder, the penal code of Yu was made; under the same circumstances of Shang, the penal code of Tang; and in Zhou, the code of the nine punishments: those three codes all originated in ages of decay” (Chunqiu Zuo Zhuan, 春秋左傳 , Zhao Gong, 6th year):

• I have heard that when the intelligent princes of antiquity established laws, the people were not wicked; when they undertook an enterprise, the required ability was practised spontaneously; when they distributed rewards, the army was strong. These three principles were the root of government (Shang Jun shu, ‘Establishing Laws’)

But also some shared ones:

•"To govern means to rectify. If you lead on the people with correctness, who will dare not to be correct?” (Analects)

•“ If an intelligent ruler is on top, then those whom he appoints will be men of talent, and thus the law will be adhered to by the people of talent… then there will be law amongst those below, and the worthless will not dare to commit crimes.” (Shang Jun shu)

• The Master said, ” 'If good men were to govern a country in succession for a hundred years, they would be able to transform the violently bad, and dispense with capital punishments.' True indeed is this saying!” (Analects, 13.11)

• In applying punishments, light offences should be punished heavily; if light offences do not appear, heavy punishments will not come. This is said to be abolishing penalties by means of penalties, and if penalties are abolished, affairs will succeed. If crimes are serious and penalities light, penalties will appear and trouble will arise. This is said to be bringing about penalties by means of penalties, and such a state will surely be dismembered (Shang Jun Shu, ‘Making Orders Strict’)

• The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.” (Analects, 12.19)

• "The superior man seeks to perfect the admirable qualities of men... The mean man does the opposite”

• If you lead on the people with correctness, who will dare not to be correct?” (Analects, 12.15-17)

• the fact that uniformity in the manipulating of rewards and punishments supports moral virtue, is connected with human psychology. A sage-prince, by his ruling of men, is certain to win their hearts; consequently he is able to use force. Force produces strength, strength produces prestige, prestige produces virtue, and so virtue has its origin in force, which a sage-prince alone possesses, and therefore he is able to transmit benevolence and righteousness to the empire (Shang Jun Shu, ‘Making Orders Strict’).

• The prince said: "Not to forget, at his succession, the tutelary spirits of the soil and of grain, is the way of a prince; to shape the laws and to see to it that an intelligent ruler reigns, are the tasks of a minister. I intend, now, to alter the laws, so as to obtain orderly government, and to reform the rites, so as to teach the people; but I am afraid the empire will criticize me.”

• The law of Guo Yan says: 'He who is concerned about the highest virtue is not in harmony with popular ideas; he who accomplishes a great work, does not take counsel with the multitude.' The law is an expression of love for the people; rites are a means for making things run smoothly. Therefore a sage, if he is able to strengthen the state thereby, does not model himself on antiquity, and if he is able to benefit the people thereby, does not adhere to the established rites.”

(Shang Jun Shu, ‘Reform of the Law’).

some remarkable binomia – and tensions

• Legitimacy v. Force

• Horizontal rules (customs, ius)

v. vertical rules (legislation, lex)

• v. Feudal v. adminstrative governance

• Confucianism v Legalism

• Li v. Fa

Qing Emperor K’hang Hsi, 17th Century:

“Controversies would soar if the people were not scared of the courts and thought that courts may provide quick justice.

It is my desire that whoever brings an action before a court be treated mercilessly, to have him fear the law and shake at the mere thought of having to appear again before a judge”.

Qing Emperor K’hang Hsi, 17th Century:

“…This way, evil will be eradicated; good subjects involved in a quarrel will solve it in a brotherly fashion, through the arbitration of a wise man or of their village chief”.

“Let the litigious and the stubborn ruin themselves in the court: this is the justice they deserve”.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

• [there are] Two types of social contradictions - those between ourselves and the enemy and those among the people themselves. The two are totally different in their nature.

• To put it briefly, the former is a matter of drawing a clear distinction between us and the enemy, and the latter a matter of drawing a clear distinction between right and wrong.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

• …the social forces and groups which resist the socialist revolution and are hostile to or sabotage socialist construction are all enemies of the people.

• The question of suppressing counterrevolutionaries is one of a struggle between us and the enemy, a contradiction between us and the enemy.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

• The contradictions between the enemy and us are antagonistic contradictions.

• Within the ranks of the people, the contradictions among the working people are non-antagonistic,

• while those between the exploited and the exploiting classes have a non-antagonistic aspect in addition to an antagonistic aspect.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

• Our People's Government is one that genuinely represents the people's interests… Generally speaking, the people's basic identity of interests underlies the contradictions among the people. Nevertheless, there are still certain contradictions between the government and the people.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

•The only way to settle questions of an ideological nature or controversial issues among the people is by the democratic method, the method of discussion, of criticism, of persuasion and education, and not by the method of coercion or repression.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

• To be able to carry on their production and studies effectively and to arrange their lives properly, the people want their government and those in charge of production and of cultural and educational organizations to issue appropriate orders of an obligatory nature.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

• It is common sense that the maintenance of public order would be impossible without such administrative regulations.

• Administrative orders and the method of persuasion and education complement each other in resolving contradictions among the people.

Mao Zedong, The Little Red Book, ch.2:

• Even administrative regulations for the maintenance of public order must be accompanied by persuasion and education, for in many cases regulations alone will not work

• http://classics.mit.edu/Confucius/analects.mb.txt• Shang Jun Shu, English translation available at

ctext.org• http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/w

orks/red-book/

Suggested readings:• I. Castellucci – Rule of Law and Legal

Complexity in the PRC – Trento UP, 2012• Qiu Xiaolong novels (any)

Web resources :