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Chinese Literature
Legist or legalist treatises (fajia 法家)
The type of legalist treatises (fajia lei 法家類) is a sub-category to the literary category of masters and philosophers (zibu 子部) in the collectaneum Siku quanshu 四庫全書. Although the Confucians always despised the legalists because of their non-moral methods to create stability in state and society, the teachings of the legalists had a deep impact on the practical administration of the Chinese empires. Therefore the legalist writings have always been granted an own category. The compilers of the Siku quanshu included 8 legalist books, of which not all are really representing a pure legalist attitude. The most important of these books are the Guanzi 管子, Shangjunshu 商君書 and Hanfeizi 韓非子.

書名 Title Composer(s)
管子 Guanzi (Zhou) 管仲 Guan Zhong (?)
鄧子 (鄧析子) Dengzi (Dengxizi) (Zhou) 鄧析 Deng Xi
商君書 (商子) Shangjunshu (Shangzi) (Zhou) 商鞅 Shang Yang (?)
韓非子 (韓子) Hanfeizi (Hanzi) (Zhou) 韓非 Han Fei
申子 * Shenzi (Zhou) 申不害 Shen Buhai
慎子 Shenzi > miscellaneous treatises (Zhou) 慎到 Shen Dao
晁氏新書 * Chaoshi xinshu (Han) 晁錯 Chao Cuo
崔氏政論 * Cuishi zhenglun (Han) 崔寔 Cui Shi
世要論 * Shiyaolun (Cao-Wei) 桓範 Han Fan

* not contained in the Siku quanshu

Chinese literature according to the four-category system

July 18, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald · Mail