Abstract
The eighth chapter of the Han Feizi is dedicated to the ways of “wielding power” (揚權). As the entire book attributed to Master Han Fei is arguably dedicated to the problem of power – establishing, exerting and protecting it from external and internal enemies, this section of the book is crucial for the entire text. The present article starts from the term “yao 要” and applies the method of conceptual history to this pre-imperial text. It intends to shed light on the conceptual associations between the survival of the State, the ruler’s position, the importance of a political centre, and the use of objective ruling techniques, within a newly conceived “political sphere” with its own laws and necessities. The paper then addresses the heritage of the Han Feizi to conceptualizations of politics during the imperial period, eventually considering the function of the ruler in Han Fei’s thought.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Numerical lists of foundational knowledge in early Chinese and early Buddhist traditions
- Marco Polo: From Hangzhou to Quanzhou
- Two keys to Pyongyang’s past and future – moral center and Korean War
- Ice Cream in the Cathedral: The Literary Failures and Social Success of Chinese Robot Poet Xiao Bing
- Le care pour les personnes âgées en contexte « chinois » : une analyse comparative structurelle entre Taiwan et la République Populaire de Chine
- Explicit and hidden zoological categories in early Chinese taxonomies
- The vital centre: understanding the concept of Yao 要 in the Han Feizi 韓非子
- Political Rhetoric in the Hán Fēizǐ 韓非子
- Worth Vs. Power: Han Fei’s “Objection to Positional Power” Revisited
- Stratégie Pour la Corée
- Buchbesprechungen – Comptes Rendus – Book Reviews
- Ho, Ming-sho: Challenging Beijing’s Mandate of Heaven: Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement
- Müller Shing / Thomas O. Höllmann / Sonja Filip: Early Medieval North China: Archaeological and Textual Evidence
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Numerical lists of foundational knowledge in early Chinese and early Buddhist traditions
- Marco Polo: From Hangzhou to Quanzhou
- Two keys to Pyongyang’s past and future – moral center and Korean War
- Ice Cream in the Cathedral: The Literary Failures and Social Success of Chinese Robot Poet Xiao Bing
- Le care pour les personnes âgées en contexte « chinois » : une analyse comparative structurelle entre Taiwan et la République Populaire de Chine
- Explicit and hidden zoological categories in early Chinese taxonomies
- The vital centre: understanding the concept of Yao 要 in the Han Feizi 韓非子
- Political Rhetoric in the Hán Fēizǐ 韓非子
- Worth Vs. Power: Han Fei’s “Objection to Positional Power” Revisited
- Stratégie Pour la Corée
- Buchbesprechungen – Comptes Rendus – Book Reviews
- Ho, Ming-sho: Challenging Beijing’s Mandate of Heaven: Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement
- Müller Shing / Thomas O. Höllmann / Sonja Filip: Early Medieval North China: Archaeological and Textual Evidence