Shang Yang (Lord Shang)

Biography

The architect of Qin's power was not a general but a Legalist statesman. Rebuffed in his native Wei, Shang Yang found a patron in Duke Xiao of Qin and over two decades rebuilt the state from the ground up: he abolished hereditary aristocratic rank and tied noble status strictly to enemy heads taken in war, organized every household into groups of five and ten collectively punished for one another's crimes, standardized weights and law, and drove the entire population toward 'agriculture and war.' To prove the law's certainty he had the crown prince's tutors mutilated for the prince's offenses. His system made Qin the most disciplined and productive war-state in China — and made Shang Yang universally hated. When Duke Xiao died, the aristocrats he had humbled, led by the very prince he had once punished, accused him of treason. He fled, was refused shelter at an inn under his own identity laws, and was captured and torn apart by chariots. His institutions long outlived him and carried Qin to empire.

Key Battles