(15) shao-shang-tsao.

(16) ta-shang-tsao ; the holders of these two ranks, junior and senior, seem to have had authority over the ordinary shang-tsao, those who held the second degree.

(17) ssu-chu-shu-chang; this gave the right to mount a carriage with four horses, ssu-chü.

(18) ta-shu-chang.

Altogether these 18 degrees formed 9 groups, which were known as the chiu-ch'ing KP.

In this system there is evidently no place left for feudalism. The Life says: "Those of the princely family, who had no military merit, could not be regarded as belonging to the princely clan. He made clear the distinctions between high and low, and between the various ranks and degrees, each according to its place in the hierarchy. . . . Those, who had merit, were distinguished by honours, while those who had no merit, though they might be rich, had no glory whatever." This made a clean sweep of all privileges by birth.

In the 19th paragraph of the Book of Lord Shang several of these degrees are mentioned as being given for military merit. In a somewhat doubtful passage 2 it is also said that a man who could capture a head was exempted from taxes; for the capturing of the head of a man of rank, land was given, apart from one degree in the hierarchy, and also a bodyguard for each rank.3 Han Fei-tzů, in the passage 4 mentioned before,

1 Cf. p. 15.

2

p. 296.

3

pp. 299-300. 4 Chap. xvii, par. 43, p. 15.

criticized this system of rewards not without a touch of humour, referring in particular to the possibility of obtaining a real office in this manner. He says: "Thus promotion in rank and office correspond to the merit acquired in cutting off heads. Now suppose there were a law that 'those who cut off a head are ordered to become doctor or artisan', then houses would not be built nor would sickness be cured. Indeed, an artisan has skill in his hands,1 and a doctor prepares drugs, but if one is set to do these things because of merit in cutting off heads, then one does not have the required ability. Now for filling office knowledge and ability are necessary, and the cutting off of heads is the result of courage and strength, and if offices for which knowledge and ability are necessary are filled according to the results of courage and strength, it is exactly the same as if those who had merit in cutting off heads became doctors and artisans."

The sanguinary exploits which originally alone constituted a claim to these ranks, were later replaced by the more peaceful method of buying a degree by means of a contribution in grain. In the Annals of the Ch'in dynasty this is for the first time clearly stated in the year 243, where it is said: "All those who brought 1,000 piculs of grain were awarded one degree of rank."2 In the Han dynasty at various times the same system has been followed. We have seen how Ch'ao Ts'o, in order to promote agriculture, suggested that titles should be awarded to those district officials who brought grain, and in the chapter on economics in the Shih-chi 4 it is said that those who sent grain to the frontier, where it was

1 For乎I read 手. 3 Cf. p. 55.

2 Cf. Chavannes, Mém. hist., ii, p. 103. 4 Mém. Hist., iii, p. 543.

needed for the garrisons, obtained ranks up to the 18th, that of ta-shu-chang. This is explained as meaning, that for 600 piculs the degree of shang-tsao (the 2nd) was given, for 4,000 piculs that of wu-ta-fu (the 9th), and for 12,000 that of tashu-chang.

66

The various ways in which, in later times, rank and office have been for sale, need not detain us here, where we are only concerned with the origin of the custom, which became a vice. For the right understanding of the Book of Lord Shang one should, however, keep this system in mind. Repeatedly it is said 1 that office and rank should only be acquired through one opening, viz. that of war and agriculture. Apart from military merit, agricultural success can give a claim to rank. When the army is mobilized for an offensive, rank is given according to military merit, and, reliance being placed upon the military, victory is certain. When the army is in reserve and agriculture is pursued, rank is given according to the production of grain, and, reliance being placed upon farming, the country will be rich." 2 Already in the Book there are traces that this last method developed into simply buying office. Once it clearly stated: "If the people have a surplus of grain, cause them to obtain office and rank by means of their cereals." In the policy which is developed in the Book, the rank conferred would, on the one hand, constitute a reward, while on the other, it would impoverish the rich people, who otherwise, remaining wealthy, would fall into the snares of culture, or, to speak in the Book's vigorous terminology, would become addicted to the six " Lice ".

1 Cf. e.g. par. 3, p. 185.

Par. 4, p. 205.

3 Par. 13, p. 253; cf. also par. 8, p. 236, and par. 20, p. 304.

F

CHAPTER III

THE BOOK OF LORD SHANG AND THE SCHOOL OF LAW

§ 1. The Makers of the School of Law

The first attempt at classifying the mass of philosophical writers which had come down from antiquity, in which mention is made of the School of Law, was made by Ssu-ma T'an,1 the father of the great historian, Ssu-ma Ch'ien.2 In the 130th chapter of the work of his son, a small treatise from his hand has been preserved. It was written, in order to prove the superiority of Taoism, in which he was himself especially interested, over the other doctrines of the day, but the interest here lies in the fact that he gives a brief analysis of each of the rival schools. He mentions six schools altogether, which are: (1) The Taoist School; (2) that of Yin and Yang, or of the Philosophy of Nature 4; (3) that of the Ju, or the Confucian School 5; (4) that of Mo-tzŭ, i.e. the philosopher, Mo Ti 6; (5) that of Names or Terminology 7; · and (6) the School of Law.8

1 司馬談

. Some earlier but rather feeble attempts at classification were made in the survey of philosophers in Hsün-tzu's book Against the Twelve Philosophers", and in the spurious 33rd book of Chuang-tzů.

‘陰陽家. *儒家.

8

* 法家.

·墨家.

Ssu-ma T'an regarded this last school very critically, though he was broad-minded enough to recognize its good points. "They do not distinguish between relations and strangers, and make no difference between noble and low. All were in the same manner judged by the law, so that the virtue of loving one's relatives and honouring the honourable disappeared. Their doctrines might be practised for a certain time and for a definite purpose, but they should not be put into practice for ever. Therefore I say, that they are severe and are wanting in virtue. However, the fact that they clearly established the differences between the honoured position of a ruler and the low state of a subject, so that their respective functions and duties cannot get entangled, cannot be undone by a hundred schools."

The next great classification, which has come down to us in great detail, is the famous catalogue of books in the History of the early Han dynasty.1 It is based on a division, made by Liu Hsin, the son of Liu Hsiang, who had so large a share in the collation and preservation of books in the days of Ch'eng-ti (B.C. 32-6). Liu Hsin, who at his father's death was ordered to continue the work, made a division under seven heads, one of which included the "Various Philosophers". In the Han History, Pan Ku subdivides these into ten schools, adding to the six already mentioned above those of the political philosophers, the Eclecticians, the agricultural writers and the minor narratives.5 With the omission of the last-named unimportant section, these schools are often spoken of as the "Nine Schools ".

3

4

1 Ch'ien-han-shu, chap. xxx. 2 劉歆 諸子‘班固 * 縱橫家;雜家;農家;小說家.