Variously considered a Taoist and a cynic, Han Fei, himself a prince, has been seen as a forerunner to Machiavelli.
At the end of the Warring States, when oratory mattered hugely, Han Fei, with a stutter, was the brain and the plume of the Legalist School.
From Han Fei’s oeuvre, Mingyuan Hu selects and translates two extracts – ‘Goodness and Honour Are for Ancient Times, Not for Today’ and ‘Rescuing a Small Power May Not Help Its Survival; Serving the Powerful May Not Be Free of Oversight’ – encapsulating the thinking that so impressed Zheng, King of Qin, who later became the first emperor of China, and in whose prison Han Fei died drinking poison.
This book is part of the Erstwhile Series.