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Roel Sterckx

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In Our Time: Chinese Legalism

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10/12/2015

Chinese Legalism

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Chinese Legalism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Chinese Legalism from the time of the First Emperor.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of Chinese Legalism under the First Emperor, its relationship with Confucianism and its legacy today.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins and rise of Legalism in China, from the start of the Warring States Period (c475 - 221 BC) to the time of The First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (pictured), down to Chairman Mao and the present day. Advanced by the Qin statesman Shang Yang and later blended together by Han Fei, the three main aspects of Legalism were the firm implementation of laws, use of techniques such as responsibility and inscrutability, and taking advantage of the ruler's position. The Han dynasty that replaced the Qin discredited this philosophy for its apparent authoritarianism, but its influence continued, re-emerging throughout Chinese history.

With

Frances Wood
Former Curator of the Chinese Collections at the British Library

Hilde de Weerdt
Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University

And

Roel Sterckx
Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History at the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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