Li Si (; 208 BC) was a Chinese calligrapher, philosopher, and official of the Qin dynasty. He served as Qin state Chancellor from 246 to 208 BC, first under King Zheng — who later became Qin Shi Huang, the "First Emperor" of the Qin dynasty. He then served under Qin Er Shi, Qin Shi Huang's eighteenth son and second emperor. In the Shiji, Li Si is said to have admired and utilized the administrative ideas of Shen Buhai, repeatedly referring to the technique of Shen Buhai and Han Fei, but regarding law, he followed Shang Yang.

John Knoblock, a translator of classical Chinese texts, considered Li Si to be "one of the two or three most important figures in Chinese history" for his efforts in standardizing the Qin state and its conquered territories. Li Si assisted the Emperor in unifying laws, governmental ordinances, and weights and measures, standardizing chariots, carts, and characters used in writing, facilitating the cultural unification of China. He "created a government based solely on merit, so that in the empire sons and younger brothers in the imperial clan were not ennobled, but meritorious ministers were", and "pacified the frontier regions by subduing the barbarians to the north and south". He had the metal weapons of the feudal states melted and cast into bells and statues, lowered taxes, and eased draconian punishments for criminals instituted by the statesman Shang Yang.

Bibliography

The Han Feizi's memorial "Preserving Han" was attributed to Li Si.

Early life

Li Si was originally from Cai in the state of Chu. As a young man he was a minor functionary in the local administration of Chu. According to the Records of the Great Historian, one day Li Si observed that rats in the outhouse were dirty and hungry, but rats in the barn were well-fed. He suddenly realized that "there is no set standard for honour since everyone's life is different. The values of people are determined by their social status. And like rats, people's social status often depends purely on the random life events around them. And so instead of always being restricted by moral codes, people should do what they deemed best at the moment." He made up his mind to take up politics as a career, which was a common choice for scholars not from a noble family during the Warring States period.

Li Si was unable to advance his career in Chu. He believed that achieving nothing in life while being so intelligent and educated would bring shame to not just himself but to all scholars. After having finished his education with the famous Confucian thinker Xunzi, he moved to the state of Qin, the most powerful state at that time, in an attempt to advance his political career.

Career in Qin

During his stay in Qin, Li Si became a guest of Lü Buwei, who was Chancellor, and had the chance to talk to King Ying Zheng, who would later become the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang. Li Si expressed that the Qin state was extremely powerful, but unifying China was still impossible if all of the other six states at the time united to fight against Qin. Qin Shi Huang was impressed by Li Si's view of how to unify China. Having adopted Li Si's proposal, the ruler of Qin spent generously to lure intellectuals to the state of Qin and sent out assassins to kill important scholars in other states.

thumb|Seal of Tingwei. Tingwei was the official in charge of judiciary, Li Si was appointed as the Tingwei of Qin after the guest officers expulsion incident.

In 237 BC, a clique at the Qin court urged King Zheng to expel all foreigners from the state to prevent espionage. As a native of Chu, Li Si would be a target of the policy, so he memorialised the king explaining the many benefits of foreigners to Qin including "the sultry girls of Zhao." Li Si was also the author of the Cangjiepian, the first Chinese language primer of which fragments still exist.

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References

Further reading

  • Goldin, Paul R. (2005). "Li Si, Chancellor of the Universe". In After Confucius: Studies in Early Chinese Philosophy, pp. 66–75. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  • Levi, Jean (1993). "Han fei tzu (韓非子)". In Loewe, Michael (ed., 1993). Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, pp. 115–116. (Early China Special Monograph Series No. 2), Society for the Study of Early China, and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, .
  • Michael, Franz (1986). China through the Ages: History of a Civilization. pp. 53–67. Westview Press; SMC Publishing, Inc. Taipei. ; 957-638-190-8 (ppbk).
  • Nivison, David S. (1999). "The Classical Philosophical Writings", pp. 745–812. In Loewe, Michael & Shaughnessy, Edward L. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press.
  • Yap, Joseph P. (2009). Wars With The Xiongnu, A Translation from Zizhi tongjian. AuthorHouse, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A. . Chapter 1.