author
Fei Han
d. -233
Remembered as one of ancient China’s sharpest political thinkers, this Warring States philosopher helped define Legalism with writing that is still read more than two millennia later. His work explores power, law, and human nature in a direct, unsentimental way.
1 Audiobook
韩非子
by Fei Han
About the author
Born around 280 BC and dying in 233 BC, Han Fei was a prince of the state of Han during China’s Warring States period. He is best known as a philosopher and statesman whose ideas became central to Legalism, a school of thought focused on strong institutions, clear laws, and practical methods of rule.
He is closely associated with the Han Feizi, a collection of essays attributed to him. In those writings, he brought together earlier Legalist ideas into a forceful vision of government that emphasized authority, administration, and predictable rewards and punishments rather than moral persuasion alone.
Han Fei’s influence on Chinese political thought has been lasting, even though his own life ended tragically. Readers still return to him for his stark, intelligent analysis of how power works and how states try to keep order.