Essay on How Shang Yang Established Confidence
by the Moving of the Pole1 (June 1912)
When I read in the Shi ji2 about the incident of how Shang Yang3 established
confidence by the moving of the pole,4 I lament the foolishness of the people of our
country, I lament the wasted efforts of the rulers of our country, and I lament the fact
that for several thousand years the wisdom of the people has not been developed and
the country has been teetering on the brink of a grievous disaster. If you don’t believe
me, please hear out what I have to say.
Laws and regulations are instruments for procuring happiness. If the laws and
regulations are good, the happiness of our people will certainly be great. Our people
fear only that the laws and regulations will not be promulgated, or that, if promulgated,
they will not be effective. It is essential that every effort be devoted to the task of
guaranteeing and upholding such laws, never ceasing until the objective of perfection is
attained. The government and the people are mutually dependent and interconnected,
so how can there be any reason for distrust? On the other hand, if the laws and
regulations are not good, then not only will there be no happiness to speak of, but
there will also be a threat of harm, and our people should exert their utmost efforts
to obstruct such laws and regulations. Even though you want us to have confidence,
why should we have confidence? But how can one explain the fact that Shang Yang
encountered the opposition of so large a proportion of the people of Qin?
Shang Yang’s laws were good laws. If you have a look today at the four thousand-odd
years for which our country’s history has been recorded, and the great political leaders
who have pursued the welfare of the country and the happiness of the people, is not
Shang Yang one of the very first on the list? During the reign of Duke Xiao, the Central
Plain was in great turmoil, with wars being constantly waged and the entire country
exhausted beyond description. Therefore, Shang Yang sought to achieve victory over
all the other states and unify the Central Plain, a difficult enterprise indeed. Then he
published his reforming decrees, promulgating laws to punish the wicked and rebellious,
in order to preserve the rights of the people. He stressed agriculture and weaving, in
order to increase the wealth of the people, and forcefully pursued military success, in
order to establish the prestige of the state. He made slaves of the indigent and idle, in
order to put an end to waste. This amounted to a great policy such as our country
had never had before. How could the people fear and not trust him, so that he had to
use the scheme of setting up5 the pole to establish confidence? From this, we realize
the wasted efforts of those who wield power. From this, we can see the stupidity of
the people of our country. From this, we can understand the origins of our people’s
ignorance and darkness during the past several millennia, a tragedy that has brought
our country to the brink of destruction.
Nevertheless, at the beginning of anything out of the ordinary, the mass of the
people [limin] always dislike it. The people being like this, and the law being like
that,6 what is there to marvel about? I particularly fear, however, that if this story
of establishing confidence by moving the pole should come to the attention of various
civilized peoples of the East and the West, they will laugh uncontrollably so that they
have to hold their stomachs, and make a derisive noise with their tongues. Alas, I had
best say no more.
5 Either deliberately, or by a slip of the pen, Mao here wrote li (establish, set up) instead of xi
(move). His teacher replaced the first character by the second; the translation corresponds to Mao’s
wording.
6 I.e., the people clinging to their old ways, and the law being directed toward radical change, like
Shang Yang’s reforms.

--- Notes

1 This, Mao’s earliest known writing, is an essay he wrote in June 1912 when, after leaving the
army, he had enrolled as a first-year student at the middle school in Changsha. His teacher thought so
highly of this effort that he marked it for circulation among all members of the class; he also singled
out many passages with circles, indicating approval of Mao’s style, and dots, registering appreciation of
the content.
2 This work by Sima Qian (145–74? B.C.), zi Zichang, of which the title has been variously translated Historical Records, Records of the Historian, and Records of the Grand Historian, was the first
major history of China from the earliest times down to the Han dynasty.
3 Shang Yang (c. 390–338 B.C.) was one of the founders of the “Legalist” school. His original name
was Gongsun Yang; he was also called Wei Yang, because he was descended by a concubine from the
royal house of Wei. He is most commonly known as Shang Yang because Duke Xiao of Qin, whom he
served, enfeoffed him as Lord Shang. The earliest source on his life, to which Mao refers in this essay,
was the biography included in the Shi ji. On Shang Yang, see the translation of the book which bears his
name (but was probably not written by him) by J.J.L. Duyvendak, The Book of Lord Shang (London:
Arthur Probsthain, 1928). A recent work, documenting the view of Shang Yang during the last years of
Mao’s life, is Li Yuning (ed.), Shang Yang’s Reforms and State Control in China (White Plains, N.Y.:
M.E. Sharpe, 1977).
4 The best translation of this passage is perhaps that of Creel: