Han Fei / Han Feizi 韩非/韩非子
(Pre-Qin, c. 280 BC - 233 BC)
“You claim your spear unstoppable, and your shield impenetrable. But what happens if your spear strikes your shield?”
Depiction of Han Feizi.
Source: https://baike.baidu.com/item/韩非/1111
Map of the Warring States period: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period
Han Fei was a prince of the Kingdom of Han during the Warring States period.
He was perhaps better known as Han Feizi, one of the greatest Legalist philosophers.
Though Han Fei wasn’t a good orator, he was an exceptional writer, possessing a cutting brilliance, a militantly logical mind, and a canniness in combining them with artistic expression. Other than his writings on governance and philosophy, he also wrote short stories that were filled with paradoxes and revealed various logical fallacies.
There’s the man who, after retrieving a rabbit that died colliding into a tree, decides to wait under the tree everyday for another free lunch.
There’s the king who ignores his doctor’s warning and remains in denial of his ill health, just as one ignores sound advice to address one’s own weaknesses.
And of course, there’s the weapon’s salesman who makes those ludicrous claims on his spears and shields.
Han Fei had also been Li Si’s schoolmate, under the same teacher Xunzi. Han Fei was smarter, more perceptive, and more knowledgeable than Li Si, yet his kingdom was failing because the King of Han rarely took his advice, not until everything was too late.
The King of Qin was enamoured by Han Fei’s written works, so much so that he attacked the kingdom of Han and forced them to hand Han Fei over.
Han Fei was therefore brought to the Kingdom of Qin. However, Li Si, sensing a threat to his own position, persuaded the king to have Han Fei killed. The king later regretted his decision.
Nevertheless, Han Fei cast a long shadow in our cultural consciousness, especially with the thought-provoking fables and idioms that remains very much alive to this day.
Han Fei‘s character song in the Wang Chuan Feng Hua Lu series, 《是非》, is roughly translated as “Rights or Wrongs”, which is also a wordplay on his name. The video above is a cover.
Youtube video (original vocals) with English translations and detailed explanations linked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erh4GvYLcuk
Original video link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14K4y1E7t4
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