Han Fei's biography (Wiki) is worth perusing as he lived a life of court intrigue worthy of an HBO series. He was born into the Han Dynasty
From ChatGPT:
The Han Dynasty was one of the most significant dynasties in Chinese history, lasting for over 400 years. It can be divided into two main periods: the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 9 AD) and the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD - 220 AD). Here are some key points about the Han Dynasty:
1. Founding: The Western Han Dynasty was founded by Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang) in 206 BC after he defeated the Qin Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty was established after a brief interruption following the Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty and lasted until 220 AD.
2. Golden Age: The Han Dynasty is often considered a golden age in Chinese history. It saw significant advancements in various fields such as science, technology, art, and culture.
3. Confucianism: Confucianism became the official state ideology during the Han Dynasty, shaping the government and society's values.
4. Silk Road: The Han Dynasty played a crucial role in the early development of the Silk Road, a network of trade routes connecting China to the Mediterranean and other parts of Asia.
5. Political System: The Han Dynasty had a centralized bureaucracy and civil service system, which helped in effective governance.
6. Emperors: Some of the notable emperors during the Han Dynasty include Emperor Wu, Emperor Guangwu, and Emperor Wen.
7. Inventions: Many inventions and innovations, such as papermaking, the wheelbarrow, and the compass, were developed during the Han Dynasty.
8. Fall: The Han Dynasty eventually fell due to a combination of factors, including political corruption, economic problems, and external pressures from nomadic tribes.
The Han Dynasty had a profound and lasting impact on Chinese culture and history, and it is often seen as a period of stability and achievement in China's long history.
during the waring states period, a time when seven independant dynastic states were fighting for dominance. The warring ended when Qin had conquered all seven. Han was the first state to fall, just three years after Han Fei's death.
Han Fei's writing garnered the admiration of powerful people and therefore envy and this ultimately lead to his death, by poison, in prison.
Wiki observes that "It is said that because of his stutter, Han Fei could not properly present his ideas in court. His advice otherwise being ignored, but observing the slow decline of his Han state, he developed "one of the most brilliant (writing) styles in ancient China." An interesting echo of Isocrates' biography and historical circumstances here.
The Complete Works of Han Fei
A Wiki page that discusses Fei's writings at length.
Legends of the Warring States: Persuasions, Romances, and Stories from Chan-kuo Ts'e
On the whole, the difficult thing about persuading others is not that one
lacks the knowledge needed to state his case nor the audacity to exercise his
abilities to the full. On the whole, the difficult thing about persuasion is to
know the mind of the person one is trying to persuade and to be able to fit
one's words to it. If the person you are trying to persuade is out to establish
a reputation for virtue, and you talk to him about making a fat profit, then he
will regard you as low-bred, accord you a shabby and contemptuous reception, and
undoubtedly send you packing. If the person you are trying to persuade is on the
contrary interested in a fat profit, and you talk to him about a virtuous
reputation, he will regard you as witless and out of touch with reality and will
never heed your arguments. If the person you are trying to persuade is secretly
out for big gain but ostensibly claims to be interested in a virtuous name
alone, and you talk to him about a reputation for virtue, then he will pretend
to welcome and heed you, but in fact will shunt you aside; if you talk to him
about making a big gain, he will secretly follow your advice but ostensibly
reject you. These are facts that you must not fail to consider carefully. Undertakings succeed through secrecy but fail through being found out. Though
the ruler himself has not yet divulged his plans, if you in your discussions
happen to hit upon his hidden motives, then you will be in danger. If the ruler
is ostensibly seeking one thing but actually is attempting to accomplish
something quite different, and you perceive not only his ostensible objective
but the real motives behind his actions as well, then you will likewise be in
danger. If you happen to think up some unusual scheme for the ruler which meets
with his approval, and some other person of intelligence manages by outside
means to guess what it is and divulges the secret to the world, then the ruler
will suppose that it was you who gave it away and you will be in danger. If
you have not yet won substantial reward and favor and yet your words are
extremely apt and wise, then if the ruler heeds them and the undertaking is
successful, he will forget to reward you; and if he does not heed them and
the undertaking fails, he will regard you with suspicion and you will be in
danger. If some person of eminence takes a brief step in the wrong direction and
you immediately launch into a lecture on ritual principles and challenge his
misdeed, then you will be in danger. It some eminent person gets hold of a good
scheme somewhere and plans to use it to win merit for himself, and you happen to
know where he got it, then you will be in danger. If you try forcibly to talk a
person into doing what he cannot do, or stopping what he cannot stop, then
you will be in danger. If you talk to the ruler about men of real worth, he will think you are
implying that he is no match for them; if you talk to him of petty men, he will
think you are attempting to use your influence to get your friends into office;
if you talk to him about what he likes, he will suspect you of trying to utilize
him; if you talk about what he hates, he will suspect you of trying to test his
patience. It you speak too bluntly and to the point, he will consider you
unlearned and will shun you; if you speak too eloquently and in too great
detail, he will consider you pretentious and will reject you. If you
are too sketchy in outlining your ideas, he will think you a coward who is too
fainthearted to say what he really means; if you are too exuberant and
long-winded in stating your proposals, he will think you an uncouth bumpkin who
is trying to talk down to him. These are the difficulties of persuasion; you
cannot afford to be ignorant of them! The important thing in persuasion is to learn how to play up the aspects that
the person you are talking to is proud of, and play down the aspects he is
ashamed of. Thus, if the person has some urgent personal desire, you should show
him that it is his public duty to carry it out and urge him not to delay. If he
has some mean objective in mind and yet cannot restrain himself, you should do
your best to point out to him whatever admirable aspects it may have and to
minimize the reprehensible ones. If he has some lofty objective in mind and yet
does not have the ability needed to realize it, you should do your best to point
out to him the faults and bad aspects of such an objective and make it seem a
virtue not to pursue it. If he is anxious to make a show of wisdom and ability,
mention several proposals which are different from the one you have in mind but
of the same general nature in order to supply him with ideas; then let him build
on your words, but pretend that you are unaware that lie is doing so, and in
this way abet his wisdom. If you wish to urge a policy of peaceful coexistence, then be sure to expound
it in terms of lofty ideals, but also hint that it is commensurate with the
ruler's personal interests. If you wish to warn the ruler against dangerous and
injurious policies, then make a show of the fact that they invite reproach and
moral censure, but also hint that they are inimical to his personal
interests. Praise other men whose deeds are like those of the person you are talking to;
commend other actions which are based upon the same policies as his. If there is
someone else who is guilty of the same vice he is, be sure to gloss it over by
showing that it really does no great harm; if there is someone else who has
suffered the same failure he has, be sure to defend it by demonstrating that it
is not a loss after all. If he prides himself on his physical prowess, do not
antagonize him by mentioning the difficulties he has encountered in the past; if
he considers himself an expert at making decisions, do not anger him by pointing
out his past errors; if he pictures himself a sagacious planner, do not tax him
with his failures. Make sure that there is nothing in your ideas as a whole that
will vex your listener, and nothing about your words that will rub him the wrong
way, and then you may exercise your powers of rhetoric to the fullest. This is
the way to gain the confidence and intimacy of the person you are addressing and
to make sure that you are able to say all you have to say without incurring his
suspicion. Yi Yin became a cook and Po-li Hsi a captive slave, so they could gain the
ear of the ruler. These men were sages, and yet they could not avoid shouldering
hard tasks for the sake of advancement and demeaning themselves in this way.
Therefore you too should become a cook or a slave when necessary; if this
enables you to gain the confidence of the ruler and save the state, then it is
no disgrace for a man of ability to take such a course. If you are able to fulfill long years of service with the ruler, enjoy his
fullest favor and confidence, lay long-range plans for him without ever arousing
suspicion, and when necessary oppose him in argument without incurring blame,
then you may achieve merit by making clear to him what is profitable and what is
harmful, and bring glory to yourself by your forthright judgments of right and
wrong. When ruler and minister aid and sustain each other in this way,
persuasion may he said to have reached its fulfillment. In ancient times Duke Wu of Cheng wanted to attack the state of Hu, and so he
first married his daughter to the ruler of Hu in order to fill his mind with
thoughts of pleasure. Then he told his ministers, "I want to launch a military
campaign. What would be a likely state to attack?" The high official Kuan
Ch'issu replied, "Hu could be attacked," whereupon Duke Wu flew into a rage
and had him executed, saying, "Hu is a brother state! What do you
mean by advising me to attack it!" The ruler of Hu, hearing of this, assumed
that Cheng was friendly towards him and therefore took no precautions to
defend himself from Cheng. The men of Cheng then made a surprise attack on Hu
and seized it. Once there was a rich man of Sung. When the dirt wall around his house
collapsed in a heavy rain, his son said, "If you don't rebuild it, thieves
will surely break in," and the old man who lived next door told him the same
thing. When night fell, thieves actually broke in and made off with a large
share of the rich man's wealth. The rich man's family praised the son for his
wisdom, but eyed the old man next door with suspicion. Both these men -- the high official Kuan Ch'issu and the old man next door --
spoke the truth, and yet one was actually executed for his words, while the
other cast suspicion on himself. It is not difficult to know a thing; what is
difficult is to know how to use what you know. Jao Chao spoke the truth but,
though he was regarded as a sage by the men of Chin, he was executed by those of
Ch'in. This is something you cannot afford not to examine. In ancient times Mi Tzu-hsia won favor with the ruler of Wei.
According to the laws of the state of Wei, anyone who secretly made use of
the ruler's carriage was punished by having his feet amputated. When Mi
Tzu-hsia's mother fell ill, someone slipped into the palace at night to report
this to Mi Tzu-hsia. Mi Tzuhsia forged an order from the ruler, got into
the ruler's carriage, and went off to see her. But when the ruler heard of it,
he only praised him, saying, "How filial! For the sake of his mother he forgot
all about the danger of having his feet cut off!" Another day Mi Tzu-hsia was
strolling with the ruler in an orchard and, biting into a peach and finding
it sweet, he stopped eating and gave the remaining half to the ruler to enjoy.
"How sincere is your love for me!" exclaimed the ruler. "You forget your own
appetite and think only of giving me good things to eat!" Later, however, when
Mi Tzu-hsia's looks had faded and the ruler's passion for him had cooled, he was
accused of committing some crime against his lord. "Alter all," said the ruler,
"he once stole my carriage, and another time he gave me a half-eaten peach to
eat!" Mi Tzu-hsia was actually acting no differently from the way he always had;
the fact that he was praised in the early days, and accused of a crime later
on, was because the ruler's love had turned to hate. If you gain the ruler's love, your wisdom will be appreciated and you will
enjoy his favor as well; but if he hates you, not only will your wisdom be
rejected, but you will be regarded as a criminal and thrust aside. Hence
men who wish to present their remonstrances and expound their ideas must not
fail to ascertain the ruler's loves and hates before launching into their
speeches. The beast called the dragon can be tamed7 and trained to the point
where you may ride on its back. But on the underside of its throat it has scales
a foot in diameter that curl back from the body, and anyone who chances to brush
against them is sure to die. The ruler of men too has his bristling scales. Only
if a speaker can avoid brushing against them will he have any hope for
success.The Difficulties of Persuasion