13 Facts About Han Fei

Han Fei's ideas are sometimes compared with those of Niccolo Machiavelli, author of The Prince.

Sima Qian recounts that Qin Shi Huang went to war with the state of Han to obtain an audience with Han Fei, but was ultimately convinced to imprison him, whereupon he commits suicide.

Han Fei stressed the importance of the concept of holding actual outcome accountable to speech, coupled with the "two handles" system of punishment and reward, as well as wu wei.

Unlike the other famed philosophers of the time, Han Fei was a member of the ruling aristocracy, having been born into the ruling family of Han during the end phase of the Warring States period.

The Records of the Grand Historian say that Han Fei studied together with future Qin chancellor Li Si under the Confucian philosopher Xun Kuang.

Han Fei was born a stutterer and was not able to dispute well, but he was good at writing papers.

At this, Han Fei was frustrated with the reality that, in governing a state, the king did not endeavor to refine and clarify the juridical system of the state, to control his subjects by taking over power, to enhance state property and defense, or to call and employ the wise by enhancing the state.

Han Fei regarded the intellectuals as a disturbance to the law by employing their literature and thought that knights violate the prohibition of the state by using armed forces.

However, while Han Fei himself knew well of the difficulty of persuasion for his work on the difficulties in the way of persuasion was very comprehensive, he eventually met an untimely death in Qin.

Han Fei presented the essay "Preserving the Han" to ask the king not to attack his homeland, but his ex-friend and rival Li Si used that essay to have Han Fei imprisoned on account of his likely loyalty to Han.

Han Fei responded by writing another essay named "In the first time of meeting Qin king", hoping to use his writing talent to win the king's heart.

Han Fei did win the king's heart, but not before Li Si forced him to commit suicide by drinking poison.

Han Fei agreed with his teacher's theory of "virtueless by birth", but as in previous Legalist philosophy, pragmatically proposed to steer people by their own interest-driven nature.