Follow us on Facebook to receive important updates Follow us on Twitter to receive important updates Follow us on sina.com's microblogging site to receive important updates Follow us on Douban to receive important updates
Chinese Text Project
Back Forward
Legalism -> Shang Jun Shu -> Weakening the People -> 4

If there is law
and the people are quiet,
changes made by the ruler are relegated to the second place, so that affairs become well organized;
the country is interested in maintaining peace and quiet,
but a ruler in wielding his authority and privileged position;
thus a ruler values many changes,
but the country values few changes.
If the profit leaks out through only one outlet,
the state will have many products,
but if it leaks out through ten outlets,
the state will have few products.
If only one outlet is preserved, there will be orderly government;
but if ten outlets are preserved, there will be disorder.
Orderly government brings strength,
but disorder brings weakness;
when there is strength, products are imported,
but when there is weakness, products are exported.
Therefore a state that imports products is strong and one that exports products is weak.


Enjoy this site? Please help.Site design and content copyright 2006-2024. When quoting or citing information from this site, please link to the corresponding page or to https://ctext.org. Please note that the use of automatic download software on this site is strictly prohibited, and that users of such software are automatically banned without warning to save bandwidth. 沪ICP备09015720号-3Comments? Suggestions? Please raise them here.