Han Feizi

like the arthashastra of classical/gupta india, it provides a surprisingly intimate glimpse into the daily lives of several segments of ancient chinese society; the chaps that appropriate taoist language r extremely bewildering and concerning

Burton Watson, one of the premier scholars of Classical Chinese, once again brings a lesser-known Chinese philosopher to public knowledge, this time the austere legalist Han Fei Zi.

Watson provides not only well-translated excerpts, which give a representative portrayal of Master Han Fei and his school of Legalism (which was the state ideology of the first Chinese dynasty), but also historical and philosophical background.

Interesting as representing the Legalist school which united China under the Qin (Ch'in) but then was discredited, though its harsh methods often remained in use.

The classic Chinese realist thinker.