Han Fei

"Han Fei-Tzu" redirects here. For the Ender's Game character, see Han Fei-tzu (Ender's Game).

For imperial Chinese consorts, see Consort Han (disambiguation).

In this Chinese name, the family name is Han.

Han Fei
Statue of Han Fei in Shaanxi Province, China
Born	c. 280 BC State of Han
Died	233 BC State of Qin
Cause of death	Suicide by drinking poison
Philosophical work
Era	Ancient philosophy
Region	Chinese philosophy
School	Legalism
Main interests	Fa Xingming Wu wei Dao Diplomacy
Notable works	Han Feizi
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	韓非
Simplified Chinese	韩非
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hán Fēi Bopomofo ㄏㄢˊ ㄈㄟ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Harn Fei Wade–Giles Han2 Fei1 IPA [xǎn féɪ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hòhn Fēi Jyutping Hon4 Fei1 IPA [hɔn˩ fej˥] Southern Min Tâi-lô Hân Hui Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Han Pji Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[g]ˤar pəj
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	韓子
Simplified Chinese	韩子
Literal meaning	Master Han
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hánzǐ Wade–Giles Han2-tzu3
Second alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	韓非子
Simplified Chinese	韩非子
Literal meaning	Master Han Fei
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hán Fēizǐ Wade–Giles Han2 Fei1-tzu3

Han Fei (c. 280 – 233 BC), also known as Han Feizi or Han Fei Tzu, was a Chinese Legalist philosopher and statesman during the Warring States period. He was a prince of the state of Han.

Han Fei is often considered the greatest representative of Legalism for the Han Feizi, a later anthology of writings traditionally attributed to him, which synthesized the methods of his predecessors. Han Fei's ideas are sometimes compared with those of Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince. Zhuge Liang is said to have attached great importance to the Han Feizi.

After the early demise of the Qin dynasty, the Legalist school was officially vilified by the Han dynasty that succeeded it. Despite its outcast status throughout the history of imperial China, Han Fei's political theory and Legalist ideas continued to heavily influence every dynasty thereafter, and the Confucian ideal of rule without laws was never to be realized.

Han Fei borrowed Shang Yang's emphasis on laws, Shen Buhai's emphasis on administrative technique, and Shen Dao's ideas on authority and prophecy, emphasizing that the autocrat will be able to achieve firm control over the state with the mastering of his predecessors' methodologies: his position of 'power' (勢 shì), 'technique' (術 shù), and 'law' (fa). He stressed the importance of the concept of holding actual outcome accountable to speech (刑名 xingming), coupled with the "two handles" system of punishment and reward, as well as wu wei ('non-exertion').