Han Feizi in the context of "Chinese Legalism"

Fajia (Chinese: 法家; pinyin: fǎjiā), or the School of fa (incl. law, method), often translated Legalism, was a bibliographic school of primarily Warring States period classical Chinese philosophy, including more administrative works traditionally said to be rooted in Huang-Lao Daoism. Addressing practical governance challenges of the unstable feudal system, their ideas 'contributed greatly to the formation of the Chinese empire' and bureaucracy, advocating concepts including rule by law, sophisticated administrative technique, and ideas of state and sovereign power. They are often interpreted along realist lines. Though persisting, the Qin to Tang were more characterized by the 'centralizing tendencies' of their traditions.

The school incorporates the more legalistic ideas of Li Kui and Shang Yang, and more administrative Shen Buhai and Shen Dao, with Shen Buhai, Shen Dao, and Han Fei traditionally said by Sima Qian to be rooted in Huang-Lao (Daoism). Shen Dao may have been a significant early influence for Daoism and administration. These earlier currents were synthesized in the Han Feizi, including some of the earliest commentaries on the Daoist text Daodejing. The later Han dynasty considered Guan Zhong to be a forefather of the school, with the Guanzi added later. Later dynasties regarded Xun Kuang as a teacher of Han Fei and Qin Chancellor Li Si, as attested by Sima Qian, approvingly included during the 1970s along with figures like Zhang Binglin.

Shen Buhai (Chinese: 申不害; c. 400 BC – c. 337 BC) was a Chinese statesman, reformer and diplomat. According to the Shiji, Shen Buhai served as Chancellor of the Han state under Marquis Zhao of Han, for around fifteen years to his natural death in office in 337 BC, ordering its government and doctrines emphasizing Shu 术 (administrative) technique, though the likely late term is Han Fei's. A contemporary of syncretist Shi Jiao and Shang Yang, Shen was born in the central State of Zheng, likely serving as a minor official there. After Han completed the conquest and division of Zheng and Wei in 376 BC, he rose up in the ranks of the Han officialdom, reforming its administration, military defenses, and to a lesser extent law only about a half century after its founding.

Influencing the Han Feizi, Shen Buhai seemed to play an influence on Han dynasty reformers, and likely even the establishment of the civil service examination. With the imperial examination extending in influence to the European civil service, Shen Buhai could perhaps be considered a founder in world bureaucracy, and even the first political scientist. However, it is not as evident that he was as well known as another of the Han Feizi's figures, Shen Dao, during their lifetimes. His administrative ideas were influential enough to become one of the Xun Kuang's critiqued "Twelve Masters" in the later Warring States period, and might have been renowned by the time the Han Feizi was written.

Shen Dao (c. 350 – c. 275 BC) was a mid Warring states period Chinese philosopher and writer. Noteworthy as a predecessor influencing both Han Fei and Daoism, his remaining fragments are the most substantial of any Jixia Academy scholar, and may have been well known. Later classified as Legalist with Han Fei, Sima Qian discusses him with Jixia academy scholars, taking him as rooted in Huang-Lao (Daoism).

Early remembered modernly for his influence on the Han Feizi with regards the concept of shi (勢; 'power', 'potential', circumstantial advantage or authority), most of his work would appear to have concerned the concept of fa (administrative methods and standards, including laws) commonly shared by others that the Han Confucian archivists classified as Legalist, and does share some early administrative ideas with them.

Han Fei (c. 280 – 233 BC), also known as Han Feizi, 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.

The Guanzi (Chinese: 管子) is an anonymous foundational Chinese political and philosophical text. Compiled in the early Han dynasty, the Han Feizi suggests earlier, similar versions as dating back to the late Warring states period. Despite its late dating, it is arguably one of the most representative texts of the concepts of political economy that developed during the Spring and Autumn period. At over 135,000 characters, it is one of the longest early Chinese philosophical texts, originally comprising 86 chapters, of which 76 survive. It covers broad subject matter, famously including price regulation of commodities via the concept of "light and heavy" (轻重). Ming dynasty agricultural scientist Xu Guangqi still frequently cited the Guanzi and Xunzi.

The Book of Lord Shang (traditional Chinese: 商君書; simplified Chinese: 商君书; pinyin: Shāng jūn shū) is an ancient Chinese text from the 3rd century BC, regarded as a foundational work of "Chinese Legalism". The earliest surviving of such texts (the second being the Han Feizi), it is named for and to some extent attributed to major Qin reformer Shang Yang, who served as minister to Duke Xiao of Qin (r. 361 – 338 BC) from 359 BC until his death in 338 BC and is generally considered to be the father of that state's "legalism".

The Book of Lord Shang includes a large number of ordinances, essays, and courtly petitions attributed to Shang Yang, as well as discourses delivered at the Qin court. The book focuses mainly on maintaining societal order through a system of impartial laws that strictly mete out rewards and punishments for citizens' actions. The first chapters advise promoting agriculture and suppressing other low-priority secondary activities, as well as encouraging martial virtues for use in creating and maintaining a state army for wars of conquest.