Ed Note: This post is the first by Sean, a graduate school colleague of mine currently in Taiwan doing research for his dissertation. He’s one of the smartest guys I know and I’m really happy to have him contributing here to the Granite Studio. Enjoy.
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Shortsighted governments using the power of the state to silence criticism is nothing new, in China or anywhere else. Sima Qian, the founding father of Chinese Historiography, dealt with similar sorts of narrow-minded rulers in his day (and paid a steep price for it), and gave China’s future officials and princelings this timeless advice, in the form of an anecdote about King Li of Zhou:
[King Li of Zhou] acted cruelly and extravagantly. The people in the capital spoke of the king’s faults. The Duke of Shao remonstrated, saying: “Your people can no longer bear your orders.” The king was angered. He found a shaman from Wei and had him watch for criticism. Whomever he reported was killed. The criticism subsided, [but] the feudal lords stopped coming to court. In the thirty-fourth year [of his reign], the king became even more stern. No one in the capital dared to say a word, but only glanced at each other on the roads. King Li was pleased. He told the Duke of Shao: “I was able to stop the criticism. Now they dare not speak.” The Duke of Shao said: ] “This is [merely] stopping up criticism. To block peoples’ mouths is worse than blocking a river. When an obstructed river bursts its banks, it will surely hurt a great number of people. People are like this, too. For this reason, those who regulate rivers dredge them and let them flow; those who regulate people broaden [channels] and let them talk.
Sima Qian then goes on to point out something that supporters of democracy have long maintained, that the criticism and opinion of the governed is not just an irritation to put up with, but a great resource for the wise ruler:
People having mouths is similar to the land having mountains and rivers, from which the daily needs are drawn; and [it is also] similar in that there are highlands, lowlands, swampy lands, and irrigated lands, from which clothes and food are produced. When mouths are made to express words, [both] good and degenerative [ideas] will arise. To put the good ones into practice and to guard against the degenerative ones are the ways to make daily necessities, food, and clothing abound. As people have thoughts in their minds and express them through their mouths, if [the ideas] are constructive, you should finish them and put them into practice. If you gag their mouths, how many of them would support [you]?”
Then, as now, the duke’s advice was ignored, and criticism of King Li continued to be censored. The result?
The king would not listen. Then no one in the capital dared to say a word. Three years [later], they joined each other in rebellion, and attacked the king. King Li fled to Chih.
Those who do not learn from history…well, you know the rest.
Translation taken from Ssu-ma Ch’ien, The Grand Scribe’s Records, Volume I: The Basic Annals of Pre-Han China (ed. Nienhauser), Shiji 4 (142).
