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The concept of keeping wealth with the people has long been a part of Chinese political economy. Prior to the Qin Dynasty,
the Confucian, Mohist, Daoist, and
Legalist scholars as well as military strategists all expounded on this subject. A ruler is expected to be frugal and will not compete with the people for benefits, nor plunder their riches. Policies that are
generous towards the people should be adopted, so as to permit and encourage
them to become rich through justified
means. The underlying assumption here is that a wealthy
populace and a wealthy state are one and the same. A wealthy populace is the
foundation of a state’s wealth as well as the fundamental guarantee for the state to win popular support. A state’s wealth is more than just about its riches, but about people’s support as well. This is an extension of the concept of
“putting the people first,” and in the present day, keeping wealth with the people has become a defining
feature of modern
civilization.
This term means to love and care for the common people. This is not only a sentiment which those who govern should have for the common people, but also an important principle which must be adhered to in governance. The ancient Chinese believed that those who govern should use specific policies and measures to benefit the people and enable them to live and work peacefully, free from sufferings and unwarranted infringements. This is the precondition or basis for those who govern to win the respect of the people. "Loving the people" was not only an important political concept - it also extended to the military sphere and became an important principle when raising armies to make war. According to this principle, the people of both one's own side and that of the enemy should receive caring love. This is a manifestation of the Chinese thinking "people first" and "benevolence and righteousness."
This term means safeguarding the people’s life. It first appeared in The Book of History. In the view of ancient Chinese, the mandate of heaven determined to whom supreme power in the human world belonged. The mandate was bestowed and removed according to predetermined principles. Virtuous rulers received the mandate, those without virtue lost it. The most important virtue for retaining the mandate of heaven was protecting the people, which was to ensure a safe and peaceful life for them, and this manifested the ruler’s love and care for his people. “Protecting the people” was a central goal of governance in ancient China.
The term means to benefit and provide for the people. Huimin (惠民) is a concrete manifestation of benevolent governance and loving the people, with focus on dividing wealth among the people and benefiting them. The emphasis is on placing the interests of the people first, so that they will support both ruler and government officials. Specifically this means all policies and measures must be in the public interest, must fulfill and ensure the real needs of the people, and keep wealth with them; they should not conflict with the public interest, or worse, be deceitful or resort to force.
This term means to provide the people with necessities of life and educate them. According to The Book of History, this is what constitutes good governance. To reach this goal, the ruler must manage well the “six necessities and three matters,” the six necessities being metal, wood, water, fire, land, and grain, and the three matters being fostering virtue, proper use of resources, and ensuring people’s livelihood. This concept of governance, which focuses on promoting both economic and ethical progress, is people-centered.
This term refers to the evaluative judgment or view of the people in a country or region, on an issue, phenomenon or incident which touches on their common interest and which has broad societal meaning. Ancient Chinese often took the “mandate of heaven” to be the basis and highest concept for the legitimacy of political authority and for policymaking, but in fact they often regarded the “will of the people” to be the principal source, content, and manifestation of the “mandate of heaven.” They also considered it to be the fundamental principle of a country’s governance, and thought that having or losing the will of the people determined the rise or fall of a country and political power as well as the development of state affairs. It is the core of the Chinese concept of the people as the foundation of the state. All enlightened Chinese statesmen past and present have regarded the “will of the people” to be the most important factor in governance.
A state which takes good care of its people is one with true power. A ruler will be trusted and supported by the people, and the state under such a ruler will be a solid stronghold only when the policies and measures made and implemented meet the people’s requirements and represent the people’s fundamental interests. This is a new theme derived from the concept of “loving the people,” which is the fundamental driving force of a state’s becoming strong and prosperous. It is also an extension and development of the concepts of “the people are the foundation of a state,” and “a benevolent person loves others.”
Live a stable life and work happily. Anju (安居) literally means a secure house and by extension living a happy life. Leye (乐业) means enjoying one's work. Together they refer to the general state of good governance, with peace prevailing and everyone in their proper place, satisfied with work and content with life. It is the longing of the common people as well as the goal of good governance. It is a people-oriented political aspiration centering on securing people's livelihood.
If one can make the people live in peace and happiness, he can unify all the land. In ancient China, a "king" (wang 王) was not just the one who held the highest power. Rather, he was a man who clearly understood the fundamental principle of maintaining harmony with heaven and earth as well as other humans and enjoyed popular support. To "protect the people" is to love and care for them, ensuring that they obtain the means of survival, receive education and live and work in peace. To "protect the people" is the primary function of the state or government, a prerequisite for winning the people’s hearts and minds; it is also the source of legitimate power. It gives concrete expression to the vision of "putting the people first" and "benevolent governance."
The ancient Chinese believed that good governance allowed people to lead a life of plenty. The ruler should be frugal, not extravagant or wasteful. He should make good use of the country’s material resources, reduce the corvée and tax burdens on the people so that they could live peaceful, prosperous, and happy lives. This belief was one of the sources of advocation for the people’s livelihood and socialist thinking in modern China.
This term means that the people are the essence of the state or the foundation upon which it stands. Only when people live and work in peace and contentment can the state be peaceful and stable. This saying, which first appeared in the “Old Text” version of The Book of History as an instruction by Yu the Great, can be traced to Mencius’ (372?-289 BC) statement: “The essence of a state is the people, next come the god of land and the god of grain (which stand for state power), and the last the ruler,” and Xunzi’s (313?-238 BC) statement, “Just as water can float a boat, so can water overturn it.” This idea gave rise to the “people first” thought advocated by Confucianism.
The notion of the people’s will being the foundation, or the “roots,” of government comes from a dialogue between a king of the Shang Dynasty and Houfu (in a text found on bamboo slips of the Warring States Period). Houfu said to the king, “The people’s will is like the roots of a tree: they support the leaves.” By that he meant that public support was the foundation of the state, and without it the state or political power would perish. The ancients believed that a government was legitimate so long as it “followed the mandate of heaven and complied with the wishes of the people.” people’s wishes were a prerequisite of heaven’s will, and only if the state complied with the people’s wishes, would it enjoy lasting stability. This notion is identical to the concept that "people are the foundation of the state".
This idea was first put forward by Zhang Zai （1020-1077）of the Northern Song Dynasty, who held that people and things are all created by the vital force of heaven and earth, and thus are similar in nature. He advocated love for all people and things in the world, and his view transcended the old anthropocentric viewpoint and aimed to reach harmony between oneself and other human beings as well as between oneself and other creatures and things. It is the same as the idea that a true gentleman has ample virtue and cares for all things. This notion is an important part of the School of Principle of the Song and Ming dynasties.
The term means to have love for the people, and cherish all things in the world. Here wu (物) includes plants and animals, while ai (爱) implies using them in a measured and appropriate way. This was first proposed by Mencius （372？-289 BC） who differentiated natural emotions as: a love for close family, a broad compassion for other people, and a sense of cherishing for plants and animals. The love could be close or distant, but a person of virtue always begins with love of close relatives, which then extends to other people and eventually to all things in the world. Though this feeling starts within the family, it should extend beyond it, even beyond the human race to include plants and animals, to become a broad love. The goal is to achieve harmony within oneself, with others and with nature. Zhang Zai’s （1020-1077）concept that “all people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions” is very similar.
A great ruler who conducts benevolent governance will enrich his people and unify the country. The implication of this term is that a great cause can succeed only when it is supported by the people. Therefore, a visionary leader must give top priority to the interests of all the people, not just the interests of some people, still less those of some individuals. This term echoes the thinking of “people being the foundation of the state” and “keeping wealth with the people.”
This expression means to ensure a secure livelihood for the people, a requirement for governance proposed by Mencius (372?-289 BC), who believed that if the common people did not have a steady income and could not maintain their survival, they would deviate from moral righteousness in pursuit of survival. Rulers, therefore, must create and provide the necessary means for the common people to maintain their daily lives. “Sustaining the people’s livelihood” is the foundation and prerequisite for rulers who wish to promote the moral edification of the people.
The people consider food to be of the utmost importance. Shi (食 food) is a general term for the basic resources or material conditions essential to human life; tian (天 heaven) refers to the most important things or the basic elements which determine everything. Ancient Chinese believed that rulers not only had to understand that the ordinary people were the ruler’s “heaven” and the “foundation” of the state, they also had to understand what the ordinary people’s “heaven” was. Food is an indispensable basic material condition for the people to feed themselves, support their families, live peacefully, and fulfill stable jobs; of course it is also an indispensable basic material condition for a ruling group to mollify the people and ensure their livelihood. The bottom line for governing a country and helping its people is to guarantee the people food to eat and enough of it, and to guarantee the supply of basic resources needed for survival. This is an extremely pragmatic political concept.
A ruler must generate wealth in accordance with justice and rules, and then use such wealth to help people prosper. Yi (义), originally refers to righteousness and can also be understood as appropriateness and rules. Shengli (生利) means to generate wealth and make profits. Fengmin (丰民) suggests enriching the people. This is to say that the ruler must ensure that what he does conforms to justice and rules, benefits the people, and improves their livelihood. It is a combination of the concepts of “justice bringing wealth” and “keeping wealth with the people.”
The full quote from Guanzi reads: “When the granaries are full, the people follow appropriate rules of conduct, and when there is enough to eat and wear, the people know honor and shame.” Here “granaries” and “eat and wear” mean the material conditions of life, while “rules of conduct” and “honor and shame” represent the social and moral principles of a society, as well as the systems and spiritual culture that underpin it. The quote highlights the relationship between material life and morality, that is to say, the former is the basis for the latter, and morality and social norms are the product of a certain degree of material development. Without the basic assurances for life, the best systems will not be followed, and the moral standards of the people will remain low. At all times, governance should focus first on improving the material conditions of a society. This is a very practical concept of state governance.
To have a strong army, the nation must have a prosperous population. In other words, a prosperous people are the basis and pre-condition of a strong military. Prosperity means the state treasury is full so military supplies are guaranteed. If people live a good life, they will have large families and the supply of manpower for the army is guaranteed. If society is well off, the population is content and will support national military policies and decisions. The expression shows the concretion between the population and the military in line with the concept that “people are the foundation of a state.”
An unchanging principle underpinning the governance of a country is that it should deliver benefits to the people. Here, “the governance of a country” refers to establishing systems of governance and policies, and issuing decrees; “delivering benefits to the people” means safeguarding the interests of the people and doing what is best for them. This is another expression of the traditional Chinese notion of “putting the people first.” Today, it is behind the thinking of putting the people above everything else and satisfying their desire for a better life.
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