Legism or legalism is a state philosophy that was scorned by the Confucians but won over by the foundation of the Chinese empire and deeply influenced the Chinese state that was nominally Confucian.
The objective of the legist state philosophers (fajia 法家) was to strengthen the position of the state ruler (jun 君, a duke or king, later the emperor) against the subordinated feudal lords (marquises or dukes) and later against neighboring states during the Warring States period 戰國時代. An important instrument of the ruler's power were the ministers and officials (chen 臣) that replaced the feudal lords as a bureaucratic elite. The ruler had to employ the ministers by using their strength for himself, and by encountering their intrigues against him. Furthermore, other bureaucratic measures like unifying weights and measures, promulgating law codexes, registering households and collecting taxes, and by recruiting men for official work and for the army.
The most important representants of legist state philosophy were Guan Zhong 管仲 (see Guanzi 管子), Shang Yang 商鞅 (see Shangjunshu 商君書) and Han Fei 韓非 (see Hanfeizi 韓非子).
By these measures, states adopting legist practices were able to become stronger than their neighbors and to win hegemony over the feudal states of the Warring States era, first Qi 齊, later Qin 秦 that finally founded the first empire of China. The First Emperor of Qin 秦始皇帝 is said to have burned Confucian books and buried alive Confucian scholars. For this reason legalism was for a long time disregarded as the state philosophy of immoral rulers and reckless ministers like the Qin chancellor Li Si 李斯. Only during the Later Han Dynasty 後漢 when the Confucian state disengaged under the influence of eunuchs, consort clans and military governors, legism was again considered by scholars like Xun Yue 荀悅 (see Shenjian 申鑒) as being a state philosophy effective enough to strengthen the position of the emperor and the central government.
In fact, the Han Dynasty had taken over most legist bureaucratic institutions of the Qin Dynasty and altered them to meet the new demands of a unified China.