中英雙語話史記 第32期:商鞅變法

Political Reforms of Shang Yang

商鞅變法

Lord Shang Yang introduced two political reforms to the state of Qin in the Warring States Period (475—221BC).

戰國時期（公元前475年至公元前221年），商君商鞅在秦國推行了兩次政治變革。

Shang Yang was born in an aristocrat family in the state of Wei.

商鞅生於衛國一個貴族家庭。

In 356BC, he was appointed governor to introduce the first political reform to reward farming and weaving, abolish hereditary privileges of the nobility and encourage farming and fighting for the country, set up a unitary administrative system down to household registration at the grass roots.

公元前356年，他被任命爲主管推行第一次變法以獎勵農耕和編制，取消貴族的世襲特權，鼓勵農耕和爲國家而戰，建立了下至基層戶口登記的一元統治體系。

Shang Yang carried the reform in strict terms and when the son of the king violated laws, his teacher got punished.

商鞅嚴格執行變法，當王子觸碰法律時，他的老師就會受到懲罰。

In such a way he told people to be law-abiding, and political reform achieved great success.

通過這樣的方式，他教會人們遵紀守法，變法也取得了很大的成功。

The first reform brought rapid development to the state of Qin.

首次變法爲秦國帶來了迅速的發展。

Two years later, the capital was shifted to Xianyang and the second political reform was then introduced to establish the political system of county in which the State of Qin was divided into 31 counties, to abolish the nine-square system and make land private, and unify weights and measures,

兩年後，國都遷至咸陽，第二次變法被推行以在秦朝的31個郡縣中建立郡縣制、廢除井田制、實行土地私有制、統一度量衡。

thus laying the foundations for the state of Qin to become strong and eventually unify China for the first time in history.

這些措施爲秦朝的強大和史上首次統一中國奠定了基礎。