28. Ancient China’s Reign of Terror
Chin Shi Huang’s most trusted and influential official was his minister of justice, Li Ssu. In addition to being a bureaucrat, Li Ssu was also a philosopher who followed a school of thought known as “Legalism”, which advocated strict laws and draconian punishments for even petty crimes. As Li Ssu put it: “If light offenses carry heavy punishments, one can imagine what will be done against a serious offense. Thus the people will not dare to break the laws“.
Criticizing the law became a capital offense, and cowed citizens were expected to inform their neighbors. Millennia before modern totalitarians such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, China’s First Emperor had created what was arguably history’s first totalitarian state.