Yumin zhengce
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| yumin zhengce | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 愚民政策 | ||||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||||
| Hangul | 우민정책 | ||||||||
| Hanja | 愚民政策 | ||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||
| Kanji | 愚民政策 | ||||||||
| Kana | ぐみんせいさく | ||||||||
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Yumin zhengce (Chinese: 愚民政策; pinyin: yúmín zhèngcè, lit. 'policy of governing ignorant masses') is a chengyu and concept in Chinese political philosophy.
The term refers to the practice of a government deliberately keeping its population in a state of ignorance in order to make them more obedient to political authority and too incompetent to form effective rebellions against the state, thus rendering them more easily subjugated.
History
[edit]The systematization of yumin zhengce has been attributed to Shang Yang, a statesman of the Qin dynasty.[1] The 3rd century BC Book of Lord Shang states that "[when] the masses are kept ignorant, they are thus [made] easy to control" (民愚則易治也).[2]
Further reading
[edit]- Peterson, Glen (1994). "State Literacy Ideologies and the Transformation of Rural China". Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs (32): 95–120. doi:10.2307/2949829. JSTOR 2949829. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
See also
[edit]- Obscurantism
- Censorship in China
- Burning of books and burying of scholars
- Rectification of names
- 3S Policy
References
[edit]- ^ McGregor, James (3 December 2012). "China went from being a closed system with open minds to an open system with closed minds". Quartz. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
- ^ "eBook of Shangzi". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 21 February 2024.