# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/han-fei
# Generated: 2026-08-31T17:33:55.422Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/han-fei"
name: "Han Fei"
slug: "han-fei"
description: "A Warring States prince who codified how to rule through cold systems rather than virtue — and paid for it with his life while his ideas shaped every Chinese dynasty that followed."
tagline: "Chinese Legalist, 280–233 BCE"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Statue_Of_Han_Fei.png/330px-Statue_Of_Han_Fei.png"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "China"
  isoCode: "CN"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "-280"
deathDate: "-233"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.19
  momentum:             0.1798561151079137
  historical:           24.392508
  currentAttention:     0.9992006394884093
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Academics"
    slug: "academics"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Ancient History"
    slug: "ancient-history"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28959"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Han%20Fei"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Feizi"
    title: "Han Feizi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A5%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8C_%D0%A4%D1%8D%D0%B9"
    title: "Хань Фэй"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%BD%A7%E0%BD%93%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A7%E0%BE%A5%E0%BD%BA%E0%BC%8D"
    title: "ཧན་ཧྥེ།"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Han Fei"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cdo.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A0ng_H%C4%AD"
    title: "Hàng Hĭ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%BE%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%81%DB%8E%DB%8C"
    title: "ھان فێی"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://crh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Han Fei"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Fej"
    title: "Chan Fej"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Han Fei"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A7%CE%B1%CE%BD_%CE%A6%CE%AD%CE%B9"
    title: "Χαν Φέι"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Han Fei"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Feizi"
    title: "Han Feizi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Feizi"
    title: "Han Feizi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Han Fei"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%81%DB%8C_%D8%B2%DB%8C"
    title: "هان فی زی"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Han Fei"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei_Zi"
    title: "Han Fei Zi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gan.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9F%93%E9%9D%9E"
    title: "韓非"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Han Fei"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9F_%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%99_%D7%93%D7%96%D7%94"
    title: "האן פיי דזה"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fej-ce"
    title: "Han Fej-ce"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%96%D5%A5%D5%B5"
    title: "Հան Ֆեյ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://gor.wikiquote.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://id.wikiquote.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Han_Fei"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Han Fei was a prince of Han during China's Warring States period (c. 280–233 BC), but his legacy rests on the Han Feizi, the text that synthesized Legalist thought into a manual for autocratic control. He borrowed Shang Yang's emphasis on laws, Shen Buhai's administrative technique, and Shen Dao's ideas on authority, forging them into a system built on three pillars: power, technique, and law. His method demanded that rulers hold officials accountable through punishment and reward, matching outcomes to claims with clinical precision. After the Qin dynasty's swift collapse, the Han dynasty officially vilified Legalism, casting it as the philosophy of tyrants. Yet Han Fei's ideas never left: every dynasty after drew on his architecture of control, even as Confucian scholars condemned it, and the dream of rule without laws remained exactly that.