 The diminishing appeal of Legalism became fully visible under the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han (r. 141–87 BCE). Although the Emperor himself adopted assertive domestic and foreign policies largely patterned after the Qin dynasty, he considered it prudent to distance himself from the Qin and Legalism, and to endorse—however superficially—Confucianism. It was during his reign that first proposals were made to ban the followers of Shang Yang, Shen Buhai, and Han Fei from holding office. Although in the short term these proposals had limited consequences (Shang Yang’s legacy was still openly defended by the government representative during the court debates in 81 BCE), in the long term the attitude toward Legalists changed. Few scholars studied their writings; even fewer were courageous enough to endorse their legacy openly. Much like Qin itself (for which see Pines 2014a), Legalism henceforth became a negative label, associated with the policies immensely opposed by the majority of imperial literati: excessive harshness, oppression, terror at court, imperial hubris, and the like. Self-identification as a follower of Shang Yang or Han Fei became a rarity, if not an impossibility.