 The people covet wealth and fame; they are afraid of punishments: this is their basic disposition (qing 情). This disposition is not to be altered but to be properly understood and then manipulated: “When a law is established without investigating the people’s disposition, it will not succeed” (Shang jun shu 8: 63; Book of Lord Shang 8.3). To direct the populace toward the pursuits which benefit the state, namely agriculture and warfare, even though they consider these “bitter and dangerous,” one should establish a combination of positive and negative incentives. The entire sociopolitical system advocated by Shang Yang can be seen as the realization of this recommendation (Pines 2016b).