Legalism Statue of pivotal reformer Shang Yang Chinese 法家 Literal meaning The two basic meanings of Fa are "method" and "standard". Jia can mean "school of thought", but also "specialist" or "expert", this being the usage that has survived in modern Chinese.[1] Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fǎjiā Gwoyeu Romatzyh Faajia Wade–Giles Fa3-chia1 IPA [fàtɕjá] Wu Romanization Fat平 ga平 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Faat-gāa Jyutping Faat3-gaa1 Southern Min Tâi-lô Huat-ka