石介

民者，国之根本也。 天下虽乱，民心未离，不足忧也。 天下虽治，民心离，可忧也。 有民则有天下，有国家； 无民，则天下空虚矣。 空虚不可居， 名号不足守，然则民其与天下存亡乎！其与国家衰盛乎！自古四夷不能亡国，大臣不能亡国，唯民能亡国。民， 国之根本也。 未有根本亡而枝叶存者。

- 《論根本策》

by Shi Jie

The people are the foundation of a state. Even if the realm is in turmoil, as long as the people’s hearts do not turn away, there is no cause for fear. Even if the realm is well governed, once the people’s hearts are lost, that is truly cause for concern. Where there are people, there exists the realm and the state; without the people, the realm is but an empty void. An empty void cannot be inhabited; titles and names are not enough to preserve it. Thus, the fate of the people is bound up with the survival or ruin of the realm, with the decline or prosperity of the state. From ancient times, neither the tribes of the four frontiers nor powerful ministers could bring down a state — only the people can bring down a state. The people are the root of the state. Just as tree branches and leaves can never survive when the roots are dead.

- 《On Fundamental Strategies》

【作者简介】石介（1005年－1045年），字守道，北宋兗州奉符（今山東泰安縣東南）人。師從於孫復，讀書於徂徠山（泰安城東南），世稱徂徠先生。著有《徂徠先生全集》、《怪說》。天聖八年（1030年）進士，與歐陽修、蔡襄等同年登科。 歷任鄆州觀察推官、南京留守推官等職。因好議時政，作《慶曆聖德頌》，斥權臣夏竦為“大奸”，夏竦恨他恨得牙癢癢的。後自求外放通判濮州，末赴任而卒。夏竦推說石介詐死，請開棺驗證。杜衍、呂居簡等數百人保證石介已死，乃免除此難，歐陽修說他的文章“博辯雄偉，懮思深遠”。石介推崇韓愈的「道統論」，稱堯、舜、禹、文、武、周、孔之道，才是“三才九疇五常之道”。

Introduction to the author:

Shi Jie (1005–1045), courtesy name Shoudao, was a native of Fengfu in Yanzhou, Northern Song (today southeast of Tai’an County, Shandong Province). He studied under Sun Fu and pursued his studies at Mount Culai (southeast of Tai’an city), and was therefore known as “Master Culai.” His works include 《The Complete Works of Master Culai》 and 《Strange Sayings》.

In the eighth year of the Tiansheng era (1030), he passed the imperial examinations as a jinshi in the same year as Ouyang Xiu and Cai Xiang. He later served as Judicial Commissioner of Yunzhou and Judicial Commissioner for the Capital Command of Nanjing, among other posts. Because he liked to comment on current politics, he composed 《Ode to the Sacred Virtue of the Qingli Reign》, in which he denounced the powerful minister Xia Song as a “great traitor.” Xia hated him bitterly for this.

Shi Jie later requested a transfer to serve as Vice Prefect of Puzhou, but died before assuming office. Xia Song then slandered him, claiming that Shi Jie had faked his death, and demanded that his coffin be opened for inspection. However, Du Yan, Lü Juji, and several hundred others guaranteed that Shi Jie was indeed dead, and thus he was spared this indignity.

Ouyang Xiu praised his writings as “erudite, powerful in argument, grand in style, and profound in thought.” Shi Jie admired Han Yu’s theory of the “Succession of the Dao,” declaring that only the Way of Yao, Shun, Yu, King Wen, King Wu, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius was truly “the Way of the Three Talents, the Nine Divisions, and the Five Constants.”