{"id":32317,"date":"2026-02-28T08:42:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=32317"},"modified":"2026-02-28T08:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:42:37","slug":"reflections-after-andrews-arrest-how-high-born-criminals-were-treated-in-ancient-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=32317","title":{"rendered":"Reflections | After Andrew\u2019s arrest, how high-born criminals were treated in ancient China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/02\/26\/ebbd25dc-6f30-43b7-9359-6eecadd5b4d5_f86bd8aa.jpg?itok=1umfp6qR&amp;v=1772090278\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">You must have seen that photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of the British king, attempting to hide in the back seat of a car, eyes reddened by the camera flash, looking like a pathetic rodent moments before it is turned into roadkill. In response to the former prince\u2019s arrest, King Charles said in a statement: \u201cThe law must take its course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">British law enforcement is finally initiating formal legal proceedings against Andrew for alleged wrongdoing. It may have taken far too long, but it is still preferable to certain countries where royals literally get away with murder.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">For centuries, Chinese political culture cherished a stirring maxim: \u201cWhen a prince breaks the law, he is punished like a commoner.\u201d It is often cited as \u201cproof\u201d that traditional China upheld equality before the law.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">History tells a more complicated story. The journey to the modern principle that all are equal before the law has spanned more than 2,000 years, but for most of China\u2019s past, legal equality was an aspiration rather than a reality.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The famous phrase about princes and commoners appeared surprisingly late, in a novel from the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Qing dynasty<\/span> (1644-1912). Its earliest precedent is traced back nearly 2,000 years to the Warring States period (475BC-221BC) and is attributed to Shang Yang (390BC-338BC), the reformist chancellor of the state of <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Qin<\/span>.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">On one occasion, the crown prince of Qin violated the law. Shang declared that the law would lose its authority if those of privileged birth escaped punishment. Yet despite this high-minded pronouncement, the prince was spared; his tutors were punished instead. Far from demonstrating equality, the episode revealed its limits.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Legalist thinkers such as Shang did articulate a theory of impartial enforcement, and Legalist principles were implemented during the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Qin dynasty<\/span> (221BC-206BC) and the early years of the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Han dynasty<\/span> (202BC-AD220). In practice, however, the powerful were often shielded, while commoners bore the full weight of the law.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3344712\/after-andrews-arrest-how-high-born-criminals-were-treated-ancient-china?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You must have seen that photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of the British king, attempting to hide in the back seat of a car, eyes&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5434,9528,15687,832,16846,16845,5433,4057],"class_list":["post-32317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-ancient","tag-andrews","tag-arrest","tag-china","tag-criminals","tag-highborn","tag-reflections","tag-treated","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}