Gan Long

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Historical sources preserve very little about Gan Long's origins or early life. He is known to have been active during the reign of Duke Xiao of Qin (361–338 BCE), serving as a Qin dafu and representing the state's old aristocracy. Although Qin had dominated the western Rong peoples under Duke Mu during the Spring and Autumn period, its power weakened by the early Warring States period, while entrenched aristocratic interests remained strong internally. As a minister associated with Qin's hereditary aristocratic families, Gan Long had considerable standing at court. His political position reflected the broader outlook of the old Qin nobility: uphold ancestral institutions and preserve the existing order.

Middle Years: The Court Debate with Shang Yang

After Duke Xiao came to the throne, he was acutely aware of Qin's weakness and resolved to strengthen the state through reform. In 359 BCE, the third year of his reign, Wei Yang—later known as Shang Yang—was introduced by Jing Jian and obtained an audience with the duke. Wei Yang first tested Duke Xiao with arguments about the "Way of the Emperor" and the "Way of the King," neither of which appealed to him, before finally winning his interest with arguments for hegemonic statecraft. Duke Xiao wished to employ Wei Yang to carry out reforms but feared opposition from the nobility, so he convened court officials for an open discussion of the proposed changes.

In this court conference, whose outcome would shape Qin's future, Gan Long acted as a spokesman for the old aristocracy and engaged Wei Yang in a direct debate. Wei Yang argued that if a sage could strengthen the state, he need not follow old precedents, and if he could benefit the people, he need not adhere to established ritual. Gan Long immediately objected. He maintained that sages educated the people without changing them and that the wise governed without changing the laws; by teaching in accordance with popular customs one could succeed without unnecessary effort, and by governing according to established law officials would know the rules and the people would remain at ease. His central argument was that reform would disrupt the existing order, leave officials uncertain about how to act, and unsettle the population.

Wei Yang then attacked Gan Long's view as merely conventional. In his argument, ordinary people were comfortable with old customs and learned men were constrained by what they had previously heard; such people might be fit to hold office and preserve existing rules but were not capable of discussing principles beyond those rules. He further argued that the Three Dynasties had used different rites while becoming kings and that the Five Hegemons had used different laws while attaining hegemony; the wise created laws, while fools were constrained by them, and the worthy altered rites, while the unworthy clung to them. Du Zhi also spoke at this point, arguing that laws should not be changed without a hundredfold benefit and tools should not be altered without a tenfold gain. Wei Yang replied that there was no single way to govern an age and that measures beneficial to a state need not imitate antiquity, thereby decisively rejecting the conservative arguments of Gan Long and Du Zhi.

Duke Xiao ultimately supported Wei Yang and appointed him Left Shuzhang to direct the reforms. Gan Long's defeat in the debate marked the first major setback suffered by Qin's old aristocracy at court.

Later Years: Political Eclipse under the Reforms

After Shang Yang's Reforms were implemented, the political space available to Gan Long and the old aristocracy steadily contracted. Shang Yang carried out two successive rounds of reform, abolished the well-field system, rewarded military merit, promoted the county system, standardized weights and measures, and moved the capital to Xianyang, fundamentally reshaping Qin's political and social structure. Although historical records do not describe further forceful resistance by Gan Long, his influence as a representative of the old aristocracy was greatly diminished.

In 338 BCE, the twenty-fourth year of Duke Xiao's reign, the duke died and Crown Prince Si succeeded him as King Huiwen of Qin. Because Shang Yang had previously punished Prince Qian and Gongsun Jia, tutors of the crown prince, he lost his protector with Duke Xiao's death and was accused by members of the old aristocracy, eventually being executed by dismemberment. Shang Yang died, but his reforms remained in force. No further deeds of Gan Long are recorded.

Major Activities

The Court Debate

Gan Long's best-known act was his public debate with Wei Yang at the Qin court in 359 BCE, the third year of Duke Xiao's reign. The debate became one of the most famous Warring States arguments over reform versus preservation of established institutions and was recorded in detail by Sima Qian in the "Biography of Lord Shang" in Records of the Grand Historian. Gan Long advanced the principles of "teaching according to the people" and "governing according to the laws," stressing the importance of social stability and institutional continuity. His position reflected the prevailing outlook of the aristocratic class of his day. Although Duke Xiao did not accept his arguments, they are significant in intellectual history as an expression of the clash between appeals to ancient precedent and programs of institutional reform during the Warring States period.

Conservative Political Activity

Gan Long did not act alone at the Qin court. Together with Du Zhi, he represented conservative aristocratic interests, and the two supported one another during the court debate in an effort to prevent the reforms. Gan Long opposed change on the grounds that officials were familiar with the existing rules and that the people were at ease under them, emphasizing administrative costs and social stability. Du Zhi, by contrast, questioned the utility of reform through the argument that laws should not be changed without a hundredfold benefit. Their combined intervention illustrates the organized political strength of Qin's old aristocracy.

Personal Relations

Political Ally

• Du Zhi: Like Gan Long, a conservative Qin dafu. He joined Gan Long in opposing Shang Yang's Reforms during the court debate and was Gan Long's principal political ally.

Political Opponent

• Shang Yang (Wei Yang): Leading advocate of reform. He confronted Gan Long directly at court, and his position ultimately prevailed.

Ruler and Minister

• Duke Xiao of Qin: Gan Long's ruler. Duke Xiao ultimately accepted Shang Yang's proposals and rejected Gan Long's remonstrance.

Historical Assessment

Pre-Qin and Han Periods

• Sima Qian recorded the debate between Gan Long and Shang Yang in detail in the "Biography of Lord Shang" in Records of the Grand Historian. Although he did not directly pass judgment on Gan Long, the account presents Shang Yang's characterization of Gan Long's views as "conventional talk," describing him as comfortable with old customs and constrained by received learning, and therefore unfit to discuss reform beyond existing law. Han scholars generally praised the effectiveness of Shang Yang's Reforms and tended to view conservative figures such as Gan Long negatively.

Wei, Jin, Tang, and Song Periods

• The Tang historian Sima Zhen cited Gan Long's statements in his Shiji Suoyin without extensive comment. Song scholars discussing reform, however, often invoked Gan Long as a representative voice against institutional change. During Wang Anshi's reforms in the Northern Song, opponents sometimes appealed to Gan Long's idea of governing according to established law in arguing for preservation of the institutions of the ancestors. Gan Long thus became a symbolic figure in conservative political discourse.

Ming and Qing Periods

• The Ming thinker Li Zhi, when discussing Shang Yang's Reforms in Cangshu, criticized Gan Long's conservative arguments as failing to understand the demands of the times. The Qing thinker Wang Fuzhi also discussed the episode in Du Tongjian Lun. Although he regarded Gan Long's arguments as not entirely without rationale, he considered them blind to historical circumstances and held that Qin's rise depended precisely on reform.

Modern Period

• Modern scholars have often interpreted Gan Long through class analysis, portraying him as a representative of a declining slave-owning aristocracy whose opposition to reform reflected the resistance of old forces to new developments. Some scholars have also noted that his principle of teaching according to popular customs contained a measure of respect for established social practices and was not wholly unreasonable; nevertheless, in the competitive interstate environment of the Warring States period, rigid adherence to old institutions could be politically costly. In Outline of National History, Qian Mu treated Gan Long as a typical representative of Qin's conservative aristocratic forces and regarded his defeat as a consequence of broader historical change.