厚黑学

《厚黑学》，为李宗吾于1917年所著书籍，他在书中阐述脸皮要厚而无形，心要黑而无色，这样才能成为“英雄豪杰”，寓针砭于嘲讽。

评论

书中列举了曹操、刘备、孙权、司马懿、项羽、刘邦等人物为例，试图证实其理论。阐述当中各人之脸皮厚薄与心地黑白影响他们的成败。许倬云认为李宗吾的厚黑学是：“燃犀烛隐，揭了黑森林中的勾当而已。”虽然厚黑学原本是李宗吾以嘲讽手法提出的戏谑性学说，却意外引发热烈回响，也使李宗吾成为厚黑学宗师。厚黑学从某个角度而言，反映了人性黑暗自私的一面，然而也反映了人们的处世之道。这些著作八十年代又成为台湾、香港及日本的畅销书。作者以强烈的使命感和敏锐的洞察力，对社会的政治黑暗和官场腐败予以深刻揭露和严厉抨击。后来他提出“用厚黑以图谋一己私利，越厚黑越失败；用厚黑以图谋众人之公利，越厚黑越成功”的观点。

版本

《厚黑学》最早的版本仅含三卷：上卷《厚黑学》、中卷《厚黑经》、下卷《厚黑传习录》。之后李氏又陆续补充了《求官六字真言》、《做官六字真言》、《办事二妙法》等，在印行第四版后又增加了《心理与力学》。今日出版的《厚黑学》版本，则大多将李氏有关厚黑学的文章全部收录，并含有李氏友人所作之作者生平。

衍生作品

朱津宁著《新厚黑学》

陈破空着《中南海厚黑学：中共不能说的秘密》

陈云根著《特朗普厚黑学》

Thick Black Theory (Chinese: 厚黑學; pinyin: Hòu hēi xué) is a philosophical treatise written by Li Zongwu (李宗吾, 1879–1943), a disgruntled politician and scholar born at the end of Qing dynasty. It was published in China in 1911, the year of the Xinhai revolution, when the Qing dynasty was overthrown.

Name

Houheixue is translated as "Thick Black Theory", "Thick and Dark Theory", or "Study of the Thick and Dark". Hou 厚 is thick in English. It comes from "thick face" in Chinese, which means being shameless. Hei 黑 can be translated as dark or "hard-hearted", which means setting one's mind to be ready to play hard, without respect towards common virtue.

Quotations

Li was a scientist of political intrigue. He wrote: "When you conceal your will from others, that is Thick. When you impose your will on others, that is Black (Dark)." According to Chin-Ning Chu, the 'Thick Black Theory' describes the ruthless and hypocritical means men use to obtain and hold power: "thick faces" (shamelessness), "black heart" (ruthlessness), according to author's view of history. It went through several printings.

Li argued that "A great hero is no more than a person who is impudent and wicked." According to Li, the wickedest of all was Cao Cao. "I would rather betray someone than be betrayed." It shows how black Cao Cao's heart was inside. Li picked Liu Bei (king of one rival kingdom competing with Cao's) as the highly skilled person with a "thick face". He never thought it shameful to live inside another's fence. He was also a frequent crier, appealing to others' sympathy. There is even a humorous saying, "Liu Bei's JiangShan (kingdom) was obtained through his crying."

Studies

During the 1980s, news spread that Mao Zedong had studied the Thick Black Theory before the Cultural Revolution, and Li Zongwu was in the spotlight again. In Beijing during the 1990s, many books related to the Thick Black Theory, "thick-black-ology", were published.

Low Sui Pheng, in 1997 a senior lecturer at National University of Singapore, discusses the theory and issues in "Thick face, black heart and the marketing of construction services in China" in the "Marketing Intelligence & Planning" journal, volume 15 (1997), number 5, pp. 221–226, MCB University Press. Low proposes that Li Zongwu's principles from the 1911 book are widely practiced today as, more than ever, the Chinese view business as war and the marketplace as a battlefield.

The principles are also discussed by Tony Fang, of the School of Business, Stockholm University, in "Negotiation: the Chinese style", "Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing", volume 21 (2006), number 1, pp. 50–60, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

A new analysis and annotated translation was provided in Chapters 7 and 8 of Gino LaPaglia's The Cultural Roots of Strategic Intelligence (Lexington Books, 2019).

Modern reinterpretations

Thick Face Black Heart: Thriving, Winning and Succeeding in Life's Every Endeavor Amc Pub, (July 1992), ISBN 0-929638-28-X, 380 pages

Thick Face, Black Heart: The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life Business Plus (October 1, 1994), ISBN 0-446-67020-0, 384 pages

Thick Face, Black Heart: The Asian Path to Thriving, Winning and Succeeding Nicholas Brealey Publishing (April 30, 1995), ISBN 1-85788-125-7, 380 pages

Thick Black Theory 厚黑學: Annotated Translation Chapter 8 LaPaglia, Gino. The Cultural Roots of Strategic Intelligence (Lexington: Dec, 2019), ISBN 149858831X, ISBN 978-1498588317, 302 pages