Shared Pleasure Governance Test / 与民同乐治理检验

The shared pleasure governance test is the Mencian criterion used in Hanji 919 to judge whether a ruler’s park, garden, or pleasure project is legitimate. The source contrasts King Wen of Zhou’s large park, which common people could still use for woodcutting and hunting, with King Xuan of Qi’s smaller park, where exclusion and punishment made it feel like a trap.

The concept matters because it moves the judgment away from size or precedent and toward access, livelihood, and public benefit. When Emperor Ling of Han builds gardens by taking fields and displacing residents, the “shared pleasure” language fails the test even if it borrows the vocabulary of Mencius.

Key Claims

• Public enjoyment is legitimate only when common people can share in or at least not be harmed by the project.
• Classical precedent cannot be applied without its institutional conditions.
• A garden that destroys fields and excludes residents is private extraction, not shared pleasure.

Connections

• 《资治通鉴·汉纪》919丨想活得好？先踢开善良的自己 — source episode applying the test.
• 《孟子》 / Mencius — textual source for the Wenwang and Qi Xuan garden contrast.
• 孟子 / Mencius — thinker associated with the people-centered test.
• 周文王 / King Wen of Zhou — positive precedent of shared access.
• 齐宣王 / King Xuan of Qi — negative comparison of exclusionary access.
• 汉灵帝 / Emperor Ling of Han — ruler whose gardens fail the test.
• 杨赐 / Yang Ci (late Han) — remonstrator who foregrounds fields, residents, and public harm.
• Mencian People-Based Legitimacy / 孟子的民本合法性 — broader legitimacy frame for the test.
• Mencian Benevolent Government / 孟子仁政 — related Mencian governance ideal.
• 时绌举赢 / Untimely Extravagance — fiscal and livelihood risk of pleasure projects under stress.
• Classic Citation Legitimation Capture / 引经据典式欲望包装 — failure mode when citation replaces the actual test.