Who is Cao Can 曹参?

曹参 Cao Can (? ~ 190 BCE) was a statesman of the Western Han Dynasty. He hailed from Peixian County (now in Jiangsu Province). During the Qin Dynasty, he served as a prison official in Peixian. He joined Liu Bang's uprising, suffering seventy wounds in battle. He made significant contributions in capturing cities and territories. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, he was enfeoffed as Marquis of Pingyang and served as the Prime Minister of the Qi State for nine years. Later, he succeeded Xiao He as the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty. Cao Can revered Huang-Lao philosophy and applied it to political practice. Shortly after assuming the prime ministership of Qi, he invited the renowned Huang-Lao scholar Gai Gong from Jiaoxi to Qi to consult on how to "pacify and unite the people." He gladly accepted Gai Gong’s view that "the key to governance lies in tranquility, and the people will settle themselves," adopting this as the fundamental guiding ideology for governing Qi. "Thus, during his nine years as prime minister of Qi, the state was pacified and united, and he was widely praised as a virtuous prime minister" (Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of the Cao Chancellor).  

In 193 BCE, after becoming Chancellor of the Han Dynasty, he promoted Huang-Lao principles on a larger scale: he selected honest and unpretentious officials who were "simple in speech and versed in Huang-Lao philosophy" to serve in the Chancellor’s office; he never pursued minor faults in others, adopting a conciliatory attitude. When he found officials drinking, singing, and shouting in their quarters all day, he not only did not stop them but also set up a feast in the garden of his own residence, inviting others to drink, sing, and shout in response. As Chancellor, he neglected state affairs and merely drank wine. When subordinates came to report matters, he would pour them wine before they could speak, and after they finished drinking, he would dismiss them without a word. He rigidly adhered to ancestral laws and showed no inclination for innovation.

He once said to Emperor Hui: "Emperor Gaozu and Xiao He established the laws of the land, which are clear and sound. Now, Your Majesty need only govern with non-action, while I and others uphold our duties and follow these laws without deviation—is this not sufficient?" (Ibid.) He believed that ancestral laws were already perfect, and only strict adherence was needed. His words and deeds demonstrated that even in the political practice of early Western Han, Huang-Lao philosophy exhibited passive effects. His biography can be found in Volume 54 of Records of the Grand Historian and Volume 39 of Book of Han.