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The term refers to the practice of a government deliberately keeping its population in a state of ignorance in order to make them more obedient to political authority and too incompetent to form effective rebellions against the state, thus rendering them more easily subjugated. A fundamental idea held that by limiting the population's literacy their thoughts could be limited as well.
The systematization of yumin zhengce has been attributed to Shang Yang, a statesman of the State of Qin.[1] The 3rd century BCBook of Lord Shang states that "[when] the masses are kept ignorant, they are thus [made] easy to control" (民愚則易治也).[2]
