Chinese people use Confucius' theory to constrain people's mind and use Han Fei Zi's theory to constrain people's behavior. That is, they praise moral standards encourage by Confucianism and constrain people's behavior by strict laws, as what Han Fei Zi suggested.
As you can see, both Confucius and Han Fei Zi have great influence in the Chinese and Asian world. I believe the Asian "tiger mother" is heavily influenced by them. And this can explain why Chinese people love to embrace the "Chinese dream" and obey a dictatorship of communism.
Meanwhile, Taoism and Chinese Buddhism free Chinese people's mind. And the western democracy undermines the influence from Confucius and Han Fei Zi.
Han Fei Zi didn't create the concept of strict laws. he borrowed ideas from Confucianism, Taoism, and his predecessors of Legalism to form his own theory. The concept of his theory is more about economics and management which are main issues discussed by people around the world.
We might think that ancient Chinese emperors encouraged only Confucianism by suppressing other schools such as Legalism and Taoism. But actually the Confucianism they encouraged is a mixture of Confucianism and Legalism, merely based on their own interests. So Legalism and Han Fei Zi still have great influence on Chinese history and modern society. At least, some common Chinese idioms are derived from Han Fei Zi's book, like 守株待兔, 自相矛盾 and 濫竽充數.
我的英文不好，可能讓你誤會了。我是說，韓非討論的議題關乎經濟學和管理學，這都是舉世關注的題目，就算沒有韓非子，別人也會去探討。這一點，我的意見是與你一致的。
至於法家對中國的影響，如網友所述，法家代表的是積極改革的形象，根據我看到的資料，不論是民國時期或是「新中國」時期，都很看重法家所帶來的積極意義。例如有人說，在文化大革命中，法家被視為革命派，儒家是反動派，儒法鬥爭就是路線鬥爭。
我覺得法家的直接影響可能僅限於儒家文化圈，例如：日本在德川幕府時期就有韓非子的註釋。加上漢武帝「獨尊儒術」，遵的其實是儒家+法家，我想道理很明白，儒家給讀書人一個夢，但要治理國家、控制人民，法家比較對統治者的胃口。畢竟，法家是站在統治者的立場發展出來的理論，有哪個統治者捨得放棄呢？
Confucius and Han Fei developed their theories from the perspective of a governor. The life of a man relies on a well-structured society which is governed by an emperor or a dictator.
On the contrary, western democracy focus on basic and universal human rights, from the perspective of being a man. I hope my understanding of these great ideas is not too simple and silly.
In old days, Chinese children were taught to obey their parents, teachers, and government, for the sake of a harmony society. But now children in Taiwan are taught to be an independent person with critical thinking ability. You are allowed to question anything, including your parents and government.
Your last question is hard to me. I am not a fortuneteller or predictor. People thinks that the practice of Han Fei's theory could lead to a dictatorship. Personally I suggest we should vanish any possibility of dictatorship. But it still relies on the international realty. It's more about the politics, not purely theory.
Han Fei and his Legalism used strict laws to ensure the ultimate
inviolability of a governor. And Roman law is the basic framework for
modern civil law, which focus on human relationships and property.
I
think they belong to different conceptual categories. But I am not a
law or philosophy professor so I can't give you any in-depth
introduction.
When we talk about the critical thinking, a more
proper example is to examine if the origin of the sentence "我阿嬷作慰安妇是自愿的"
is reliable or not. As I know, the original sentence should be
"慰安婦一定是被迫的嗎？就像性工作者，有可能為了經濟等因素而下海". It's just an assertion for further
discussion, not a conclusion.
【反省】中國古代哲學思想也跳下去跟別人討論，真是夜郎自大。