Modern Chinese: Mencius

This modern Chinese edition presents the Confucian classic compiled during the Warring States period by Mencius and his disciples Wan Zhang, Gongsun Chou, and others. It records Mencius's debates with rival schools of thought, his teachings to disciples, and his efforts to persuade rulers, and is counted among the Four Books and Five Classics. Its contents set out his political views, philosophy, and educational ideas, including benevolent governance and the kingly way, and the people-centered principle that the people are the most precious, the state comes next, and the ruler is lightest; rulers should share their joys with the people and govern through moral influence. On human nature it holds to the view that human nature is good, that people are born with the four beginnings of virtue, and that these should be extended through learning and self-cultivation. It also sets out the moral standard that wealth and honor cannot corrupt, poverty and low station cannot move, and power and force cannot bend. The Mencius is known for its forceful, eloquent style and its use of fables and analogies, such as pulling up seedlings to help them grow and laughing at fifty steps while running a hundred, giving it both deep thought and high literary value. It is an essential text for the study of pre-Qin Confucianism and classical Chinese.