Although Mencius failed to realize his desire to rule the world during his lifetime, his thoughts were an important stage of development in pre-Qin Confucianism, which was inherited from Confucius and inspired by Xunzi. It had a profound influence on the politics, economy, and culture of later generations. It has exerted important political and ideological influence, and also exerted extensive influence on Eastern and Western culture

Mencius’ thoughts are concentrated in the book "Mencius". The theory of good nature is the cornerstone of Mencius' thought, and it runs through the entire ideological system. It provides the possibility for people's self-cultivation and self-improvement; it provides a theoretical basis for using educational methods to solve human problems and even social problems. He advocated that all human beings are born kind and possess the "four hearts", namely the heart of compassion, the heart of shame and disgust, the heart of respect and the heart of right and wrong. These "four hearts" are the origin of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom.

"Benevolent government and implement kingly principles" is the central content of his political thought. He systematically expounded the theory of "benevolent government" social harmony, which is based on economic harmony, with moral harmony as the core, upper-lower harmony as the backbone, and good governance and good education as the two wings. He advocated "conquering people with virtue" and opposed governing the country by violence. He believed that only by using "morality" can people "be sincerely convinced." "Giving importance to the people and despising the monarch" is an important part of his theory of "benevolent government". He put the people first and proposed that "the people are the most valuable, the country is second, and the monarch is despised."

Mencius also paid great attention to personality cultivation. His famous saying "You cannot be licentious with wealth, you cannot move with poverty, and you cannot bend with force", which played an immeasurable role in shaping the spiritual character of the Chinese nation, especially the outstanding figures of the past dynasties in China. The character shaping of intellectuals also played a direct role. Mencius emphasized human value and dignity, and even more emphasis on human social responsibility. He praised Yu Ji's world-saving spirit and advocated taking joy in the world and worrying about the world. He believes that life and righteousness are both precious to human beings. When life and righteousness cannot be obtained at the same time, one should sacrifice one's life for righteousness.

In terms of educational thought, Mencius attached great importance to cultivating talents and regarded "obtaining and educating talents from all over the world" as the greatest pleasure in life. He believed that "it is easy to deal with people in the world, but it is difficult to win people from the world" and "respecting talents and enabling talents, and having heroes in office" are the foundation of a country's prosperity. He inherited and carried forward Confucius's educational thoughts, based on the "Theory of Good Nature", and proposed the educational purpose of "understanding human ethics", with special emphasis on independent thinking and opinions during the learning process.

It has been more than two thousand years since Mencius left us. His theory of the goodness of nature has become the mainstream of traditional Chinese theories of human nature; his theory of kingship and benevolent government has been regarded as the rule of governance by successive dynasties; his theory of conscience inspired the Song and Ming dynasties. The innovative school of Neo-Confucianism; his theory of nourishing qi provided valuable ideological materials for later theories of mind; his idea that the benevolent is invincible, that the right person will get many help, and the wrong person will get little help, became the highest guiding principle for later generations' diplomacy and military affairs; he cared about agricultural production and made The people are neither hungry nor cold, and have been regarded as a guideline by politicians for thousands of years; his social harmony theory is the representative of ancient Chinese social harmony theory, and it still has many enlightening significance for us to build a socialist harmonious society today.

Mencius’ thoughts not only have far-reaching influence at home, but are also widely spread abroad. Due to geographical and political reasons, the book "Mencius" was first introduced to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, etc. together with other Confucian classics. country. Mencius' thoughts and theories have also been widely spread in the West. As early as the 21st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1593), the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci translated "Mencius" into Latin and sent it back to his country. Subsequently, "Mencius" was successively translated into French, German, English, Russian and other languages ??and published in Western countries. Oxford University has listed chapters in "Mencius" as a compulsory subject for public students. The University of London lists "Mencius" as an ancient Chinese textbook. Faced with various social problems that have emerged after Western modernization, many Western scholars have become keenly interested in Mencius's thoughts and theories, especially the theory of moral character, hoping to find solutions to today's social problems.

Mencius is the most influential figure in the history of China and world culture in Zoucheng. The book "Mencius" has long become a treasure of world civilization. Mencius not only belongs to Zoucheng and China, but also to the world and the whole world. human beings.

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