1, the people are more expensive than the monarch, and the people are the foundation of governing the country and securing the country.

Mencius said, "Three treasures of governors: land, people and government." ("Mencius") There is no land, no country and no people, the country has no government, and the people are in an important position. What's more, he put forward: "The people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light. So, Qiu Min is the son of heaven, the son of heaven is a vassal, and the vassal is a doctor. When a vassal is in trouble, he must change it. The completion of the sacrifice is both prosperous and timely. However, if the drought and flood overflow, it will change the country. " ("Mencius dedicated"). According to Mencius, among the people, the country and the monarch, the people are the most important. Although the people in the field are humble, winning their support will make them the sons of heaven; Although the status of the son of heaven is noble, it is only a vassal to get its appreciation. If the behavior of princes and monarchs harms society, they should be replaced. If the sacrifice is not rude, neither can Tugu God, and you can also change your position. Monarchs and countries can change, but the people are eternal and unshakable. Changing kings and countries is for the people to live and work in peace and contentment. Obviously, Mencius highlighted the most important position of "people" at the bottom of the three social levels: monarch, minister and people, which means that he regarded "people" as the main body of the country.

2. The monarch must win the hearts of the people, obey the public opinion and have fun with the people.

Since the people are the main body of the country, if you want to ensure the country's stability and peace, you must win the hearts of the people, obey the will of the people, enjoy the world and worry about the world. Mencius used the ancient people's attitude towards Zhou Wenwang and Xia Jie to illustrate that only by having fun with the people can the people support him. King Wen built platforms and pools with the help of the people, but the people were very happy. The king said there was no hurry, but the people worked harder. This is because: "the ancients enjoyed themselves with the people, so they could enjoy themselves." Xia Jie is violent, and the people curse: "Time killed me, and my daughter died together." Xia Jie, when will you die? I would rather die with you. To the point where "people want to die together", "Although there are birds and beasts in the pool, why can they enjoy them alone?" [1] (Mencius Liang Wang Hui)

We should be with the people. We must follow the will of the people and win the hearts of the people. Only in this way can the people truly love and support the monarch. Mencius said, "He who loses the world loses the people." If you lose the people, you lose your heart. There is a proverb in the world: "He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world; There is a way to get the heart: use it to gather what you want, and if you don't do evil, you will. When the people died, the water went down and the beast left. "Give them what the people want, not what they hate, and they will win the hearts of the people, and the people will naturally turn to a kind monarch like water flowing downwards. Therefore, Mencius concluded: "those who enjoy the people enjoy themselves;" People have their worries, and people have their worries. Happy in the world, worried in the world, but not the king, nothing. " [1] (Mencius Liang Wang Hui Xia)

Based on the above thoughts, Mencius warned the rulers to attach importance to and care for the people ideologically, to avoid war militarily, to save the people, to control their property economically, and to enrich the people and benefit the people.

3. The democratic factors in Mencius' people-oriented thought.

Due to the limitations of the times in which Mencius lived, his thought could not go beyond the framework of absolute monarchy, but there was already a certain democratic factor in his thought, and democratic thought was the highest realm of people-oriented thought.

First, the monarch has no choice, so he can change his position.

Mencius said to Qi Xuanwang, "Wang Zhichen entrusted his wife to his friends, but if he wandered around Chu, he would freeze his wife. So what? " The king said, "Abandon it." He said, "What if a judge can't rule a judge?" The king said, "It's done." He said, "What if we don't cure it within four borders?" Wang Gu talked about him. ("Mencius Hui Liang Wang Xia") Mencius brought forth the new step by step. If a friend doesn't believe it, he will dislike it, and if a judge is incompetent, he won't have to. Then, if the monarch dies, of course it can be abolished. There is also a famous story. Qi Xuanwang asked Mencius, "What is the reason?" Mencius said to him, "There is something in the biography." Said, "How can I kill my king?" He said, "A good thief is called a thief, and an upright thief is called a remnant. A remnant thief is called a husband. I have heard of killing my husband, but I have never heard of killing the king. " [1] (Mencius Hui Liang II) The bread here contains a logical relationship: a monarch can only be called a monarch when he is benevolent, and if he is not benevolent, he will lose his qualification as a monarch. He is just an "orphan", and his rule has lost its legitimacy. Then the people's crusade against him is "killing her husband", which is in line with heaven. This is actually Mencius' application of Confucius' thought of correcting the name as a revolutionary theory, showing a distinctive democratic color.

Second, we should seek the opinions of the people in state affairs.

The theoretical basis of democracy is that the rights of rulers are transferred by the people, so the powers of rulers must be agreed by the governed. Mencius also has related expositions in this respect. He believes that when recommending sages and sentencing prisoners, we must respect public opinion: "It is impossible to be virtuous on both sides; Doctors are all virtuous, not for; China people are virtuous, and then observe. See good, and then use it. If both sides say no, they won't listen; All doctors say no and don't listen; China people say no, and then look at it. Goodbye, and then go. Both sides can kill, don't listen; All doctors said they could kill, but they didn't listen; People in China say you can kill, and then judge. See how to kill, then kill. So, the people of China killed it. In this way, you can be a parent. " [1] (Mencius Liang Wang Hui), doctors only represent the opinions of a few people, so they don't listen. In political affairs, we must listen to the opinions of the people and take them as the standard. This is the concept of "rule by the people". Mencius advocated the system of "abdication", but in the situation at that time, abdication was no longer feasible, so he had to settle for the second best, emphasizing that recommending sages should obtain the consent of the people. Therefore, Song Shu, a close friend, said: "There are two purposes of Confucianism: respecting Yao and Shun, which is suitable for a wise king; It is said that Tang Wu can abolish the monarch by being Minister Amin. " [3](p5 1)

Third, restrictions on the power of the monarch.

Mencius did not put forward modern democratic thoughts such as separation of powers and checks and balances. But he doesn't think that the power of the monarch is infinite. An important feature of Mencius' thought is: "Restrain the monarchy with the power of heaven, and steal what the people do for heaven." [3] The ruler calls himself the son of heaven, that is, the son of heaven. What he does must obey the orders of heaven, and its essence is the agent of heaven on earth. However, Mencius quoted the words in the Thai oath: "Heaven regards himself and others, and Heaven listens to himself and others." [1] (Mencius Zhang Wan) That is to say, providence is based on public opinion, and it represents public opinion, so public opinion is providence. In this way, the monarch is ostensibly restricted by the heavenly emperor, but in essence by public opinion and is responsible to the people. As Liang Qichao said: "The so-called heaven and man who organize the" imperial power "is just like an irresponsible monarch in a constitutional country; The so-called son of heaven means that he is responsible for the leadership of the cabinet. The emperor is responsible for heaven, and the people are responsible for the actual class. " According to this reasoning, if the monarch is not responsible to the people, the people can recall him. There is a view that people have legislative power and supervision power in essence.

Fourth, give the liegeman certain independent power.

Mencius said, "There is rough jade here today. Although it is 10,000 tons, it will be carved by jade people. As for governing the country, why is it different from teaching jade people to carve jade? " [1] ("Mencius Hui Liang Wang Xia") Mencius demonstrated his theory through vivid metaphors: for example, there is a priceless jade now, which can only be completed after being carved by a professional jade master. The same is true of governing the country. If the monarch's courtiers say that giving up your specialty can only be done according to my will, what is the difference between this and teaching the jade master to carve jade according to the monarch's own will? What is revealed here means that the monarch should not only select and appoint all kinds of talents with professional knowledge to complete various tasks of governing the country, but also respect the talents so that they can exercise their power independently, and should not arbitrarily interfere and impose their will on them. In a sense, this thought contains the meaning of decentralization.

Fifth, emphasize the relative independence of morality to power.

On the one hand, Mencius emphasized the two-way relationship between monarch and minister and that both sides should respect each other. He said, "If you treat me like a brother, I will treat you like a heart." If you treat me like a dog or a horse, I will treat you like a Chinese. If you treat me like dirt, then I regard you as a coward. "[1] (Mencius Li Lou).

On the other hand, morality is superior to power. Mencius advocated that the relationship between monarch and minister was interdependent. "The same, zijun also; Minister, minister also; How dare you be friends with Jun? With virtue, then my son is my friend. Can Xi be my friend? " [1] (Mencius Zhang Wan II) What he called "How dare you be your friend" is a kind of "hypocritical" modesty, which is essentially disdainful of being your friend. What he said "Xi can be my friend" is a pride in his bones, and he is essentially a teacher for the king. [3]

(B) the limitations of Mencius' people-oriented thought

From the above discussion, we can see that Mencius' people-oriented thought contains many democratic factors, but why didn't it eventually develop into democracy or democratic politics? In addition to the material foundation of democratic politics, I think there are at least two reasons:

1, Mencius' people-oriented thought only emphasizes the obligations of the monarch and does not advocate the rights of the people. In Liang Qichao's words: "The biggest shortcoming of Confucian benevolence and people-oriented thought is that it is for the monarch, not for the people." [4] The book "Mencius" is mostly Mencius' preaching to the princes, urging them to "be the masters of the people" instead of advocating that the people "be the masters of the country". Obviously, in Mencius' people-oriented thought, the monarch is an agent and is in an active position. On the other hand, people are passive. Then, if you are lucky enough to meet a wise king, you can live and work in peace and contentment, but unfortunately you will be abused and oppressed when you meet a bad king and tyrant. Although Mencius thought that the people could abolish the monarch and re-establish, it was only Mencius' warning to the monarch, not his appeal to the people. And it is only a violent revolutionary means at the expense of social unrest and people's bloodshed and sacrifice under abnormal social conditions. In most cases, if the monarch is not heinous and hopeless, it is difficult to initiate change and change the dynasty. Under normal social conditions, people have no right to participate in and discuss state affairs, and there is no legal and peaceful channel to express their interests. Therefore, Liang Qichao said: "Both husband and wife say that the people are the foundation of the country, politics is to support the people, and the power of politics lies outside the people. What is the effect of this democracy without political participation? " [4]

2. People always try to make autocratic monarchs equal to historical sages under the guise of theocracy or moral preaching, but rarely or never consider the constraints of the legal system to avoid political leaders having supreme power. Although Tianwei is frightening, it is far away after all; Although morality can "control the right and wrong in one's heart", it is weak after all. Therefore, as Liang Shuming said, people-oriented "ideal is self-ideal, reality is self-reality, and finally it is a culture that is not implemented." [4] Without the protection of the legal system, democratic ideals can only be reduced to fantasy.

Of course, we can't leave our times to demand the ideas of the ancients. The ancients had the background of the times they faced and the main contradictions they had to solve. We point out that the limitation of Mencius is not to deny Mencius' thought. In fact, in the pre-Qin era, Mencius' great theory itself was commendable. Sun Yat-sen once said, "In my opinion, China is more advanced than Europe and the United States. The discussion on civil rights has existed for thousands of years, but the statement at that time did not form a fact." We look at the ancients with the eyes of today's people and find out their limitations in order to accomplish the task of today's people-to realize democracy. People-oriented is the important content of China's traditional thought, and democracy is the soul of modern civilized society. People-oriented and democracy are both different and related. Modernity can't be achieved through a complete break with tradition, but only through creative transformation of tradition. If we exaggerate the difference between people-oriented and democracy as confrontation, we will cut off the traditional resources of democracy. Only by developing the relationship between them can we find a modern way out of people-oriented