Mencius was influenced by Confucianism since childhood and became interested in Confucianism. Later, Confucius, a private teacher, took the inheritance and development of Confucianism as his lifelong pursuit, and formed Mencius' theory with "people-oriented", "benevolent government", "kingly way" and "theory of good nature" as its main contents, which made immortal contributions to the development of Confucianism.

People-oriented: People-oriented thought is the essence of Mencius' thought. The pre-Qin people-oriented thought has a long history. 6? 1 summer book? 6? 1 Song of the Five Sons: "The people only care about the country, and the country is better." "Gu Liangchuan? 6? 1 Fourteen years of Henggong: "People are the foundation of the monarch. Mencius systematically developed and expounded the people-oriented thought. People-oriented thought occupies a prominent position in Mencius' political thought. He clearly pointed out that only by "protecting the people" can the world be "king" and "protecting the people is king, which is irresistible." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Hui Liang Wang Shang) He put forward that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light." ("Mencius? 6? 1 ") He believes that the political basis that determines the ruler's ruling position is the people's heart, and the people's heart is the decisive factor for unifying the country. "If you lose the world, you will lose your people. "He who loses his man loses his heart." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Upper Li Lou), in a sense, the people are more important than the monarch. Based on this view, he put forward that "the weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as people." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Gongsun Chou ")

Benevolent politics: Benevolent politics is the core of Mencius' political thought. Mencius further developed Confucius' thought of benevolent governance and established his own complete theoretical system of benevolent governance. Mencius' thought of benevolent governance is mainly manifested in two aspects: nurturing the people and teaching them.

Raising the people-first of all, we must control the people's property. "Therefore, a wise monarch must control the people's property. He will make his back enough to serve his parents and wife, eat well in happy years and avoid death in unfortunate years." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Hui Liang Wang Shang) "People do what they want, those with constant income have perseverance, and those without constant income have no perseverance. Without perseverance and letting go of evil, you have done everything for yourself. " ("Mencius? 6? On Teng Wengong 1) Mencius' benevolent policy is to reasonably solve basic problems such as land, food, clothing and education, the most important of which is the land problem. "Benevolence must start from the border." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Teng Wengong ") Second, we must make people timely. Mencius believed that the ruler's requisition of labor force was based on the premise of "not going against the farming season", and at the same time, he also opposed indiscriminate fishing and logging. "If you don't go against the farming season, the valley won't win food." If you don't count, neither fish nor turtle can be eaten. Axe gold gets into the mountain in time, and mywood can't be used. Valley, fish and turtles can't be eaten, and wood and wood can't be used, just to keep the people healthy and immortal. ""a hundred acres of land, if you don't hurry, a family of several can be hungry. " ("Mencius? 6? 1 Huiliang Wangshang) At that time, there were constant wars, and agricultural production was seasonal. Frequent wars would inevitably delay agricultural time and affect agricultural production. His thoughts of "keeping a few grains out of the pool" and "keeping pace with the times" reflect the valuable thought of attaching importance to the protection of natural resources. Third, we must take ownership from the people. He advocates thin taxes and light taxes, and "take the people and have the system." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Teng Wengong ")" Save the punishment and collect taxes thinly. " ("Mencius? 6? 1 Liang Shang) can't levy taxes indiscriminately, nor can it levy taxes excessively. He regards this as the way to enrich the people, saying: "It is easy to (govern) its territory, its tax revenue is thin, and the people can make it rich." ("Mencius? 6? He described the "tithe tax" as the most ideal tax system, and thought that the tax rate of one tenth could not be increased, and should be reduced or postponed according to the actual harvest. He listed many taxes at that time and said, "There are signs of cloth, millet and labor." ("Mencius? 6? 1 "wholeheartedly") requires cloth, food and labor, which is unbearable for the people: "Use the second to kill the people, and use the third to separate the father and son." ("Mencius? 6? 1 ") He demanded that this heavy tax be reduced. "The gentleman with one, slow the other. "("Mencius? 6? 1 wholeheartedly) also called those so-called "good ministers" who claimed to be able to "reclaim land for the monarch" thieves. ("Mencius? 6? 1 Gao Zixia ")

Teach the people-educate the people. He has said many times: "I would like to take teaching as the order and filial piety as the righteousness." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Huiliang wangshang ")" Make it an educational school. " ("Mencius? 6? 1 Teng Wengong) ""People have ways to eat and wear warm clothes, live in seclusion without teaching, and be close to animals. Sages are worried, so that they can teach others. " ("Mencius? 6? 1 Teng Wengong) He believes that education is an important measure to ensure social harmony, and education can make people "understand human relations", so as to achieve "father and son are close, the monarch and the minister are righteous, the couple are different, the young and the old are orderly, and friends are trustworthy". "("Mencius? 6? 1 Teng Wengong ")

Wang: "Wang" is the highest ideal of national politics proposed by Mencius. Mencius believes that whether people-oriented and benevolent policies can be realized is related to whether the goal of "king" can be realized. Mencius' so-called "kingly way" means "ruling the country by virtue". He cited the examples of Shang Tang and Zhou Wenwang's kingly way: "If you bully the weak and pretend to be benevolent, you will have a big country;" The king of Deren, the king is not big, the soup is 70 miles, and the king of Wen is 100 miles. Those who persuade others by force are not persuaded and unable to support them; Those who serve others with virtue are happy and sincere. " ("Mencius? 6? In Mencius' view, the rule of kingly way is to "protect the people as kings", that is, "enjoy the world and worry about it". ("Mencius? 6? 1 Liang Xia) It is precisely because Mencius regards the realization of kingship as the highest political ideal that anyone who does not govern the country by kingship is regarded as a "sinner" and a "lonely thief" and severely criticized by him.

Good nature: In Mencius' thoughts, the theory of good nature is the basis of his ethical and political thoughts. Mencius believes that the difference between human nature and animal nature lies in human morality, that is, people are born with moral qualities such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom, and everyone has an innate ability to be good, that is, "conscience" and "good energy": "Those who have the ability but have no knowledge must have good energy; People who know what they don't care about have a conscience. All children love their relatives and respect their brothers. Dear, benevolent; Respect for elders, benevolence and righteousness. " ("Mencius? 6? 1 ") means that people can do it without learning, which is their good ability; They don't need to think with their heads. This is their conscience. There are two or three-year-old children who don't know how to love their parents. When they grow up, there is no one who doesn't know how to respect their brothers. It is benevolence to love parents and righteousness to respect brothers.

In order to convince people that human nature is good, Mencius demonstrated that everyone has four intentions: compassion, shame, resignation and right and wrong. These four orientations are the roots of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom. Compassion is the root of benevolence, shame is the root of righteousness, resignation is the root of courtesy, and right and wrong is the root of wisdom. The four moral qualities of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom produced by four people and four hearts belong to good moral qualities. Therefore, the four orientations of human beings are the orientation to goodness, and the orientation of human beings to goodness is rooted in human nature. Therefore, human nature should be good. Mencius thought: "No compassion is inhuman; No shame, no humanity; It is inhuman to have no resignation; A heart without right and wrong is inhuman. Compassion is the purpose of benevolence; The heart of shame and evil, the end of righteousness; The words of the heart are the end of the ceremony; The heart of right and wrong is also the end of wisdom. People have four ends, but they still have four bodies. " ("Mencius? 6? In Mencius' view, people who have no sympathy, shame, resignation and right and wrong are not individuals at all. It is natural for people to have this kind of mind, just as people have limbs. Therefore, "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom are not foreign, but I am also inherent." ("Mencius? 6? 1 Gao Zishang) These virtues are not given or imposed by the outside world, but people are born, but people just don't think about it.

As a complete ideological system, Mencius' theory contains many wonderful and rich contents besides the above points, such as "nourishing qi", "personality cultivation", "being single-minded, wise and knowing heaven" and "opposing one's will with one's will" and so on. Mencius' theory has played a fundamental role in connecting the past and the future. Together with Confucius' theory, it formed the foundation of the development of China's Confucianism-the way of Confucius and Mencius and became the backbone of China's traditional culture.