Mencius (about 372 BC - about 289 BC), whose name was Ke and whose courtesy name was Ziyu, was from the Huaxia ethnic group in Zou (now Zoucheng City, Shandong Province).
He is the second disciple of Kong Ji, the grandson of Confucius. According to legend, he is a descendant of Qingfu, an aristocratic son surnamed Ji of the state of Lu. His father's name is Ji, and his mother's surname is Zhǎng.
Mencius was a great thinker, politician and representative of the Confucian school during the Warring States Period. Together with Confucius, he is also called "Confucius and Mencius". His representative works include "What I Want to Do with Fish", "Many Helps to the Right, Few Helps to the Unjust", "Born in Worry, Die in Peace", "The King Looks Around and Talks About Others" have been included in junior high school Chinese textbooks, and "What a few people do to the country" 》Incorporated into high school Chinese textbooks.
Politically, Mencius advocated the rule of law and benevolent government; in theory, he admired Confucius and opposed Yang Zhu and Mo Zhai. He advocated benevolent government and put forward the people-centered thought of "the people are more important than the emperor". He traveled to Qi, Song, Teng, Wei, Lu and other countries, imitating Confucius and implementing his own political ideas, which lasted for more than 20 years. However, Mencius' theory of benevolent government was considered "far-fetched and broad-minded" and was not implemented. In the end, he retired from teaching, and together with his students, he "prefaced the Poetry and the Book, described the meaning of Zhongni (that is, Confucius), and wrote seven chapters of Mencius."
Mencius "nurturing my awe-inspiring spirit well." A person with great righteousness is called the spirit of a gentleman. In this world, it may be called qigong, which is wrong. A person with great righteousness is enriched by virtue, but empty without virtue. In ancient times, the invisible was regarded as Qi, so it was called Qi.
Later generations posthumously named Mencius "Ya Sheng Gong", respected him as "Ya Sheng", and received Confucian sacrifices. His disciples and subsequent disciples recorded Mencius' words and deeds in the book "Mencius", which is a collection of quotation prose and a collection of Mencius' remarks. It was compiled by Mencius and his disciple Wan Zhang.