What is the main content of Mencius?

Mencius is a book that records the words and deeds of Mencius and his students.

Mencius (about 372- 289 BC), whose name was Ke, was a rumpled country in the middle of the Warring States Period (now a native of the southeast of Rumpled County in Shandong Province), not far from Confucius' hometown of Qufu. He is a famous thinker, politician, educator, the successor of Confucius' theory and an important representative of Confucianism.

Mencius was born about one hundred years before the death of Confucius (479 BC). Stories about his life are rarely handed down. Biography of Hanshu Poetry contains the story of his mother's "broken weaving" and Biography of Lienv contains the story of his mother's "three moves" and "going to Qi", which shows that he benefited from his mother's education. According to Zhao Qi's Biography of Lienv and Mencius' copybook, Mencius was taught by Confucius' grandson Zisi. But in terms of age, it seems incredible. It is possible that Biography of Mencius and Xun Qing in Historical Records says that he is "a scholar". Mencius' theory is influenced by Zi Si, and whether it is influenced by Zi Si. Therefore, Xunzi listed Zisi and Mencius as one school, that is, the Meng Si School of Confucianism in later generations.

Like Confucius, Mencius once led students to travel to Wei, Qi, Song, Lu, Teng, Xue and other countries, and once served as a guest minister. Because his political views were not as important as those of Confucius, he returned to his hometown to call his disciples to give lectures, and wrote a book with Zhang Wan and other students, saying, "Preface a poem book, understand Zhong Ni's meaning, and write seven pieces of Mencius." (Biography of Historical Records of Mencius and Xun Qing) Today, we saw seven articles of Mencius, each of which is divided into two parts, about 35,000 words, with a chapter of * * * 260. However, Hanshu Literature and Art recorded eleven Mencius, four more than the existing Mencius. When Zhao Qi annotated Mencius, he identified eleven articles, considered seven as true, and the other four were false except seven. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, these items were lost one after another.

In Mencius, Zhao Qi compared Mencius to The Analects of Confucius, and thought that Mencius was a work imitating saints. Therefore, although the history of literature and art in the Han Dynasty only regards Mencius as a sub-book, it has actually been regarded as a "biography" book to assist the "classics" in the eyes of the Han people. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty named The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Filial Piety, Mencius and Er Ya as "Biographers". At the end of the Five Dynasties, Meng Changjun, the master of the post-Shu Dynasty, ordered people to carve stones on eleven classics such as Mencius, which may be the beginning of Mencius' being included in the Classics. Later, Song Taizong reprinted the Eleven Classics. By the time of filial piety in the Southern Song Dynasty, four books compiled by Zhu were included in Mencius, which officially raised Mencius to a very high position. After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it became the content of the imperial examination and was a must-read for scholars.

It is of great significance to annotate Mencius in the Eastern Han Dynasty and Mencius in the Song Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, Jiao Xun summed up the previous research results and wrote a comprehensive book, Mencius Justice.

The mid-Warring States period in which Mencius lived was more chaotic and the society was more turbulent than that in the late Spring and Autumn period in which Confucius lived. At the same time, thoughts are more active in the era of "a hundred schools of thought contend". Therefore, on the one hand, Mencius inherited Confucius' political and educational thoughts, on the other hand, he developed his own political and academic thoughts. At the same time, in the fierce confrontation with Mohism, Taoism, Legalism and other schools, Mencius maintained Confucianism and established his important position in Confucianism, becoming an authentic scholar after Confucius. With the continuous improvement of Confucianism, Confucius was honored as a "saint" and Mencius was also called a "sub-saint".

Mencius, like the Analects of Confucius, is also a recorded prose mainly memorizing words, but it has obvious development than the Analects of Confucius. The text of The Analects of Confucius is simple and subtle, but Mencius has many long speeches, magnificent, sharp words and witty remarks. If the Analects of Confucius gives people the impression of earnest admonition from the benevolent, then Mencius gives people the impression of Kan Kan's talk, which has a far-reaching influence on the prose writing of later generations.