Selected Annotations on the Mencius

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Publish Date: 2006-05-01
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Mencius, named Ke, was a mid-Zhou period figure from Zou (now Zoucheng, Shandong). His birth and death years are approximately 390-305 BC. The ancestors of Mencius were nobles of the Mengsun family from the state of Lu, but by Mencius's time, they had lost their noble status. Mencius grew up in poverty. As a great thinker, educator, and statesman of the Warring States period, Mencius was also a master of rhetoric. He was the most authoritative representative of the Confucian school after Confucius, considered a master of Confucianism, second only to Confucius, and known as the "Second Sage." His success was inseparable from the education he received in his youth, with the most important factor being the education and influence of his mother. In a sense, without Mencius's mother's enlightenment and guidance, there would be no Mencius later in life.
The book Mencius, from its style and address, was compiled by Mencius's students Wan Zhang and Gongsun Dao based on notes of Mencius's everyday speeches. The entire book has a grand and consistent tone, reflecting Mencius's editing. The practice of referring to the feudal lords Mencius met solely by their posthumous titles (which are given only after death) should be a later convention to avoid mentioning them inappropriately.