Essential Reading for Primary School Students: Mencius

Author: Luo Xiujun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features:
Mencius (c. 372-289 BC), styled Kē, was known as Ziyú. He was a famous thinker, politician, and educator, a successor to Confucianism. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi included Mencius in his Four Books, elevating it to a highly esteemed status. After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, it became part of the imperial examination curriculum, making it a must-read for scholars. Mencius is a record of Mencius and his students' words and deeds. Like Confucius, Mencius also traveled with his students to states such as Wei, Qi, Song, Lu,,, and served as a guest scholar in Qi Xuanwang's court. Due to his political ideas being similarly disregarded, he returned to his hometown to teach his disciples and wrote books with his students, such as "sequencing the Book of Songs and the Book of Documents, expounding the meaning of Confucius, and composing the seven chapters of Mencius." (Records of the Grand Historian·Biography of Mencius and Xun Qing). Zhao Ji, in his preface to Mencius, compared it to the Analects, viewing Mencius as "imitating the sage." Thus, although the Book of Han·Bibliography merely classified Mencius under the category of "philosophers," it was already regarded by Han Dynasty scholars as a "commentary" to supplement the "classics." Emperor Wen of Han established "commentary scholars" specializing in the Analects, the Classic of Filial Piety, Mencius, and the Erya. During the Later Shu period of the Five Dynasties, Emperor Meng Chang of Later Shu ordered the carving of eleven classics in regular script, which included Mencius, marking the beginning of its inclusion in the "classics." During the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi compiled the Four Books and included Mencius, officially elevating its status. This reader does not encompass the entirety of Mencius, but instead selects representative passages from each chapter, accompanied by annotations and commentaries. It also includes historical stories to aid in understanding its content and ideas. Since the stories are tailored to the selected passages, they lack systematic coherence and continuity, serving merely as supplementary material for this educational reader.