ABSTRACT
Born in the State of Zou 鄒 (present-day Zou County, Shandong Province), Meng Ke 孟 軻 was a thinker and political theorist of the Warring States Period (475–221 BCE).When he was a child, his mother was said to have moved three times so that her son could have a suitable environment in which to pursue his studies. He studied under a disciple of Zi Si 子 思(483–402 BCE), grandson of Kongzi 孔 子. Later on in his life, he traveled in the States of Qi, Song, Teng and Wei. He was at one time an advisor to King Xuan of Qi 齊 宣 王 (r. 319–301 BCE), but as his policy proposals were not adopted by the king, he left Qi. Together with Wan Zhang 萬 章 (fl. 372–289 BCE) and other disciples, Mengzi formulated his own principles and presented them in writing. His political doctrine was based on “rule by virtue” and could be characterized by his saying, “The people and their interests are the most important, followed by the interests of the country; and those of the sovereign are the least important.” He was (after Laozi) the first among Chinese thinkers to have placed the people above the sovereign. In ethics, he advocated the theory that man is intrinsically good and is endowed with the moral sense of humaneness, justice and courtesy as well as the potential for gaining knowledge — as against his near contemporary Xunzi 荀子 (dates unknown), who taught that man is intrinsically evil and has to be educated into goodness. Mengzi was considered the foremost successor to Kongzi. He was known as Yasheng 亞 聖, meaning “a sage second only to Kongzi”.
