Influence of Mencius

While Mencius failed to realize his desire to rule the world peacefully, his thought was an important stage in the development of pre-Qin Confucianism, which was inherited from Confucius and inspired by Xunzi, and it had an important political and ideological impact on the politics, economy, and culture of the later generations, as well as a wide impact on the Eastern and Western cultures

Mengzi's thought is concentrated and reflected in the book of "Mencius". The doctrine of the goodness of nature is the cornerstone of Mencius' thought, and it runs through the entire system of thought. It provides a possibility for human self-cultivation and self-improvement; it provides a theoretical basis for solving human problems and even social problems by means of education. He advocated that all human beings are born with goodness and have "four hearts", namely, the heart of compassion, the heart of shame and evil, the heart of respect and the heart of right and wrong. These "four hearts" are the beginnings of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom.

"Administering benevolence and practicing the Way of the King" was the centerpiece of his political thought. He systematically elaborated the theory of "benevolent government" type social harmony, which is based on economic harmony, with moral harmony as the core, up and down harmony as the main trunk, and good governance and good education as the two wings. He advocated "convincing people with virtue" and opposed violence in ruling the country, believing that only with "virtue" can people be "convinced". The principle of "valuing the people over the ruler" is an important part of his doctrine of "benevolent government", which puts the people first and suggests that "the people are the most important thing, the gods of earth and grain come second, and the ruler is the least important thing".

Mengzi also paid great attention to character cultivation, his "rich and noble can not be obscene, poor and lowly can not be shifted, the mighty can not be bent," the famous words for the shaping of the spirit of the Chinese people's character played an inestimable role, especially for the Chinese generations of outstanding intellectuals character building, but also played a direct role. Mencius emphasized the value and dignity of human beings, and even more so the social responsibility of human beings. He praised Yuji's spirit of salvation and advocated joy for the world and sorrow for the world. He believed that life and righteousness, both of which are precious to man, should be sacrificed for righteousness when life and righteousness are not both available.

In educational thought, Mencius attached great importance to the cultivation of talent, and regarded the "education of the world's best and brightest" as the greatest joy of life. He believed that "it is easy to be with people in the world, but difficult to get people for the world", and that "honoring the wise and making them capable, and having the best people in the position" is the root of the country's wealth and strength. He inherited and carried forward the educational ideas of Confucius, and based on the theory of "goodness of nature", he put forward the educational purpose of "understanding human relationships", and especially emphasized the need for independent thinking and opinions in the learning process.

Mengzi has been away from us for more than two thousand years, and his theory of the goodness of nature has become the mainstream of traditional Chinese human nature theory; his doctrine of the way of the king and benevolent government has been regarded as a guideline for governance by successive dynasties; his theory of conscience has inspired the innovation school of Song and Ming philosophies; his theory of raising qi has provided valuable information for the later theory of the nature of the mind; his idea of the benevolent is invincible, and that there are many ways to help one who gains the way, and that there are few ways to help one who loses the way has provided the highest guiding principle of the later generations of diplomacy and military affairs; he cared about agricultural production, and was very concerned with the development of agriculture. His concern for agricultural production, so that the people are not hungry and not cold, has been enshrined by politicians for thousands of years; his theory of social harmony is a representative of the theory of social harmony in ancient China, and is still inspirational in many ways for us to build a harmonious socialist society today.

Mengzi's thought has not only had a profound influence at home, but has also been widely disseminated abroad. Due to geographic and political reasons, the book of Mencius was first introduced into Goryeo, Japan, Vietnam and other countries together with other Confucian classics. Mencius' thought and doctrine were also widely spread in the West. As early as in the twenty-first year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1593), the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci translated Mencius into Latin and sent it back to his country. Subsequently, Mencius was translated into French, German, English and Russian and published in Western countries. The University of Oxford made the chapters of Mencius a compulsory subject for public ****. The University of London listed Mencius as an ancient textbook. In the face of the social problems that have arisen after the modernization of the West, many Western scholars have shown great interest in the thought and doctrine of Mencius, especially the doctrine of morality and mindfulness, in the hope of finding solutions to today's social problems.

Mengzi is the city of Zoucheng in the history of China and the world's cultural history of the most influential people, "Mengzi" book has long been the treasure of world civilization, Mengzi not only belongs to Zoucheng, belongs to China, but also belongs to the world, belongs to the whole of mankind.