Mencius, the Latin form of MENG-TSE, the name of a Chinese sage, a contemporary of Plato and Aristotle, who was born in the province of Shan-tung in 372 B.C. He was brought up by his mother—the pattern of all mothers ever since in the eyes of the Chinese—and founded a school on the model of that of his great predecessor Confucius, for whom Mencius entertained a feeling of reverent admiration. When forty years of age he led out his disciples and travelled from one princely court to another during more than twenty years, seeking a ruler who would put into practice his system of social and political order. But, finding none, he again withdrew into retirement, and died in 289 B.C. After his death his disciples collected his conversations and exhortations, and published them as the Book of Meng-tse. The aim of Mencius' teaching was essentially practical: how men, especially the rulers of men, shall best regulate their conduct, both public and private. The philosophic root of his system is belief in the ethical goodness of man's nature, which quality he takes to be the essential characteristic of the humanity of men. From this root grow the cardinal virtues of benevolence, righteousness, moral wisdom, and propriety of conduct. It should be the aim of the individual to perfect himself by practising these virtues in all the relations of his social and political life. The flowering of this goodly plant which Mencius planted for the ordering of the lives of men, both individual and collective, assumed the form of a liberal and enlightened system of political economy. Amongst other things he advocated freedom of trade, the deposition of unworthy rulers, division of labour, inspection of work by the government, encouragement of markets, maintenance of good roads and bridges, &c., condemnation of war, care for the poor and neglected, but above all the promotion of education—the summary of the whole being that the welfare of the people should be the chief consideration of the state. There is also an aristocratic element in his teaching. The highest types of individual character are exhibited by the scholar, the great man, the superior man or sage, and the holy or ideal man; their personal example is the best educator the people can have. The fruits of Mencius' teaching have always been highly valued by his countrymen from his own times to the present. 'The chief dicta of modern Chinese ethics and politics are mostly taken literally from Mencius, or adhere closely to his teaching.'
See Legge, Life and Works of Mencius (1875; 'Chinese Classics' series); and Faber, Mind of Mencius (Eng. trans. 1882).