An advocate of Confucian morality, Mencius exhorted ruling through virtue during the Warring States, when sundry ideas of effectual governance prospered. Like Confucius had done two centuries before him, Mencius wandered from state to state, lobbying sovereigns. Mencian virtue politics has been pivotal to political thinking in China, though most appealing, it may be argued, to scholars.

From Mencius, Mingyuan Hu selects and translates four dialogues exemplary of this thinking.

This book is part of the Erstwhile Series.

Translated by: Hu