The Study Of Mencius Kingcraft From Political Philosophy View

In regard to the characteristics of Chinese ancient political philosophy, Mr. Chen Lai directly summarizes the Confucian political philosophy of pre-Qin as "moral politics" from traits of Confucian political philosophy. In his view, the political goal is not only to pursue an orderly society, but, more important to achieve a kind and moral society. The late Warring States period during which Mencius were living in is a time that "people languish in tyranny grievously much more than any other times", while kings and officials in power were merely focusing on the realistic and utilitarian issues such as "What is of benefit to our country". Inheriting the idea of benevolent rule as well as enriching and educating the people, Mencius put forward the doctrine of “kingcraft” in the context of vassals contending for hegemony. Mencius’ s doctrine of "kingcraft" was presented relative to hegemony and the core was that "kings rely on virtue and benevolent." He advocated that "only the benevolent are suitable for high positions." which meant that only the man who was benevolent was eligible for a king. The basic principle of Mencius’ s doctrine of "kingcraft" was that a king with greatest virtue could make people resigned to him consciously by the impact of his noble moral. As with the other theories of Mencius, the doctrine of "kingcraft" was rooted in the theory of good nature. Mencius argued that "since ancient Kings with compassion could not bear to hurt people, there were policies which could not bear to hurt people” and a king could achieve kingcraft only with the sincere compassion.Mencius’ s doctrine of "kingcraft" was the development of people-based thought and benevolent government theories of Confucianism, which was the very governing thought many ancient kings had adopted to enable nationals to live and work in peace and contentment and accelerate the pace of state development. This thought has influenced China’s culture development for thousands of years and spread widely, so to speak, the doctrine of "kingcraft" played a positive role in the development of human civilization. Mencius’ s doctrine of "kingcraft" not only included leaders’ necessity to compassionate people in the political, economic and other aspects but also the emphasis on the importance of education. The doctrine considered integrity as the basic human quality, so that it made the national then have the qualities of integrity and fairness. In addition, this thought is still able to meet the needs of modern socialist development. The guidance of the doctrine of kingcraft would be helpful for China to build a harmonious society and to obtain efficient and stable development. In terms of current situation in China and international, there are a good deal of factors that impact the human development such as violence and wars, which have brought great losses and panic to destabilize the lives of people. We should go deep into the study of Mencius’ s doctrine of kingcraft, thereby to incorporate the doctrine of kingcraft into modern society so as to help China build a harmonious society and ensure that our residents have a happier and stabler life.