Mencius' Prescriptions for Ancient Chinese Environmental Problems

Author(s): J. Donald Hughes

Source: Environmental Review: ER, Vol. 13, No. 3/4, 1989 Conference Papers, Part One
(Autumn - Winter, 1989), pp. 15-27
Published by: Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3984388 .
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Mencius' Prescriptions for Ancient
Chinese Environmental Problems

J. Donald Hughes
University of Denver

Environmental historians who have investigated the ancient

Orient have understandablygiven much attention to the
naturalistic and pantheistic Taoists. They have said less about the
anthropocentricConfucianists,and have almost ignored Mencius.
Since Mencius commented substantiallyon natureand land
management, it is surprising to note that Yi-FuTuan, in his
provocative short history of the Chinese and their landscape,
mentions Mencius only twice and in an incidentalmanner.1
Similarly, recent papers on Asian traditions and environmental
ethics in the journals PhilosophyEast and Westand Environmental
Ethics, and in Callicott and Ames' Nature in Asian Traditionsof
Thought,give no consideration to him.2
Mencius is a Chinese philosopher of the 4th century B.C.
who wrote one of the four classics of Confucianismthat were
memorized by every Chinese schoolboy for much of the Middle
Kingdom's history. He represents the mainstreamof Chinese
thought to a greater extent than the Taoists, and it will be
maintained here that he played a major role in forming the typical
Chinese view of the environment and in influencing its treatment.3
His parents gave him the name Meng K'o,and he is known in
Chinese literatureby the honorific Meng Tzu. He has been called
Mencius in the West ever since his writings became known there,
and it seems wisest to continue that usage in this essay, since there
are half a dozen competing ways of spelling his Chinese name
(Meng-tse, Meng Zi, etc.), and virtually all bibliographical
references to him in English call him Mencius.
Mencius'descriptionof Ox Mountainis an outstanding
demonstrationof the sage's acuteness in observing environmental
change and its causes.
16 ENVIRONMENTAL
REVIEW FALL/WINTER

Mencius said:

There was a time when the trees were luxurianton the Ox

Mountain. As it is on the outskirts of a great metropolis,
the trees are constantly lopped by axes. Is it any wonder
that they are no longer fine? With the respite they get in
the day and in the night, and the moistening by the rain
and dew, there is certainlyno lack of new shoots coming out,
but then the cattle and sheep come to graze upon the
mountain. That is why it is an bald as it is. People, seeing
only its baldness, tend to think that it never had any trees.
But can this possibly be the nature of the mountain? Can
what is in man be completely lacking in moral inclinations?
A man's letting go of his true heart is like the case of the
trees and the axes. When the trees are lopped day after
day, is it any wonder that they are no longer fine?...
Others...will be led to think that he never had any native
endowment. But can that be what a man is genuinely like?
Hence, given the right nourishment there is nothing that
will not grow, and deprived of it there is nothing that will
not wither away....4

Mencius has seen a mountaindenuded of its forests over the years by

logging, and the way in which grazing can make deforestation
permanentby preventing the growth of small trees. This passage
bears comparisonwith the almost contemporaryobservations made
by Plato of the stripping of the mountains near Athens, which
Plato also attributedto logging, and the consequent erosion and
drying of springs.5 In both cases, the philosophers report processes
which they had themselves observed. Mencius recorded two
mountainascents (of MountTai and the EasternMount) made by
Confucius(K'ungFu Tzu), and likely had climbed mountains
himself.6 Undoubtedly many highlands in China were suffering
the fate of Ox Mountain.
Another anthropogenicchange in the landscape noticed by
Mencius was cultivationof wasteland.7 For Mencius, land
management was one of the primary responsibilities of the state.
He advised rulers to make periodic tours of inspection of their
territory,and to use the condition of the land as prime evidence of
the quality, or lack of it, of the supervision of the noblemen. If the
land is well cared for, officers should be rewarded, but "onthe
other hand, on entering the domain of a feudal lord, if he finds the
1989 J.DONALD
HUGHES 17

land is neglected,... then there is reprimand."8A similar

observationwas made by Xenophonconcerningthe king of the
Persians in the same century.9 In both cases, the principle is that
authorities must rule on behalf of the inhabitants. "Itis not
enough, [Mencius]insisted, for a ruler to wish his people well; he
must take practicaleconomic measures to assure their welfare."'0
He stated this in the strongest terms, insisting that "thepeople are
of supreme importance;the altars to the gods of earth and grain
come next;last comes the ruler."" Rulerswere not exempt from
labor on behalf of the altars or the people. A landlord had to plow
the land to grow grain for the sacrifices.'2 And it was the duty of
the ruler to care for the land so that it would provide an
environmentto nurturenative human goodness. The conditionof the
environmentin a country thus offered most telling evidence
concerningthe merit of its government. This idea of Menciusbears
some resemblance to the Biblical idea of stewardship, where
human care of the earth under God is compared to that of a bailiff
acting on behalf of a landowner or king. For Mencius,however, the
most importantprincipleis not a commandmentof God, but the
welfare of the people.
In theory, the ruler owned the land and parceled it out to
those who used it. Mencius favored a traditionalmethod of
distribution called the well-field system, after the character
chinga, for a water well, which looks something like a tic-tac-toe
board,or our sign for "number"(#). A squareof land was divided in
this manner into nine smaller squares, each of the eight outer plots
being assigned to one farm family, and the centerplot being a public
field cultivated by all eight families with the produce going to the
government.13Thus labor was shared and the tax would be lighter
in a year of crop failures. Mencius opposed fixed taxes requiringthe
same payment by farmerswhether crops were good or bad.'4 It is
interesting to note that the well-field system is based on the "nine
divisions" or chiu choubscheme of cosmography, which subdivided
the world, the continent, and China itself into nine sections,
similarly arranged, with Mount K'un-lun, the axis mundi,in the
center.'5 Symbolically, this arrangementmade each nine-field unit
a microcosm. This should not be taken to mean that the system
itself is mythical, however. Aerial study of landscapes in North
China reveals rectilinear patterns indicating that the well-field
system was extensively used.'6 Theoretically,the dimensions of all
family plots throughout China would have been the same, and the
size mentioned by Mencius was about four and one-half acres. It is
18 ENVIRONMENTAL
REVIEW FALL/WINTER

interesting to note that this is also the average size of a farm

holding in the Athenian countryside at the same time. But in
practice in China, peasant allotments varied greatly from one
region to another.17
Can the well-field system be regarded as a primitive form
of socialism in anticipationof recent Chinese history?18Some
elements of it would make it seem so. Land,the means of production
in this agriculturalsociety, in theory belonged to the state and was
parceled out equally among the tenants. Strictly speaking, there
was no private property,since the land could not be sold. The
arrangementwas somethinglike a commune, since Menciusintended
that the "eightfamilies would form a community with close
relations of friendship and mutual aid."'9 Every farmermade a
contributionof laboron common land, and thereforegave a portion
of produce which was set at a reasonablepercentageof annual
yield. The pattern was ordained and managed from above, perhaps
more like modern socialist practice than in accord with socialist
theory. But decisions on practicesof cultivation in the plots were
left to those with practical experience, that is, the farmers. Other
aspects of the system seem feudal. Laboron the public field was
obligatory, and farmers,bound to their assigned plots like serfs,
supporteda class of landowning nobles. Mencius recognized that
the arrangementwould not work unless farmersstayed in their
villages, but knew that peasants would flee from the territoryof a
vicious lord to that of a provident one.20
The most distinctive environmentalemphasis of Mencius is
his recommendationof conservationpractices. This is resource
conservationwithin an anthropocentricframework,since Mencius
said that Earthis more important than Heaven, and Man more
important than Earth.2' But his grasp of the principle of the wise
use of renewableresourcescan scarcelybe faulted. His advice to
King Hui of Liang is notable:

If you do not interferewith the busy seasons in the fields,

then there will be more grain than the people can eat; if
you do not allow nets with too fine a mesh to be used in
large ponds, then there will be more fish and turtles than
they can eat; if hatchets and axes are permitted in the
forests on the hills only in the proper seasons, then there
will be more timber than they can use.22
1989 J.DONALDHUGHES 19

Mencius assumed that regulationsgoverning economic activities

would be promulgatedand enforced. The farmersshould be allowed
to work in the fields at seedtime and harvest, not marched off to
war. Nets with wide mesh used in fishery would allow small fish
and turtles to escape and grow to catchablesize. Mencius'advice
concerningforest conservationwas particularlysound; a form of
sustained-yield forestrywould assure a supply of wood in
succeeding years. In the Ox Mountainpassage, he observed the
advance of deforestation and its causes, advised careful practicesof
timber harvesting and the planting of trees, objected to the building
of huge mansions and spoke against the waste of cut logs323As Creel
commented, "Ifthe Chinese people had heeded Mencius' advice in
this last connection, their economic position in the modern world
would be considerablysounder."24Governmentsin this period did
engage in forest and fishery management. Land surveys gave
attention to forests, lakes, and coastal zones.25Mencius referredto
foresters, gamekeepers, and fishery managers as ordinary positions
on the staff of a ruler.26Methods of cultivating timber trees were
well known and practiced.27In given states during certainperiods,
these measures no doubt resulted in conservation,but the larger
picture of Chinese history shows the uneven but inexorableadvance
of deforestation.
A majorforce both in deforestationand removal of wildlife
was the expansion of agricultureinto undeveloped land. In the two
centuriesbefore Mencius, the ox-drawn iron plowshare had come
into use, supplementinghuman laborwith a majornew sourceof
energy. Other tools, and methods of manuring,had also been
invented.28Thus it is not surprisingthat Mencius often spoke of the
increase of cultivated land at the expense of the wild. He
sometimes referredto the deeds of mythical kings who had
originally cleared the land for human habitation: "Yiset the
mountains and valleys alight and burnt them, and the birds and
beasts went into hiding. Yu dredged the Nine Rivers.... Only then
were the people of the CentralKingdoms able to find food for
themselves."29 The legalist, Shang Yang, urged rulers to cultivate
waste lands as a deliberate policy to increase population.30
Mencius was more moderate, advising, "Whenwaste land is not
brought under cultivation and wealth is not accumulated,this, too,
at least when compared to the worse
is no disaster for the state,"'31
misfortuneof neglecting the properrites. He opposed opening up
new lands for tyrants, saying that those who do so deserve death
20 ENVIRONMENTAL
REVIEW FALL/WINTER

along with those who make war for the same evil rulers. The land
base, he believed, should be increasedonly for benevolent rulers.32
A measure that inhibited agriculturalexpansion but added
to environmentalamenities was the establishment of gardens,
parks, and large preserves. These were no wilderness reservations;
in Chinese gardens every square inch is designed, and art exhausts
itself to be indistinguishable from nature. Fantastically shaped
rocks, removed from their natural settings, were placed by
artificiallakes and streams, among trees and bamboo groves
arrangedto blend with the architecture. Even large parks were
treated in this way, although the vast royal enclosures must have
included areas more like our forest parks and game reserves.
When Mencius visited him, King Hui of Liang wondered
whether a truly enlightened monarch could take delight in such
places:

The king was standing over a pond. "Aresuch things

enjoyed even by a good and wise man?"said he, looking
round at his wild geese and deer.

"Onlyif a man is good and wise,"answered Mencius, "is

he able to enjoy them. Otherwise he would not, even if he
had them.

The Bookof Odes says,

He surveyed and began the SacredTerrace.

He surveyed it and measured it;
The People worked at it;
In less than no time they finished it.
He surveyed and began without haste;
The people came in ever increasingnumbers.
The King was in the Sacred Park.
The doe lay down;
The doe were sleek;
The white birds glistened.
The King was at the Sacred pond.
Oh! how full it was of leaping fish!33

It was with the labor of the people that King Wen built his
terraceand pond, yet so pleased and delighted were they
that they named his terrace the "SacredTerrace"and his
1989 J.DONALDHUGHES 21

pond the "SacredPond,"and rejoicedin his possession of

deer, fish, and turtles. It was by sharing their enjoyments
with the people that men of antiquity were able to enjoy
themselves.

The T'ang shih says,

0 Sun,34when wilt thou perish?

We care not if we have to die with thee.35

When the people were prepared "to die with" him, even if
the tyrant had a terraceand pond, birds and beasts, could
he have enjoyed them all by himself?36

Here it is clear that Mencius approved of the aesthetic use of land.

While inappropriately large enclosures would deprive the people
of their livelihood, the size of a preserve was not the determining
factor as to whether it should exist. It should be open to the people
not only to enjoy,but also to use in minorways such as gathering
firewood and hunting small game. Ordinaryfolk would resent even
a small park if they were kept out, but would take pleasure in an
extensive reserve if their ruler shared it.37One is reminded of
similar problems in Western Europe with the royal hunting
preserves, and the later enclosure movement. Here again, Mencius
was anthropocentric. A park was not alone for the ruler's
enjoyment,nor only to preserveanimalsand plants,but most
importantly for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.
Did animals have value for Mencius? He saw the feeling of
compassion for an animal as ennobling, although less so than a
similar feeling for other human beings. When Mencius told King
Hsuan of Ch'i that he knew that the king could bring peace to his
people, the king asked how Mencius could tell. Mencius said it was
because King Hsuan had seen an ox being led to sacrifice,and could
not stand to see it shrinking with fear, so he had spared it and
ordered a sheep slain in its place.38 As the sage observed, "Even
the devouring of animals by animals is repugnantto men."39Since
the king felt empathy for an animal, Mencius was certain that he
could feel similarly for his people. He did not oppose animal
sacrifices, since Confucius himself had taken part in them.40 But it
was strange that the king, moved by the suffering of the ox, ordered
a sheep sacrificed instead. Mencius explained that it was because
the king had seen the ox, but not the sheep. He advised not that
22 REVIEW
ENVIRONMENTAL FALL/WINTER

the sheep should also be spared, but that a gentleman should stay
away from the kitchen, to spare his own feelings! He himself was
not a vegetarian, since he once remarked that his favorite dishes
were fish and bear's paw.41
Mencius'advice on the treatmentof animals must be
considered in light of his distinction between human nature and
non-humannature. In Mencius,the word hsingc was used for
"nature"in both senses, that is, specifically human nature and
nature in general.42In the Ox Mountainpassage,43he compared the
nature of the mountain, which is to be forested, with the nature of a
human being, which is good. The point of the comparisonwas
Mencius'centraldoctrine of the original goodness of every
individual, but he went beyond a purely anthropocentricconclusion.
The mountain, too, has a nature which is good, and when it is
violated it becomes "nolonger fine." It is best if everything in the
world, human being and mountain alike, can develop in accord with
its own nature. Animal nature is good; indeed, there is nothing at
all wrong with it for animals. Mencius asked, "is the nature of a
hound the same as the natureof an ox and the nature of an ox the
same as the nature of a man?"" No, every animal has its own
nature, distinct from that of other species, and human beings have
their own distinct nature, which is the recognition and honoring of
appropriaterelationships to other human beings.45 Human beings,
if they abandon their relationships and duties to other humans,
lose theirown proper natureand become counterfeitanimals.46But
it is laudable for human beings to behave like animals if by that is
meant that they follow their own inherent good nature, as animals
follow theirs: "Thepeople turn to the good as water flows
downwards or as animals head for the wilds. Thus the otter drives
the fish to the deep; thus the hawk drives birds to the bushes."47
For humans, the good is natural. One who wants to follow
the right path can simply look into one's inmost nature, because the
knowledge of right and wrong is there. But there is more. Mencius
said, "Allthings were complete in the self."48"Fora man to give
full realization to his heart is for him to understand his own
nature,and a man who knows his own nature will know Heaven."49
So, at the deepest level, human nature is at one with nature in
general. As Fung Yu-Lanput it, commenting on this passage, "One
comes to feel that there is no longer a distinction between oneself
and others, and so of a distinction between the individual and the
universe. That is to say, one becomes identified with the universe
as a whole. This leads to a realization that 'all things are
1989 J. DONALDHUGHES 23

complete within us.' In this phrase we see the mystical element of

Mencius' philosophy."50Here Mencius took a step away from
Confucius and toward Taoism.51By identifying the inmost self
with nature in general, he joined the human path of moral
excellence with the Taod,the natural path of the universe. "Itis a
ch'i which unites rightness and the Way."52This ch'ie is hard to
translate;among its possible meanings are "breath,""spirit,"
"morale,"and "passion-nature."But through it, one can act
properly in regard to one's human relationshipsand the world as a
whole.
If one acts in accord with this ch'i, one does not interfere
with what is natural. Mencius' story illustrates this:

There was a man from Sung who pulled at his rice plants
because he was worried about their failure to grow. Having
done so, he went on his way home, not realizing what he
had done. "Iam worn out today,"said he to his family. "I
have been helping the rice plants to grow." His son rushed
out to take a look and there the plants were, all shriveled
up. There are few in the world who can resist the urge to
help their rice plants grow. There are some who leave the
plants unattended, thinking that nothing they can do will
be of any use. They are the people who do not even bother
to weed. There are others who help the plants grow. They
are the people who pull at them. Not only do they fail to
help them but they do the plants positive harm.53

In another passage, he compared acting this way to guiding water

by "imposingnothing on it that was against its natural tendency."54
How different this is from the later Confucianist,Hsun Tzu, who
strongly advocated the control of nature. As he said, "Youglorify
Nature and meditate on her:/ Why not domesticate her and
regulate her?"'5 But Hsun Tzu believed that human nature is evil.
Mencius' attitude in this regard is more like the Taoists. He
resembled them in other ways. He shunned the extravagantlife of
many nobles which was so wasteful of resources,since he believed
that nothing is "betterfor the nourishing of the heart than to
reduce the numberof one's desires."56Despising "menof
consequence,"he said,
24 REVIEW
ENVIRONMENTAL FALL/WINTER

Their hall is tens of feet high; the capitals are several feet
broad. Were I to meet with success, I would not indulge in
such things. Their tables, laden with food, measure ten feet
across, and their female attendants number in the hundreds.
Were I to meet with success, I would not indulge in such
things. They have a great time drinking, driving, and
hunting, with a retinue of a thousand chariots. Were I to
meet with success, I would not indulge in such things. All
the things they do I would not do.... Why, then, should I
cower before them?57

This is reminiscentof the Roman poet Horace's strictureagainst

monstrously large villas: "Richmen's luxurious buildings leave few
acres for the plow."58
Mencius advised a middle way, not the ostentation of these
men of consequencenor the absoluteself-sufficiency,amountingto
poverty, espoused by Hsu Hsing and some Taoists.59But he admired
the natural man who lived in the wilderness, sensing that he was
closer to the truth and more amenable to education in wisdom than
many who have been raised in more civilized surroundings. Mencius
said,

When Shun lived in the depth of the mountains, he lived

amongst trees and stones, and had as friends deer and pigs.
The differencebetween him and the uncultivated man of
the mountains then was slight. But when he heard a single
good word, witnessed a single good deed, it was like water
causing a breach in the dykes of the Yangtse or the Yellow
River. Nothing could withstand it.60

Shun, a man good by nature, was at home in wild nature, which is

also good. Menciusused him to show that any human being can
become a sage by living according to nature, the nature that is in the
heart, and the nature in which every creature participates.
Perhaps Mencius is not so strictly anthropocentricafter all.
Mencius was a student who, while adopting salient aspects
of his teacher'sthought, was able to go beyond him in important
respects. He knew Confucius'ideas thoroughly, and grasped the
principle that if people are to live in the context of nature, as they
must, considerationmust be given to the relationshipsinherent in
society and the basic needs of people. He was also a man of wide
experience who possessed an intimate knowledge of the Chinese
1989 J.DONALDHUGHES 25

environmentand the land use practicesof peasants and emperors.

Perhaps in spite of that, he believed that human beings, in their
inmost selves, are good and at one with the goodness of the
universe. Furthermore,he was well acquainted with Taoist
thought and was not out of sympathy with its preferencefor the
simple life and its reverence for the inherent ways of nature.
Mencius'value for environmentalthought, then, is the manner in
which he combines eminently useful suggestions which stem from
his practicalexperience,Confucianconcernfor human values, and
the Taoist sense of human oneness with nature.

a d

b ) 0'I'l

c4j-

lYi-FuTuan,China(Chicago:Aldine PublishingCo., 1969),64.

2Environmental Ethics7, no. 4 (Winter1986);PhilosophyEastand West37, no. 2 (April 1987);
Naturein Asian Traditionsof Thought:Essaysin Environmental Phiosophy,edited by J. Baird
Callicottand RogerT. Ames (Albany:SUNYPress,1989).
3AlbertF. Verwilghen,Mencius:TheManandHis Ideas(New York. St. John'sUniversityPress,
1967).
4Mencius6. A. 8. QuotationsfromMencius,unless otherwisenoted, are fromthe translationby
D.C.Lau,Mencius(London: PenguinBooks,1970). This passage is on 164-165.
5Plato Critias111 B-D.
6Menaus7. A. 24, 187.
7Ibid. 4. A. 1,118;4. A. 14, 124.
8Ibid.6. B. 7,176.
9XenophonOcconomicus 4. 8-9.
10HerrleeC. Creel, ChineseThoughtfromConfuciusto Mao Tse-tung(Chicago: University of
ChicagoPress,1953),82
11Mencius7. B. 14, 196.
Ibid.3. B.3, 108.
13Mencius3. A. 3, 97-100;Fung Yu-lan,A ShortHistoryofChinesePhilosophy(New York:
Macmillan,1950),75; J.J.L.Duyvendak,TheBookof LordShang(Chicago: Universityof Chicago
Press, 1928),41-44L
14Mencius2. A. 5,82.
26 REVIEW
ENVIRONMENTAL FALL/WINTER

15JohnS. Major,'The Five Phases, Magic Squares,and SchematicCosmography,"in

Explorations in EarlyChincseCoemography, edited by Henry Rosemont,Jr. (Chico,CA: Scholars
Press, 1984),133-135.
16F. Leeming, "OfficialLandscapesin TraditionalChina,"Journalof the Economicand Social
Historyof the Orient23 (1980): 153-204,cted in JosephNeedham, Scienceand Civilizationin
China,vol. 6 (Cambridge,UK: CambridgeUniversityPress, 1984),101-103.
17Mencius3. A. 3, 97-98;FrancescaBray,"Agriculture," in Needham, Scienceand Civdizationin
China,vol. 6, 429.
18his questionis raised by severalauthors,includingBenjaminI. Schwartz,TheWorldof
7Thought in AncientChina(Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversityPress, 1985),280-282,and Arthur
Waley, 7hreeWaysof Thoughtin AncientChina(London,George Allen & Unwin, 1939),120. This
analysissubstantiallyagrees with that of Schwartz.
19Creel, ChineseThoughtfrom Confuciusto Mao Tse-tung,82.
20Mencius3. A. 3, 99 (thatmen should not leave theirvillages),4. A. 9, 121-122(thatpeople flock
to benevolentrulers).
22Ibd. 2 A. 1, 85.
22Ibid.1. A. 3,51. See also 7. A. 22, 186,which repeatsanotherpartof the same passagewith
small variations.
2Thbid.7. B. 34, 201;1. B. 9,68.
24Creel, ChineseThoughtfrom Confuciusto Mao Tse-tung,82.
28LesterJ. Bilsky,"EcologicalCrisisand Responsein AncientChina,"in HistoricalEcology:
Essayson Environment and SocialChange(PortWashington,NY: KennikatPress, 1980),66.
26Mencius3. B. 1, 106;5. A. 2, 140.
Ibid.6. A. 13-14,167-168.The treesmentionedin these sectionsare definitelyones used for their
wood, but the identificationof the species is argued. They perhapsinclude Paulownia,Rottera,
Catalpa,and Sterculia. See JamesLegge's translationof 7he Worksof Mencius(Oxford:
ClarendonPress,1895. Reprint.New York: Dover, 1970),415-417n.
28Bilsky,"EcologicalCrisisand Responsein AncientChina,"67-68;Tuan,China,64.
29Mencius3. A. 4,102.
3ODuyvendak, 7heBookof LordShang,175 ff., 214-215.
31Mencius4. A. 1,118.
32Ibid.4. A. 14,124.
33BookofOdes,Ode 242.
34Animage standingfor the tyrantChieh.
35See Shuching(Shlhsan chingchushu, 1815edition), 8. 2b.
3Mencius 1. A. 2, 49-50.
37Ibid.1. B.2, 61-62 3. B. 9,113.
381bid.1. A. 7, 54-56.
3xd. 1. A. 4, 52.
4Ibid. 5. B. 4, 154.
411bid.6. A. 10,166.
421.A.Richards,Menciuson theMind: Experiments in MultipleDefinition(London: Kegan Paul,
Trench,Trubner& Co., Ltd.,1932),4-5.
43Mencius6. A. 8,164-165.
44Ibid.6. A. 3,161.
45Ibid.4. B. 19,131.
461bid.3. A. 4, 102;3. B. 9,114; 4. B. 28,133-134.
471bid.4. A. 9,122.
4Ibid. 7. A. 4, translatedby Wing-tsitChan,"ChineseTheoryand Practice,with Special
Referenceto Humanism,"in TheChineseMind: Essentialsof ChinesePhilosophyand Culture,
edited by CharlesA. Moore(Honolulu: East-WestCenterPress and Universityof Hawaii Press,
1967),25.
1989 J. DONALDHUGHES 27

49Mendus7. A. 1,182.
50Fung,A ShortHistoryof ChinesePhilosophy, 77. As Creel observes,"themeaning of these
passages has been debated endlessly in Chinese literature,"Chinese7houghtfromConfuciusto
Mao Tse-tung,92-93.
51Creel, ChineseThoughtfrom Confuciusto Mao Tse-tung,93, 204-205.
52Mencius2. A. 2, 77. See the discussion of this passage in Fung, A ShortHistoryof Chinese
Philosophy,78-79.
53Mencius2. A. 2, 78. Mencius'use of parablessuch as this one is reminiscentof Biblicalparallels;
for example,Jesus'story of the Sower (Matthew13:3-30).
54Ibid.4. B. 26,133.
55Hsun Tzu, XVII,translatedby Hu Shih, The Deuelopment of the LogicalMethodin Ancient
China(Shanghai:OrientalBookCo., 1928),152,quoted in Wing-tsitChan,'The Storyof Chinese
Philosophy,"in TheChineseMind: Essentialsof ChinesePhilosophyand Culture,edited by
CharlesA. Moore(Honolulu: East-WestCenterPress and Universityof Hawaii Press, 1967),37.
56Mencus 7. B. 35, 201.
57Ibid.7. B.34,201.
58HoraceOdes2. 15. 1-2.
59Mencius3. A. 4~100-104.
601bid.7. A. 16, 184-185.