Mencius

Completed in the mid-to-late Warring States period, Mencius was compiled by the philosopher himself alongside his disciples. The Book of Han: Treatise on Literature originally recorded eleven chapters, but only seven survive today. Each chapter is divided into upper and lower parts, totaling fourteen volumes and over thirty-five thousand words. The contents chronicle Mencius's spirited debates with rival schools, his teachings to his followers, and his attempts to lobby feudal lords. His discourses are rooted in the theory of innate human goodness, advocating for benevolent governance, and famously declaring that the people are of supreme importance, while the sovereign is of least consequence. By the mid-Tang dynasty, the scholar Han Yu elevated Mencius as the sole authentic inheritor of Confucius's teachings from the pre-Qin era.