Mencius

Meng Ke, known as Mencius, was born about 372 BC in the state of Zou in the Warring States period. He lost his father as a small child and was raised by his mother, and the stories of how she moved house three times for his sake and cut through her weaving to teach him are known to every Chinese. Taught by followers of Zisi, Confucius' grandson, he travelled to Qi, Liang, Song, Teng and other states, urging their rulers to govern with humaneness, but was never given real power, and in old age withdrew to write with his disciples. He is the most important Confucian thinker after Confucius, honoured as the 'Second Sage', and the two are named together as 'Kong-Meng'.