# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/mencius
# Generated: 2026-09-01T12:43:02.526Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/mencius"
name: "Mencius"
slug: "mencius"
description: "The philosopher who argued that people are born good — and that rulers who forget this will lose everything. His debates with kings during China's bloodiest centuries became one of Confucianism's core texts, and his optimism about human nature still divides scholars from the pessimists who followed."
tagline: "Chinese Confucian philosopher (372–289 BC)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Half_Portraits_of_the_Great_Sage_and_Virtuous_Men_of_Old_-_Meng_Ke_(%E5%AD%9F%E8%BB%BB).jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "-372"
deathDate: "-289"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           68.97
  momentum:             0.01402524544179523
  historical:           24.873936
  currentAttention:     5.805555555555555
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 168
tags:
  - name: "Academics"
    slug: "academics"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Ancient History"
    slug: "ancient-history"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188903"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencius"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Mencius"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B3"
    title: "منسيوس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menciu"
    title: "Menciu"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men-Tsz%C4%B1"
    title: "Men-Tszı"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D1%8D%D0%BD-%D1%86%D0%B7%D1%8B"
    title: "Мэн-цзы"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8"
    title: "মেনসিয়াস"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%BD%98%E0%BD%BA%E0%BD%84%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%99%E0%BD%BA%E0%BC%8D"
    title: "མེང་ཙེ།"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meng_Zi"
    title: "Meng Zi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menci"
    title: "Menci"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cdo.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A2ing-c%E1%B9%B3%CC%84"
    title: "Mâing-cṳ̄"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%DB%8E%D9%86%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%88%D8%B3"
    title: "مێنسیوس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencius"
    title: "Mencius"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D1%8D%D0%BD-%D1%86%D0%B7%D1%8B"
    title: "Мэн-цзы"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengzi"
    title: "Mengzi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9C%CE%AD%CE%B3%CE%BA%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82"
    title: "Μέγκιος"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menceo"
    title: "Menceo"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencio"
    title: "Mencio"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengzi"
    title: "Mengzi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentzio"
    title: "Mentzio"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%88%D8%B3"
    title: "منسیوس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengzi"
    title: "Mengzi"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencius"
    title: "Mencius"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencio"
    title: "Mencio"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/Men-Tsz%C4%B1"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://da.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mencius"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://de.wikiquote.org/wiki/Meng_Zi"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mencius"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mencio"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born Meng Ke around 371 BC, he joined Confucius's lineage four generations down and inherited a tradition in need of sharper edges. The Warring States period gave him his laboratory: he travelled from court to court, trying to convince rulers that humane governance wasn't idealism but survival, that citizens under good policy would naturally care for families, learn rites, and strengthen the state. Those conversations became the Mencius, later canonised as a Confucian classic. His insistence that human nature is righteous set him against Xunzi, who called it evil, a split that never healed. He died around 289 BC, having earned the title Second Sage — high praise in a tradition that rarely gave it.