King Hui of Liang said,
“When it comes to governing my state, I have done my utmost. If there is famine in Henei (north of the Yellow River), I move the people there to Hedong (the territory east of the Yellow River) and convey grain from Hedong to Henei. When famine strikes Hedong, I do the same. On investigating the government of the neighboring states, I have not found that there is any king who does his utmost as I do. But why is it that the number of the people of the neighboring states has not decreased, and that of my people has not increased?”
Mencius replied,
”Your Majesty is fond of warfare, from which please allow me to take an illustration. The soldiers march forward to the battle drum and cross swords with the enemy, but then they run from the battle field, throwing their coats of mail and trail their arms behind them. Some stop after running a hundred paces; some stop after running fifty paces. Do you think those who have run fifty paces are entitled to laugh at those who have run a hundred paces?”
The king said,
“No, they are not. They only did not run a hundred paces, but they also ran away from the battlefield.”
Replied Mencius,
“Since Your Majesty knows this, you need not hope that your state will be more populous than the neighboring ones.
If the farming season is not interfered with, there will be grain more than enough. If close nets are not used in deep ponds, there will be fishes and turtles more than enough. If axes are used in forests at the proper time, there will be wood more than enough. If grain, fishes and turtles are more than can be eaten, and wood more than can be used, this will make the people able to support their parents when they are alive and arrange the funerals upon their death without complaints against anyone. It is the first step of the benevolent government that the people have no complaints about the support of their parents when they are alive and about the arrangement of the funerals upon their death.
Let mulberry trees be planted about each homestead to five mu of land, and those who are fifty will have floss silk garments to wear. Let fowls, pigs and dogs be raised without neglecting their breeding seasons, and those who are seventy will have meat to eat. Let farm work be done without interference in a hundred mu of land, and a family of several mouths will not go hungry. Let careful attention be paid to education in local schools, where the significance of filial and fraternal duties is stressed repeatedly, and grey-haired people will not be carrying loads on the road. In a state where people of seventy are clothed in floss silk garments, and have meat to eat, and the masses do not suffer from hunger or cold, what prince can even fail to unify the world?
Now your dogs and swine eat the food of the people, but you do not take any restrictive measures; there are people dead from famine on the roads, but you do not issue people grain of your granaries. When people die, you say, ‘It is not me, but the famine year that is to blame for it.’ In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him and then saying, ‘It is not me, but the weapon that is to blame for it?’ Let Your Majesty not lay the blame on the famine year, and immediately people will come to you from the whole world.”
梁惠王曰：「寡人之於國也，盡心焉耳矣。河內凶，則移其民於河東，移其粟於河內。河東凶亦然。察鄰國之政，無如寡人之用心者。鄰國之民不加少，寡人之民不加多，何也？」
孟子對曰：「王好戰，請以戰喻。填然鼓之，兵刃既接，棄甲曳兵而走。或百步而後止，或五十步而後止。以五十步笑百步，則何如？」
曰：「不可，直不百步耳，是亦走也。」
曰：「王如知此，則無望民之多於鄰國也。不違農時，穀不可勝食也；數罟不入洿池，魚鼈不可勝食也；斧斤以時入山林，材木不可勝用也。穀與魚鼈不可勝食，材木不可勝用，是使民養生喪死無憾也。養生喪死無憾，王道之始也。五畝之宅，樹之以桑，五十者可以衣帛矣；雞豚狗彘之畜，無失其時，七十者可以食肉矣；百畝之田，勿奪其時，數口之家可以無飢矣；謹庠序之教，申之以孝悌之義，頒白者不負戴於道路矣。七十者衣帛食肉，黎民不飢不寒，然而不王者，未之有也。
狗彘食人食而不知檢，塗有餓莩而不知發；人死，則曰：『非我也，歲也。』是何異於刺人而殺之，曰：『非我也，兵也。』王無罪歲，斯天下之民至焉。」
Note
King Hui of Liang’s claim to “doing his utmost” referred merely to emergency relief measures during famines – it was not a fundamental guarantee of the people’s livelihood and well-being. He equated “disaster relief” with “benevolent governance,” failing to recognize that the core of good rule lies in enabling the people to live in peace and prosperity, free from want. This misconception revealed a blind spot in his understanding.
In practice, King Hui’s governance differed little from that of neighboring rulers. As Mencius famously illustrated: if other rulers were soldiers who fled a hundred paces in battle, King Hui was one who fled only fifty – both were still deserters. Though his neighbors might govern even more poorly, King Hui’s relief efforts amounted to minor favors rather than genuine benevolent rule; thus, the people had no reason to willingly rally to him.
Mencius proposed a sustainable approach to people’s livelihood, grounded in harmony with natural rhythms: ensuring sufficient time for agricultural work, protecting fishery and forestry resources, and thereby addressing the people’s basic needs at their root. This is the foundation of the “Way of the Humane Sovereign” (Wang Dao). Only when the people are free from hunger and cold can moral education and effective governance follow.
The Wang Dao consists of two complementary dimensions: nourishing the people and educating the people. Nourishing means meeting material needs – ensuring people have clothes to wear, meat to eat, and land to farm. Educating means cultivating moral character through schools that teach filial piety and fraternal respect, fostering a society that honors the elderly and cares for the young. Only when both aspects are integrated does benevolent governance become complete – and only then will the people’s hearts naturally turn toward the ruler.
Mencius further emphasized that a ruler must take responsibility rather than shift blame. When people starve to death, it is wrong to attribute the cause solely to “bad harvests” while ignoring failures in governance. He condemned the extravagance of the nobility and the indifference of officials who stand by as people perish. A true ruler, Mencius insisted, must reflect on his own policies – not scapegoat natural disasters – for only such accountability can attract the allegiance of all under heaven.
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