Mencius states true friendship centers on virtue, free from status, age or power. He cites nobles and rulers treating virtuous men as equals, arguing genuine respect from lords means granting them political authority, balancing honoring superiors and worthy subordinates.
Meng Xianzi said:“A family that keeps a team of four horses for chariots should not concern itself with raising chickens and pigs for profit;a household entitled to cut ice for ancestral rites should not raise cattle and sheep for gain;a state possessing a hundred war chariots should not employ ministers who amass wealth through…