Common ground:

They inherited Confucius' thought of "benevolence", Mencius advocated "benevolent government" and Xunzi advocated "benevolence" and "kingly way", all of which emphasized the role of the people.

Difference:

(1) theory of human nature: Mencius affirmed the theory of "goodness of human nature" and thought that human beings were born with four "good ends": benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom. Xunzi affirmed the theory of evil nature. He believes that human nature is a natural attribute that people are born with, and completely excludes any acquired human factors.

(2) Teaching thought: Mencius advocated "internal development" and Xunzi preferred "external development".

(3) Secondly, due to the differences between philosophy and human nature, there are great differences between Mencius and Xunzi in their teaching thoughts. Mencius advocated "internal development", while Xunzi preferred "external development". In the relationship between study and private life, Mencius emphasized "thinking" and advocated enjoying himself and concentrating on further study. Xunzi advocated "learning" more. Influenced by his idealism, Mencius exaggerated the role of "thinking" while ignoring "listening" and "seeing" and overemphasized rational understanding.