Mencius said, "The people are the way, those who have constant production have perseverance, and those who have impermanence have no perseverance. Without perseverance, you will do whatever you want. It is also a waste of people to fall into sin and punish it. How can a benevolent man not do something for the people when he is in power? Therefore, saints must be humble and thrifty and take it from the people. (On Teng Wengong) So, how can we "take it from the people and use it for the people"? Mencius went on to explain: "Therefore, a wise monarch will control the people's property, so that he can support his parents and wife, be happy all his life, avoid death in a bad year, and then be good, so the people will be light." Today, people's property is also under control. It is not enough to serve their parents or adopt a wife. Happy years will be bitter for a lifetime, and unhappy years will inevitably lead to death. This is just to save lives, not to support it. Is it a good idea to treat ceremony and justice? ("Hui Liang Wang Shang") "Accordingly, according to Mencius' display of" controlling people's property ",Mencius seems to hold the position of economic determinism in the relationship between morality and economy, that is, economy determines morality. Specifically, only when ordinary people have financially solved a series of minimum living guarantees such as parents going to work and wives farming, and are "full of happiness for life, they will inevitably die in a bad year", can they achieve "goodness" and receive moral education of "courtesy and righteousness". This is what Mencius said: "Those who have constant production have perseverance, and those who have no constant production have no perseverance." The theory of "controlling people's wealth" in the pre-Qin era, like "those who have constant wealth have perseverance", is not the word of Mencius alone. For example, Guan Zi, as a representative figure of Legalism, once said that "Cang Li actually knows etiquette, and you will know honor and disgrace when you have enough to eat and wear warm clothes" (Guan Zi herder), which is similar to Mencius. In addition, as far as Confucianism is concerned, Mencius' theory of "controlling people's wealth" also follows Confucius' theory of "teaching people with money" about the second place in administration. For example, The Analects of Confucius Lutz said: "Wei Shi is a son, but there are servants. Confucius said, "You are as good as you are!" You Ran said,' If you are an ordinary person, why bother?' Say, "rich." Say,' If you are rich, why bother?' Say, "teach it." However, neither Confucius' theory of "teaching with wealth" nor Mencius' theory of "controlling people's wealth with perseverance" can be completely explained by a one-sided economic determinism. This is because Mencius also said, "Only those who have perseverance but not constant production can be competent" (Hui Liang Wang Shang). At the beginning of Mencius, when Liang asked "Why is it good for our country", Mencius immediately responded, "Why should a king be good for Japan? There is only benevolence and righteousness "("Liang "). Therefore, Mencius was not only a moral economic determinist. In fact, looking at the relationship between economy and morality like Mencius was also a popular view in the pre-Qin period. For example, in the relationship between economy and morality, Guan Zi, a pre-Qin legalist, attached importance to economy, although he said that "the granary actually knows etiquette, and food and clothing are enough to know honor and disgrace". However, Guanzi also said that "propriety, righteousness and shame are the four dimensions of a country, and if the four dimensions are not opened, the country will perish" (Guanzi Shepherd is another example. Although Confucian Confucius has the above ranking of "teaching while enriching", in the Analects of Confucius, there are also more "gentleman's righteousness is supreme" (The Analects of Yang Huo) and "gentleman's righteousness is beneficial to the villain. Source: Reform and Strategy