Mencius is a classic work of Confucianism, written by Mencius and his disciples Wan Zhang and Gongsun Chou in the middle of the Warring States Period. It was first seen in Zhao Qi's "Inscriptions of Mencius": "This book is written by Mencius, so it is always called" Mencius ". "Mencius" was listed as "four books" by Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty (the other three are "University", "The Doctrine of the Mean" and "The Analects of Confucius").
 The Book of the Han Dynasty, Yiwenzhi, records eleven articles of Mencius, and there are seven articles and fourteen volumes in existence. There are more than 35000 words in total and 260 chapters. It is said that there are also four chapters of Mencius' Outer Book, which have been lost (the present edition of Mencius' Outer Book is a fake work of Yao Shilin of the Ming Dynasty). The book records Mencius and his disciples' political, educational, philosophical, ethical and other ideas and political activities. In ancient times, the examination mainly focused on "Four Books" and "Five Classics".