Xunzi

"Xunzi" is the most important work of Confucianism in the late Warring States Period. Xunzi was a Confucian master who developed Confucianism while absorbing Legalist doctrine. He respects kingship and hegemony; he upholds etiquette and righteousness and the rule of law; while "the king comes before the law", he also advocates "the king after the law". Mencius created the theory of "good nature", emphasizing the cultivation of nature; Xunzi advocated the theory of "evil nature", emphasizing acquired learning. All these show that he is different from the Confucianism passed down directly. He also put forward simple materialist views such as man's determination to conquer nature, opposing fatalism, and that all things operate and change in accordance with the laws of nature. There are thirty-two chapters in Xunzi, most of which were written by himself except for a few chapters. His articles are good at reasoning, well organized, thorough analysis, and good at drawing examples. He often uses parallelism to enhance the momentum of arguments. His language is rich in caution and has strong persuasiveness and appeal. This is Yang Liang's annotation.