This new translation, especially arranged and annotated with the general reader in mind, has been made in the light of recent philological research. It aims at rendering an Archaic Chinese original in a modern and unadorned prose, and is intended for the general reader who is otherwise unfamiliar with Chinese authors and desires to understand what Mencius is about without encumbering the text with footnotes and technical apparatus which the specialist quite properly demands. While the text has been translated in its entirety its parts have been rearranged in a sequence which it is hoped will make them easier for the Western reader.