A very long time ago, a Chinese scholar wrote, “The people are the most important element in a nation; the land and grain come next; the sovereign counts for the least.”
That sovereign, moreover, should rule by the consent of those he governs, and if he’s a tyrant, the governed have every right to get rid of him, one way or another.
These are the sentiments of a wise man named Mencius (372 to 289 B.C.), arguably the first or second most influential philosopher in all Chinese history. Most sinologists rank Confucius (551 to 479 B.C.) at the top, but since most of what we know about his teachings we know through the interpretations of Mencius, who was his follower, a case can be made that the latter was ultimately more consequential. These two men, incidentally, are the only ancient Chinese philosophers so well known that their names have been Latinized for use in the West….