Why was Mencius popularized in the Song Dynasty?

Mainly because of Wang Anshi, Wang Anshi not only regarded Mencius as an example of learning in the early days, but also regarded him as a confidant in the stage of political reform. Wang Anshi personally annotated Mencius, and Ye Xining brought Mencius into the imperial examination system, which laid a solid political foundation for the development of Mencius. Wang mentioned Mencius many times in his poems, taking Mencius as a code of conduct to judge the world, and used Mencius' language and allusions. The acceptance of Mencius in Wang Anshi's poems is a whole acceptance and a gradual acceptance process. Wang Anshi was a key figure in promoting the development of Mencius in the Song Dynasty, and his admiration for Mencius had a far-reaching impact on the development of Mencius in the Song Dynasty and even in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The book Mencius not only publicizes Mencius' theory, but also contains many philosophical stories. Wang's poem "Two Broken Graves" says: "Between the graves at midnight, Zhu Yu is still begging for sacrifices at that time." The story of "begging for sacrifices to others" comes from the chapter of Mencius Yelou. The original text is as follows: "Get up early, do a good job, the country has no phase, died in the tomb of Dongguo, and worshippers begged for rest." Wang Anshi borrowed Mencius to refer to people who build graves at midnight. In Mencius, there are still mourners in the tomb of Dongguo. Nowadays, the broken grave is desolate everywhere, with only the whirlwind and grass as companions, and only the grave-builders come back here to look for pearls and jade. The whole poem compares the past with the present, highlighting the desolation and desolation of the funeral. "It's hard to escape the responsibility of taking advantage of the cheap market, which makes people sigh." ("Sending Millet to Shibei Temple") When Gong Jing worked in Yinxian County, he sent millet to save the people, so he used the land to do things, which came from Mencius' chapter. Cheng Tian is an official who is mainly responsible for grazing in the garden, while Confucius, as a saint, became an official because of poverty, and did not slack off because he was a humble official, so he has the responsibility to be competent as an official. Gong Jing compared himself to a field that took advantage of, and encouraged himself to be diligent and pragmatic for the people, even though he was humble. Wang Anshi was an official in his early days, and he was well aware of social ills and people's livelihood sufferings. His early poems revealed his ambition to change the current situation of poverty and weakness at that time, and also laid the groundwork for Xining's political reform. In addition, the allusions of "In Song Dynasty, it was not Xue Juzhou" (Dai Wu Bu) refer to Mencius' Xia, Mencius said Dai Wu Bu, and "Recruit people in danger, shoot according to rules" (Lu Zhongzhou) came from Mencius' Zhang Xia Bu. There are many such allusions, so I won't list them one by one. Source: China National Expo.