24. Cf. Mencius, Gaozi I 告子上, 6. See also Munro, The Concept of Man in Early China, 85; Ning Chen, “The Concept of Fate in Mencius,” 514; and Guo Qiyong, “Mou Zongsan’s View of Interpreting Confucianism,” 345–362.

25. Mencius, Gong Sun Chou I公孫丑上, 6; Gaozi I, 6.

26. Mencius, Jin Xin II, 70.

27. Zhao Qi, Mengzi Zhushu, juan 14, part one (in Siku Quanshu, Jingbu, Sishulei). See Ning Chen, “The Concept of Fate in Mencius,” 496–497.

28. On the ideology of retribution in Chinese religion and legal culture, see Katz, Divine Justice.

29. Xunzi, Jiebi 解蔽, 9. See Sharifian, Dirven, Yu, and Niemeier, Culture, Body, and Language, 135; and Yu Ning, The Chinese HEART in a Cognitive Perspective Culture. 56.

30. Xunzi, Xing’e 性惡, 20.

31. An analogous point was raised by Bertrand Russel on the Augustine concept of the evil human nature: humans are all wicked and deserving of damnation, and if God chooses to spare some, it is for his infinite mercy, and nobody has reason to complain. Russel notes: “the elect go to Heaven because God chooses to make them the objects of His mercy: they are virtuous because they are elect, not elect because they are virtuous” (Russel, Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 93; italics mine).

32. The Shuowen explains quan as chui 錘, a heavy metal block that is used as weight units, and heng as a wooden crossbar fixed between horns of oxen.

33. Xunzi, Zhengming 正名, 17.

34. Cf. Xunzi, Wangba 王霸, 13. On balanced judgment see Xunzi, Jiebi, 6-7.

35. Analects, Zi Han子罕, 26.

36. Mencius, Teng Wen Gong. II. 滕文公下, 7.

37. Roetz, Confucian Ethics of the Axial Age, 1–22, 149–184, 233–264. See also Joseph Chan, “Moral Autonomy, Civil Liberties and Confucianism,” 281–310; Heather, “Transforming ‘Ren’ 仁,” 78–79; David Wong, “Relational and Autonomous Selves,” 419–432; Cheng Chung Ying, “A Theory of Confucian Selfhood,” 124–142; Chong Kim-Chong. The Moral Circle and the Self, 269–282. On the more general question of socialization and autonomy, see Wallance, “Autonomous ‘I’ of an Intersectional Self,” 176–191. Roetz’s analysis is extended to the non-Confucian schools. For instance, he stresses how Mozi rejected to take one’s norms from conventional authorities.

38. Tillman, “Zhu Xi’s Prayers to the Spirit of Confucius,” 489–513.