Mèng Kē (), who is usually known as Meng Zi ()，which means "Master Meng," or Mencius (which is the Latin form of Meng Zi), was not in the generation of students who worked directly with Confucius, but in the second generation after it. He lived from about 371 B.C. to about 289 B.C. Mencius regarded Confucius as the greatest teacher, and he wrote a book in which he tried to explain the full picture behind what Confucius taught. The book is just called by his name, so in English it is called the "Mencius."