魏襄王 / King Xiang of Wei
魏襄王 / King Xiang of Wei appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》45｜以史为鉴，君王到底该不该杀人成性？ as 魏惠王 / 梁惠王’s son and successor in 319 BCE. The source gives his personal name as Wei Si and places his accession after years of Wei decline, Qin pressure, and the earlier Mencius exchange with his father.
His source role is mainly dialogic. 孟子 / Mencius meets him, judges him as lacking rulerly presence, and then answers his question about settling the realm: unity is necessary, but the ruler able to unify will be one who does not love killing. Wei Xiang Wang therefore becomes the interlocutor through whom 不爱杀人者能一之 enters the Zhouji sequence.
The episode also makes him a generational comparison point. Mencius has now met both father and son in Wei, moving from 仁义优先的利益秩序 under Liang Hui Wang to a sharper claim about killing, unity, and popular attraction under Wei Xiang Wang.
Connections
- 魏国 - polity he inherits.
- 魏惠王 / 梁惠王 - predecessor and father in the source.
- 孟子 / Mencius and 《孟子》 - dialogue source.
- 不爱杀人者能一之, Mencian People-Based Legitimacy / 孟子的民本合法性, and Mencian Benevolent Government / 孟子仁政 - concepts attached to the exchange.
- 秦国 and Qin Eastward Pressure / 秦国东进压力 - pressure field around Wei’s late Warring States decline.