Mencius (c. 372-289 BC) was born at the transition from the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC) to the Warring States period (475-221 BC). But patriarchal society with its male line of succession had already taken shape during the Shang (c. 17th-c. 11th centuries BC) and the Zhou (c. 11th century-256 BC), well before the emergence of the Confucianists.
孟子生於東周時代春秋、戰國之交，父死子繼的父系社會在周朝已經形成，比儒家學說出現時間早。