hsing Chinese philosophical term generally agreed to be derived from ‘sheng’ (life, growth), and usually translated as ‘nature’. In its earliest use as a term distinct from ‘sheng’, it probably referred to the tendency or direction of development that a thing will realize if unobstructed (e.g. it is the hsing of a sprout to grow into a fullgrown plant and the hsing of water to flow downward), and the hsing of human beings is also supposed to be their proper course of development. The concept hsing probably entered philosophical discourse with the development of the school of thought associated with Yang Chu (fifth–fourth century B.C.), which regarded the hsing of human beings as the tendency to live a life of a certain span in good health and with sensory desires appropriately satisfied. It subsequently became a central concept in Confucian thought, though understood differently by different Confucian thinkers. Mencius (fourth century B.C.) regarded the moral way of life as a full realization of the hsing of human beings, which is constituted by the direction of development indicated by certain incipient moral inclinations of the heart/mind (hsin); hsing is good in that it has a moral direction. Hsün Tzu (third century . .) regarded the moral way of life as a transformation of the hsing of human beings, which comprises primarily self-regarding desires human beings have by birth; hsing is evil in that unregulated pursuit of satisfaction of such desires leads to strife and disorder. Different views of hsing continued to evolve; but ever since the view that Mencius was the true transmitter of Confucius’s teachings became established, largely through the efforts of Chu Hsi (1130– 1200), the idea that the hsing of human beings is good has been a central tenet of Confucian thought. See also CONFUCIANIS. K.-l.S.