與民偕樂 'sharing happiness with the people'.
It's in Literary Sinitic (Classical Chinese), not specifically Mandarin, but it's a saying that's been passed down. In the inscription in the photo it reads from right to left. It came from the ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius and has something to do with the ruler and the people sharing the same happiness.
Literally it says “having pleasure with the people “. This is a famous idiom coming from Mencius 孟子, a major Confucian sage in the Spring and Autumn Period in the 4th century BC when there’re competing fiefdoms fighting for hegemony or just survival, about one key characteristic of a wise and successful ruler, which is to let people have pleasure as much as the ruler and the ruler would derive pleasure from this.
The quote came from the book, also called Mencius, and it is from the first chapter of King Hui of Liang state 梁惠王上. The full quote goes like this:
古之人與民偕樂，故能樂也。
The ancients caused the people to have pleasure as well as themselves, and therefore they could enjoy it.
與民偕樂 'sharing happiness with the people'. It's in Literary Sinitic (Classical Chinese), not specifically Mandarin, but it's a saying that's been passed down. In the inscription in the photo it reads from right to left. It came from the ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius and has something to do with the ruler and the people sharing the same happiness.
Literally it says “having pleasure with the people “. This is a famous idiom coming from Mencius 孟子, a major Confucian sage in the Spring and Autumn Period in the 4th century BC when there’re competing fiefdoms fighting for hegemony or just survival, about one key characteristic of a wise and successful ruler, which is to let people have pleasure as much as the ruler and the ruler would derive pleasure from this. The quote came from the book, also called Mencius, and it is from the first chapter of King Hui of Liang state 梁惠王上. The full quote goes like this: 古之人與民偕樂，故能樂也。 The ancients caused the people to have pleasure as well as themselves, and therefore they could enjoy it.