Lu state has the custom of competing for prey for sacrifice. Confucius also liked hunting and competing for prey when he was in office in Lu state. For this matter, Mencius explained to his disciple Wan Zhang who had a query about this: When Confucius served as a priest (which was called Zhu bu in ancient China) in Lu state, he stipulated the number of sacrificial utensils used for different sacrifices in documents, and advocated people not to use rare prey as sacrifices. Confucius competed for prey because he wanted to follow local customs.