Short answers, pulled from the story.
Xunzi was born in the state of Zhao around the year 310 BCE. He lived during the Warring States period, an era of relentless warfare and political fragmentation that had been raging for over a century before his birth.
Xunzi argued that human nature is evil and that without the strict application of ritual and education, humanity would inevitably descend into chaos. He believed that ethical norms were invented to rectify these inborn tendencies, a stark contrast to Mencius, who believed that goodness was an internal seed waiting to be nurtured.
Between the years 297 and 295 BCE, a young Xunzi traveled to the state of Qi to attend the Jixia Academy, the most prestigious intellectual center of the ancient world. Established by King Xuan, this academy was a melting pot of ideas where Xunzi encountered the greatest minds of his age, including the famous astronomer Zou Yan and the philosopher Tian Pian.
Among the students of Xunzi were Han Fei and Li Si, two figures whose political careers would be inextricably linked to the rise of the Qin dynasty. While Han Fei and Li Si would eventually embrace Legalist sentiments that contradicted Xunzi's philosophy, their association with him remains a defining aspect of his legacy.
For centuries after his death, Xunzi's reputation was gradually dismissed and condemned, particularly from the Tang dynasty onwards, as his views on human nature were misunderstood and oversimplified. By the rise of Neo-Confucianism in the 10th century, Mencius had largely upended Xunzi, with the choice to include the Mencius in the Four Books marking a turning point in the history of Confucian thought.
Xunzi died in Lanling, and his writings, compiled in the eponymous Xunzi, survive in excellent condition. The sinologist John H. Knoblock asserts that the sources available permit not only a reconstruction of the outlines of his career but also an understanding of his intellectual development.