History

During the Warring States period, there was a very clever and eloquent man in the State of Qi named Chunyu Kun. Once, the King of Qi sent him as an envoy to present a very precious swan (called “hu” in ancient times) to the King of Chu as a gesture of goodwill. Chunyu Kun set…

Ximen Bao was an official of the State of Wei during the Warring States period. He was appointed magistrate of Ye county. Upon arriving, he inquired about the people’s hardships. Everyone said that the most difficult thing was to arrange wedding for the river god. Every year, the local elders, officials, and witch would choose…

During the reign of Emperor Gao Zong of the Tang Dynasty, there lived an elderly man named Zhang Gongyi,  whose family of nine generations lived together as one household. His family was large, with hundreds of members, yet everyone lived in harmony and never quarrelled. Emperor Gao Zong, hearing of this, became curious and visited…

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the family of Zhang Ying, a renowned scholar from Tong Cheng, Anhui, had a dispute with their neighbour, the Wu family, over a courtyard wall. Zhang Ying’s family wrote to him, who was then an official in the capital, requesting that he persuade the local…

Yan Zi (578-500 BC) was a famous prime minister of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period, a renowned statesman, thinker, and diplomat in ancient China. Yan Zi was on a diplomatic mission to the State of Chu. The king and ministers of Chu wanted to mock Yan Zi and show off…

The allusion “士为知己者死，女为悦己者容“（ “A man dies for one who understands him, a woman adorns herself for one who loves her“) came from this story.