Ancient Tales of Wisdom

A True Gentleman gains respect through modest actions

Cao Bin was born in today’s Linshou County, Hebei Province and helped to found the Northern Song Dynasty. Even with his long list of achievements and honors, Bin never showed off his accomplishments and thus gained the deep respect of the people.

On the fifth year of Xiande in the Latter Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Shizong asked Cao Bin to pay an official state visit to the kingdom of Wuyue. Wuyue tried to give him gifts on many occasions, offers which were always refused by Cao Bin.

On his way back, after Bin had boarded the ship, Wuyue left a large amount of gold, silver and other treasures on the ship as gifts to him.

After he returned, Bin gave all the gifts to the royal court. The emperor was so moved by Bin’s action and that he granted all the gifts back to him. Bin could not turn down the emperor’s appreciative gesture and so accepted the gifts. He then gave them all away to his relatives and friends.
At that time, Zhao Kuangyin (who later founded the Song Dynasty and became Emperor Taizong) was a great general who led the royal army. Many officials tried to gain favour with him and Cao Bin was the only exception. Other than carrying on official business, he never went to visit Zhao at his home. One time after Zhao Kuangyin became the emperor, he asked Bin, “In the past, I always wanted to get to know you better. Why did you deliberately keep your distance and stay away from me?” Cao Bin replied, “I was a close relative of the former Zhou emperor and was also an official in his court. I was focused on fulfilling my duties and not making any mistakes. How could I dare to befriend Your Majesty?” With this honest reply, the Emperor thought even more highly of him.
During the second year of Jianlong , Cao Bin served as a counsellor to Liu Guangyi 劉光毅who led an army to take care of a rebellion in Shu (today’s Sichuan Province). After the rebels were quashed, all the high-ranking officials from the Song army returned home with beautiful women, jade, silk, and other expensive items. Cao Bin, on the other hand, only brought back his own books and clothing.
Emperor Taizong recognized the large contribution that Bin had made in putting down the rebellion, and wanted to promote him to governor of Yicheng. After repeated efforts to turn down the offer, the Emperor finally said to Bin, “You have made a large contribution and yet you have never tried to show yourself off. It is a common practice for a country to honor the good and punish the bad. You shouldn’t try to turn down your promotion any more.”
After the Song Dynasty was founded, the last ruler of the former Tang Dynasty ran away to Jilin (today’s Nanjing City) and formed the Southern Tang Dynasty. Cao Bin was asked by Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty to bring down the Southern Tang Dynasty. As the Song army prepared to attack the city of Jilin, Cao Bin thought of the innocent villagers that may be hurt in the cross fire. So he pretended to be ill and asked his soldiers to light incense praying for his recovery by making a solemn promise not to hurt a single innocent person in the siege. After the Song army mounted a successful siege, it treated the ordinary citizens in Jilin well and was warmly welcomed by the people. When the ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty asked to surrender, he was comforted by Cao Bin who gave kind words to his officials and treated them as honored guests.
Despite his great success, Bin refrained from showing off and only wrote in the mission report to the emperor that “I have been able to complete the task that the Emperor had asked me to do in the South.” When he was congratulated by his deputy, Bin laughed gently and said, “I am only fulfilling my duty. We were able to achieve the victory solely because of the might of heaven and the military strategy that the royal court had developed beforehand. How have I made any major contribution? ”
Despite his high ranking positions, Bin wasn’t wealthy at all. He gave all his leftover salary to his many relatives. The Record of the Song Dynasty describes him in this way, “After putting down rebellions in two countries (Shu and Southern Tang), he didn’t take a single extra penny. He was a general and the Prime Minister, and yet he never thought he was different from others because of his post.”
While serving in the royal court, Bin never once went against the wishes of the Emperor, nor did he discuss other people’s shortcomings. While on the road, he always ordered his driver to move his carriage off the road and let other officials’ carriages pass first, even if the other officials were ranked much lower than him. He never called his subordinates by their names directly in order to show his respect for them. When his subordinates came to report things to him, he always arranged his clothing carefully and put on his hat before seeing them. He treated his subordinates with a great deal of tolerance, and always put himself in their shoes first.
Cao Bin was not only a man of many talents, he also had a great many virtues. He was a gentleman who behaved “in a modest and low-key manner,” and was forgiving and tolerant toward others. After his death, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty cried in anguish, and bestowed Bin the title of Duke of Jiyang 濟陽.
There is a Chinese proverb, “The sky above doesn’t say it is tall and yet it is tall. The ground below doesn’t say it runs deep and yet it runs deep.” Those with little talent but are nonetheless conceited are always quick to show off, being afraid that others don’t know how capable they are. Those people with genuine ability however will never try to show themselves off. If someone is truly capable, it will be recognised by others naturally without the person needing to say or do anything.
In The Book of Manners (Li Ji) it says, “A gentleman doesn’t exaggerate his accomplishments, nor does he show off his accomplishments. He just tells the facts as they are.” It says, “One should praise other people’s good deeds and accomplishments in order to treat them with respect and honor.” It also says, “Therefore, even though a gentleman behaves in a modest and low-key manner, the people naturally respect him.”