Ancient Tales of Wisdom

Trustworthy_A Promise is Worth One Thousand Ounces of Gold_narrated by laura market

Hello, and welcome to Ancient Tales of Wisdom, on the SOH Radio Network. I am Laura Market, today I’d like to share with you a story of trustworthy Fan Zhongyan a very famous scholar who later became prime minister in the Song Dynasty,

Since China has a very long history that emphasizes moral cultivation they considered moral integrity and trust as the most fundamental element of moral cultivation.

As a result, in Chinese culture there are sayings about “trust” such as “A promise is worth one thousand ounces of gold;”

“Promises must be kept, and action must be resolute;” and “A promise cannot be taken back once it is made;” and so on.

Therefore in Chinese culture, there is the following tale….

In the Northern Song Dynasty, when young Fan Zhongyan was still studying in Suiyang, he got to know an alchemist. One day, the alchemist got a serious illness, and he asked someone to find Fan Zhongyan. He told Fan, “I have a secret alchemy recipe. My son is still young and I cannot teach him the Golden Touch skill. Now I will let you help keep this secret recipe.” The alchemist sealed, in a package, the secret recipe as well as one jin (about one pound) of platinum that he had made through alchemy, and he handed the package to Fan. He then died. Several years later Fan became a government official who served in the role of providing criticisms and suggestions to the government. He found that alchemist’s son and told him, “Your father had the magical Golden Touch skill. When he passed away, you were still very young, and he let me keep this secret recipe for you. Now you have grown up, and I should hand it to you.” He then took out that package that contained the recipe and the platinum and handed it to the alchemist’s son. The seal mark was still intact, proving that the package had never been opened.

Fan Zhongyan’s son, Fan Chunren, likewise followed his father’s will. When he governed Luoyang, he brought happiness to the local community through his moral integrity and honesty. Because of his governing, “no one pocketed anything found on the road, and no families needed to bar their doors at night.” Once when an old man sat under the sun by a wall, someone came to tell him, “Your family’s yellow calf has been stolen.” After hearing the message, the old man still sat there; he did not move at all, nor did he say a word. A moment later, another person came and told him again about the loss of the calf.

The old man peacefully told that person, “You do not need to look for it. It must be someone who wanted to make a joke and has hidden it.” Those who passed by felt strange and they asked the man, “Sir, your family has lost a cow. Others told you this again and again, but why don’t you care about it.” The old man said with a smile, “Since Mr. Fan has lived here, who would want to become a thief? This is in no way possible.” A moment later, the calf came back as expected.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites