Idiom Explanation:
I’d rather be broken as a piece of jade than be preserved as a piece of pottery., which is a metaphor for preferring to die for justice and never to live in vain.
Pronunciation:
宁为玉碎，不为瓦全
chū yán bú xùn
Origin:
西晋·陈寿《三国志·魏书·张郃传》：“图惭，又更谗郃曰：‘郃快军败，出言不逊。’郃惧，乃归太祖。”
Story:
During the Northern and Souther n Dynasties, in 550 A.D., the political power of the Eastern Wei was monopolized by the prime minister of the dynasty, Gao Yang. Gao Yang was in charge of all the political affairs of the Eastern Wei and had the intention to usurp power and seize the throne. At that time, Emperor Xiaojing of Wei (Yuan Shanmian) was only an emperor who “lived in his position but did not plan his politics”. Later, Gao Yang forced Emperor Xiaojing to abdicate and transferred the throne to him. In this way, Gao Yang used despicable means to establish a new dynasty. This dynasty was the Northern Qi, and Gao Yang became the Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi.
In order to consolidate his rule and prevent the resurgence of the Eastern Wei, Gao Yang exterminated the power of the Yuan regime of the Eastern Wei and killed all the royal family of the Eastern Wei, leaving almost no survivors, so as to eliminate future problems.
In order to achieve his goal, Gao Yang was extremely cruel. The first people he killed were Emperor Xiaojing of Wei and his three sons. He poisoned them to death with poisonous wine. After that, Gao Yang still felt that there were hidden dangers, so he ordered the arrest and imprisonment of 44 close relatives of the Yuan clan. In total, more than 700 people were executed, even infants. After killing the Yuan clansmen, Gao Yang also had the bodies thrown into the Zhang River to feed the fish.
Gao Yang’s actions soon spread. It reached Yuan’s distant clansmen, who were terrified of when Gao Yang’s butcher’s knife would come to their heads. They hurriedly gathered to discuss countermeasures. A magistrate named Yuan Jing’an said that the only way to save their lives now was to ask Gao Yang to allow them to break away from the Yuan clan and change their surname to Gao. When Yuan Jing’an’s cousin Yuan Jinghao heard this, he strongly opposed this approach and said angrily, “How can we save our lives by abandoning our clan and changing to another surname? A great man ‘would rather have the jade shattered than the tile intact’. I would rather die and keep my moral integrity than endure humiliation in order to live.” In order to save his life, the timid and fearful Yuan Jing’an vilely reported Jing Hao’s words to Gao Yang. Gao Yang then arrested Jing Hao and had him executed. Because of the merit of his informer, Gao Yang gave him the surname Gao and promoted him to a rich and powerful official.
However, the good times did not last long and the brutal massacre could not save the faltering regime of Northern Qi. Soon after Yuan Jinghao was killed, Gao Yang died of illness. After a dozen years, the Northern Qi dynasty also collapsed. However, Yuan Jinghao’s righteous act of “preferring jade to tile” has been praised by people in future generations.
Later, according to this story, people simplified the idiom of “A great man would rather have jade shattered than tile” and derived it into “I would rather have jade shattered than tile completed”.
Similar Idioms:
- 宁死不屈
