Idiom Explanation:
High moral and reputable. It is used to praise people who are old and reputable.
Pronunciation:
德高望重
dé gāo wàng zhòng
Origin book:
《晋书·简文三子传》：“元显因讽礼官下议，称已德隆望重，既录百揆，内外群僚，皆应尽数。”
Origin Story:
During the Northern Song Dynasty in China, there was a man named Fu Bi (彦国). He came from a poor background, but he was a diligent student, knowledgeable, open-minded and uncommon. One of his predecessors met him and said, “This is a wise man to assist the emperor!” At the age of twenty-six, Fu Bi started his career. For more than forty years, he was devoted to the Northern Song Dynasty, and made remarkable achievements in dealing with diplomacy, border defense, supervision of punishment and prison, and disaster relief, etc. He was promoted to a higher rank.
In 1042, the Khitan kingdom in the north demanded the Song Dynasty to cede a large area of territory in the south of Guanzhou. The court decided to appoint Fubi as a messenger to negotiate with the enemy. During the negotiation, he gave a generous speech, citing the history of alliance and friendship between the two countries for decades, and persuaded the Khitan king to give up the demand of ceding the land, successfully defending the interests of his country. He was ordered to go on two missions, the first of which coincided with the death of his daughter due to illness, and the second, when he heard of the birth of his young son, without returning home to see him. After his return, the court awarded him the important posts of Privy Counsellor, Bachelor of Hanlin and Deputy Privy Counsellor in order to praise his merits, but he humbly declined to take the post.
In 1048, the Yellow River broke at Shang Hu and flooded, causing 600,000 to 700,000 people in Hebei to rush south to the eastern part of the capital. At that time, Fubi was relegated to Qingzhou because he was slandered by his political enemies. In the next year, wheat was ripe in Hebei, and many of the victims returned home with their young and old. Fubi recruited more than 10,000 soldiers for the country, and the people praised him. The emperor sent a messenger to console him and appointed him as the Minister of Rites, but Fu Bi refused, saying, “This is my duty.
Even after he became the prime minister, he never took pride in his achievements and was proud of his power. In 1072, he retired from his post and lived in seclusion in Luoyang for a long time. One day, when he went out in a palanquin, he was spotted by the public when he passed by the Tianjin Bridge, and they immediately followed him and watched him.
Sima Guang once praised him, saying, “Three generations of auxiliary officials, with high moral prestige.”
