Better a broken jade than a broken one(nìng wéi yù suì，bù wéi wǎ quán)

Better a broken jade than a broken one

Better be a broken jade than a broken tile is an idiom. It means better to make jade broken than to make earthenware. It is a metaphor that people would rather sacrifice for a just cause than lose their integrity and muddle along. It comes from the biography of Yuan Jing'an in the book of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Idiom explanation

[idiom]: it's better to be a broken jade than a complete tile. It is better to die for a just cause than to live in humiliation. Li Baiyao's biography of Yuan Jing'an in the book of the Northern Qi Dynasty: "a man would rather be broken than broken." During the period of Tianbao, most of the yuan emperors were killed. In 550 ad, Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei Dynasty was forced to abdicate to Prime Minister Gao Yang and was poisoned to death. Gao Yang also killed his son and all his relatives to uproot them. Later he threatened to kill his distant clan. Yuan Jinghao said, "a man would rather be a broken jade than a broken one." He would rather be beheaded than change his surname to Gao. He was snitched by Yuan Jing'an and killed by Gao Yang. He would rather be a broken jade than a broken one. According to Li Baiyao, a historian of the Tang Dynasty, the biography of Yuan Jing'an in the book of the Northern Qi Dynasty: "the elder brother of Chu Yong (father of Yuan Jing'an), Zuo xijue, Chen Liuwang, Zuo Zuo, and his son Jing HAOSI. When Tianbao (the reign of emperor Gaoyang, Emperor Wenxuan of Qi Dynasty) was founded, most of the emperors who were close to the Yuan Dynasty were slaughtered. The emperor shuzong was like a disciple of Jing'an. He wanted to take the surname of Gao. Jing Hao (cousin Jingan of Yuan Dynasty) said: "should we abandon our clan and chase other surnames? A great man would rather be a broken jade than a broken one. " Jing An then said that Bai Xianzu (referring to Gao Yang) was killed by Jing Hao. His family moved to Pengcheng, and Jing An gave him the surname Gao. " Yuan Jinghao, the cousin of Yuan Jingan, firmly opposed it. He said, "how can we save our life by abandoning our family and taking refuge in his family name? The eldest husband would rather make broken jade than pottery! I'd rather die than change my name. " "Better a broken jade than a broken one" is a metaphor of sacrifice for integrity. (from the biography of Yuan Jing'an in the book of the Northern Qi Dynasty), yuan Jinghao was killed because his surname was not easy, which showed his firm support for his personal dignity. Later, the allusion was abstracted, and its meaning was greatly sublimated. It was used as a metaphor to say that he would rather sacrifice or even die for a noble and just cause than for a small profit. It has been used for thousands of years. There is another story: Gao Yang, the Prime Minister of the Northern Dynasty and the Eastern Wei Dynasty, forced emperor Xiaojing to abdicate and became emperor himself, establishing the Northern Qi Dynasty. Gao Yang was cruel and ruthless. In order to avoid future trouble, he killed emperor Xiaojing and his three sons in 551. But after doing something bad, he was afraid. One day, there was an eclipse in the sky, which he worried was an unknown sign. So he asked yuanshao, the patriarch of the Yuan Dynasty, why Wang Mang usurped the world of the Liu family in the late Western Han Dynasty and Guangwu emperor Liu Xiu was able to recapture the world. Yuan Shao's answer is that Wang Mang didn't cut down the grass and root, and didn't kill all the people in Liu's clan (Wen Xuan said Shao: "why is Han Guangwu resurgent?" Shao said, "it's not enough to kill Liu.". Gao Yang believed it, so he killed all his close relatives, even the children. Gao Yang's cruel behavior made the distant clans of the Eastern Wei clan feel very afraid, worried that they would be killed at any time, so they got together to discuss countermeasures. Some people advocate changing their surname to Gao instead of yuan. The person who came up with the idea was a county magistrate named yuan Jing'an. His cousin yuan Jinghao flatly rejected the proposal. In any case, he said, it is not acceptable to change one's surname. He thought that the eldest husband would rather be broken as a jade than preserved as a tile. He would rather die nobly than live in disgrace. Later, yuan Jinghao was executed because of Yuan Jingan's informer. But Gao Yang also died three months later. Eighteen years later, the Northern Qi Dynasty was doomed.

Discrimination of words

I would rather be a noble jade to be smashed than a low tile to be preserved. It means that we would rather die for a just cause than live idly. Liu Shaotang's Flower Street: "it's better to be a broken jade than a broken one. It's shameless to live. Life is worse than death." Yao xueyin's Li Zicheng, Vol.1, Chapter 12: "we'd rather be broken than broken.". If you can break through, break through. If you can't get out, fight with them to the end. " It's better to die than to yield, better to be broken than to be broken

Chinese PinYin : nìng wéi yù suì，bù wéi wǎ quán