Stories from Ancient China: Keeping One's Word Is Fundamental to Being a Person of Integrity

If a person makes a promise, he should live by the principle of "Truthfulness" and fulfil his promise no matter what. It is a foundation of behaving virtuously. When I read stories about ancient people keeping their word, even at the cost of their lives, I felt great admiration for them from.

In the Qing Dynasty, there was a person named Zhao Zhongmu in Wujin. He was famous for carving seals. In July of 1889, Yu Xiaofu asked Zhao Zhongmu to carve forty seals for him, and Zhao promised to finish by the middle of October. In September, Zhao Zhongmu became sick and did not recover until the beginning of October, and Zhao worried about missing the deadline. So he started to carve seals even though he had to work non-stop. He worked for three days and three nights. He was extremely tired, but he kept his promise and gave those forty seals to Yu Xiaofu as scheduled.

Yu Xiaofu was once an officer in Xixing, Zhejiang Province. He was polite and respectful. He was an official of integrity, who never took any money that was not his. After retiring, his family became very poor. One time, he borrowed some money from Tan Futang, one of his good friends. He agreed to pay it back by the end of the next year. When the deadline was approaching, Yu Xiaofu was extremely ill. In order to pay back the money, he stopped taking his medicine. Then, he sold all the valuables in his home, including books and musical instruments. Finally, he paid off his debt before he died.

Zhou Yuze from Qiantang did business between the States of Wu and Yue. His family was very rich, and in 1711, he was robbed. Thousands of other businessman's things, which were left with him, were all taken away. After this incident, Zhou Yuze sold everything he had and gave it to those businessmen. He said, "I can have nothing, but I cannot have my customers harmed." His