Examples of a few familiar stories of thrift and frugality in ancient China

1, there is a folk tale: once upon a time, in the central plains of the FuNiu mountain, lived a farmer called WuCheng, he was thrifty and hardworking all his life, life is carefree, very beautiful. Legend has it that before his death, he gave his two sons a plaque with the words "hardworking and thrifty" on it, and warned them, "If you want to be free from hunger for the rest of your life, you must follow these two words."

Later, when the two brothers divided the family, they sawed the tablet in half, the oldest got a share of the word "diligent" and the second got a share of the word "thrifty". The oldest put "diligence" word respectfully hanging high at home, every day "sunrise, day and rest", every year a good harvest. However, his wife is living a life of extravagance, the children often will be white bread eat two mouths and thrown away, over time, the family will not have a little food.

Since the second half of the plaque, the word "thrifty" has been placed in the center of the hall as an oracle, but the word "diligent" has been forgotten. He was negligent in farming and refused to cultivate the land carefully, so he did not harvest much food every year.

Despite the family's frugality,

it was not sustainable. This year, there was a severe drought, and the oldest two homes were already empty. They tore down the plaque in a hurry, and trampled the words "diligence" and "thrift" on the ground. At this time, a note suddenly flew into the house from the window, the two brothers quickly picked up - read, it reads: "only hard work, not thrifty, is like serving a bottomless bowl, can never be enough!"

"Frugality without diligence is like sitting on a mountain of food, and you're bound to suffer from poverty and starvation!" The two brothers suddenly realized that "diligence" "thrift" two words can not be separated, complementary, indispensable. After learning a lesson, they will be "hard work and thrift" four words posted on the door of their own home to remind themselves, caution their wives and children, physically, and since then the days have been better and better every day.

2. Ji Wenzi, who was born in a family of three ministers, was a nobleman of the state of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period and a famous diplomat, who served as an official for more than 30 years. He lived a frugal life, taking thrift as the foundation of his life, and asked his family to live a frugal life as well. He wore only simple and neat clothes, except for his court dress, and every time he went out, he rode in an extremely simple carriage.

Seeing that he was so frugal, a man named Zhongsun Qi advised Ji Wenzi, saying, "You are a highly respected minister, but I have heard that you don't allow your concubines to wear silk clothes at home, and you don't use grain to feed your horses.

You yourself don't pay attention to your appearance and dress, so don't you look too shabby and let people from other countries laugh at you? This is also detrimental to the decency of our country, and people will say what kind of life the upper minister of Lu is leading. Why don't you change your lifestyle? This is good for yourself and your country, so why not do it?

Ji Wenzi smiled lightly and said seriously to the man, "I would like to make my home more luxurious and elegant, but look at the people of our country, there are still many of them eating food so coarse that they can hardly swallow it, wearing worn-out clothes, and some of them are freezing and starving; how can I bear to think of all this to buy more possessions for myself? If the common people are coarse tea and shabby clothes.

If the people of the country are in a state of poverty, and I have to dress up my wife and concubines, and I have to keep my food and horses, then there is no conscience of being an official! Moreover, I have heard that the strength and glory of a nation can only be shown by the high and pure character of its subjects, and not by their possession of beautiful wives and concubines and fine steeds and horses.

In that case, how can I accept your advice? Guang's words made Zhongsun It look ashamed, and at the same time made him inwardly respect Ji Wenzi even more. After that, he followed Ji Wenzi's example and paid great attention to the simplicity of his life. His wives and concubines only wore clothes made of ordinary cloth, and the horses in his family were only fed with grain chaff and weeds.

3. In 1080 A.D., when he was demoted to Huangzhou, he was in dire straits. In order to tide over the difficult situation, he ordered a special set of planned expenditure method: divide all the income into 12 parts, one for each month.

Then he divided each portion into 30 smaller portions, and used only a small portion each day. He hung each small portion of the monthly money on the beams of the house, and every morning he picked off a packet to use, and was not allowed to exceed the balance. The rest of the money, he used another bamboo tube to save, in order to prepare for unexpected expenses.

Later, he was a senior official in the court, but still focus on thrift, never luxury. He ordered himself only one meal and one dish for each meal, and only two additional dishes for guests, not allowed to spread out, or else he refused to eat. Once, one of Su Dongpo's old friends reunited with him, invited him to dinner, he instructed his friend must not make a big fuss.

But when Su Dongpo went to his old friend's house for a banquet, he saw that the banquet was quite lavishly prepared, and he politely refused to be seated, and took his leave. After Su Dongpo left, his friend said with emotion: "When Dongpo was in trouble, he lived a frugal life. I didn't expect him to be so frugal even after he is in a high position now."

4, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there is a big official called Wu Yinzhi, his father died when he was a child, with his mother to live a hard life, and developed the habit of thrift and simplicity. After becoming an official, he still detested luxury and refused to move into the official residence prepared by the court, and for many years the whole family only lived in a few thatched rooms. After that, his daughter got married, people think he must be well organized, who knows the big day, the Wu family is still cold and quiet.

General Xie Shi's butler came to congratulate him and saw a servant walking out with a dog. The butler asked, "Your lady is getting married on this day, how is it that there is no sign of any preparations?" The servant frowned and said, "Don't mention it, my master is too frugal, the young lady is getting married this day, the master only ordered to prepare yesterday night.

I thought my master should break the bank this time, but my master told me to go to the market this morning and sell the dog, and use the money from the sale of the dog to buy things again. You say, a dog can sell how much money, I see the common people marrying their daughters also than my master's style ah!" The housekeeper exclaimed, "Everyone says that Lord Wu is one of the few clean officials, it seems that his name is truly true."

5, Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown of Fengyang, still circulating four dishes and a soup of song: "The emperor's treat, four dishes and a soup, radish leeks, really sweet aroma; small onions and bean curd, the benefits of the long, a clean, corrupt officials panic."

Zhu Yuanzhang to the Empress on her birthday, only carrots, leeks, two bowls of greens, small onions and tofu soup, feast for all the officials. And the covenant: in the future, no matter who set up a banquet, only four dishes and one soup, who violates, severely punished.