Three Character Classic 50 Inspirational Stories

1. "The Three Moves of Mencius' Mother"

The Three Character Classic says, "In the past, Mencius' mother chose her neighbor. The son does not learn, section of the loom." This is the story of Mencius' mother's three moves.

Mengzi, a great scholar during the Warring States period, first lived next to a cemetery and used to play the game of handling funerals with his young friends, learning how adults kneel and cry. Mencius' mother felt that that place was not suitable for her child to live, so she took Mencius and moved to live next to the marketplace. When they arrived at the marketplace, Mencius and the neighboring children learned how merchants did business. He bowed to welcome the customers and bargained with them. Meng's mother still felt that this was not good, so she moved again to the neighborhood of the school. Only then did Mencius begin to enjoy reading and become orderly and polite. At this point, Meng's mother said with satisfaction, "This is the right place for a child to live!"

On one occasion, when Mencius was lazy and didn't study, Mencius' mother scratched a piece of cloth being woven in front of him and said, "Stopping halfway through learning, what's the difference between that and this piece of cloth that breaks off halfway through weaving, and what's the use of it!" After hearing this, Mencius was never lazy again.

2. "Huang Xiang Warmed His Mat"

The story of "Xiang was nine years old when he was able to warm his mat" tells of a child named Huang Xiang during the Han Dynasty. When he was nine years old, he was already very sensible. Whenever the hot summer comes, he will build a mosquito net for his parents, make the pillow and mat cool and refreshing, drive away the mosquitoes, so that his parents can have a good night's sleep; to the cold winter, he will first drill the well quilt, the quilt warm, so that his parents can sleep warmly. Huang Xiang's story spread to the capital city, the capital city people say: "The world is unrivaled, Jiangxia Huang Xiang."

3, "The Bag of Fireflies Reflecting the Snow"

"Like the bag of fireflies, like reflecting the snow, although the family is poor, the learning does not stop." These are two stories about diligent study.

Jin Dynasty, a child named Che Yin, his family is poor, no money to buy lamp oil, but also want to read at night, so in the summer night, grab a handful of fireflies in a white cloth bag inside, rely on the weak light to read; reflecting the snow is the Jin Dynasty, Sun Kang, in the winter night, the use of snow reflected light to read books. These two people are famous in history as good learners.

4, "Meng mother breaks the machine"

Meng mother's surname is Equuschick, mother of Mengzi. The mother of Mengzi, she was the mother of a young man who died in a narrow house and was taught to live in it. When Mencius was a little older, he returned to the school, and his mother was weaving, and asked him, "Where did he learn to go?" The answer is: "If you also." The mother was furious because she broke the machine with a knife, saying, "The son of the abolition of learning, as if I broke the machine." Mencius was afraid, and studied diligently at all times, and then became a saint.

5. "Mother and Son Together"

During the period of the Three Kingdoms, the king of Wei was arrested while conquering the usurper Sima Zhao, who wanted the king to surrender and threatened to bring in his mother. The king said, "If you are loyal to your country, you will die without complaint." Sima Zhao was enraged and decided to execute Wang's mother and son. Before the execution, Wang bitterly told his mother that he had dragged her down. But his mother smiled and said she was proud to have such a son. Wang chose loyalty when he was in conflict with filial piety, which was actually true filial piety. He has been admired by people for thousands of years.

6. "Sun Jing Hangs His Hair"

The man who hung his head over a beam was Sun Jing of the Jin Dynasty. Sun Jing was a native of Xindu (present-day Jizhou, Hebei Province) in the Han Dynasty. He was a good student, and later entered Luoyang, where he settled his mother in a hut near the Imperial College and then enrolled in school. He used to pick willow as a simple, and used it to write scriptures, which is an allusion to the historical story of "editing willow". It is recorded in Taiping Yuban that Sun Jing was "a good student, never resting in the morning and evening", and he was known as "Mr. Closed Door" because he closed the door for many years to study poetry and books. He read poetry and books, often all night long, sleepy eyelids can not open, get a rope to tie up the hair hanging on the beams. When he dozed off and hung his head, he woke up by pulling his hair and continued to read.

7, "Su Qin stabbing"

In ancient times, there was a scholar named Su Qin. Su Qin's family was so poor since childhood that he could not even afford to read. In order to make a living and study, he had to sell his hair from time to time or help others to work as a short-term laborer, and then he left his hometown and went to the state of Qi to learn from a teacher.

After a year of study, Su Qin thought he had learned all the skills of his teacher and was eager to say goodbye to him and his classmates and go out into the world. But after a year, not only did he get nothing, but he also ran out of money. He could only set out on the road home in his tattered clothes and straw shoes.

By the time he arrived home, Su Qin was as thin as a bone, his body was torn and dirty, and his face was covered with dust. When his wife saw him like this, she shook her head and sighed, and continued to weave; his sister-in-law saw him like this and turned her head away, unwilling to cook; his parents, brothers, and sister not only ignored him, but also laughed at him secretly!

Su Qin was very sad to see his family treating him like this. He closed the door of his room, unwilling to see people, and made a deep introspection on himself: "The wife ignored her husband, the sister-in-law did not recognize her brother-in-law, and the parents did not recognize their son, all because I was not good enough to study well."

He recognized his own shortcomings, and re-energized his spirit, moved out all the books, reading furiously. He read every day until late at night, sometimes unknowingly fell asleep on the bookcase. When he woke up the next day, he regretted it, but there was nothing he could do to keep himself from falling asleep. One day, reading is really sleepy, involuntarily fell on the bookcase, but he woke up with a start - his arm was stabbed by something. At first glance, he saw that there was an awl on the bookcase, and he immediately came up with a way to stop dozing off: the awl stabbed his thigh! From then on, whenever he was about to doze off, he would stab himself in the thigh with the awl, so that he would suddenly "wake up in pain". As a result, his thighs were often drenched in blood, and his eyes could not bear to bet on it.

Family members saw this, some intolerance, advised him, "You must succeed in the determination and mood we can understand, but do not have to be so abusive ah!"

Su Qin replied, "If you don't, you will forget the shame of the past!"

After a "bloody" year, Su Qin had become very learned. He went out into the world again, and this time he was finally successful and knowledgeable, and launched his own brilliant political career.