Filial piety towards parents and respect for elders have always been considered traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. Historically, there were figures like Xu Xun, a Taoist priest from the Jin Dynasty who achieved immortality through filial devotion, and Wang Xiang from the Jin Dynasty, who lay on ice to catch carp for his mother. Later, the story of Wang Xiang lying on ice to catch carp evolved into the idiom 'Dong Pu Yu Jing', serving as a classic example of filial piety.

Wang Xiang, courtesy name Xiuzheng, from Langya, was an extremely filial person. He lost his birth mother early in life, and his stepmother, Lady Zhu, treated him unkindly. She repeatedly spoke ill of him to his father, causing him to lose his father's affection. He was assigned daily tasks of cleaning the cowshed. When his parents fell ill, he nursed them without ever taking off his clothes, showing no resentment.

Once, his stepmother became gravely ill and required carp as medicine. It was a bitterly cold winter, and the river was frozen solid. Wang Xiang, despite the severe cold, went to the river, took off his clothes, and lay on the ice to find carp. Suddenly, the ice cracked open on its own, and a pair of carp leaped out of the water. Wang Xiang took the fish and returned home. His profound filial devotion was thus rewarded.

The villagers were astonished, believing that his sincere filial piety had moved Heaven.