To refuse to compromise one's integrity or principles for meager financial gain or worldly benefits; to remain incorruptible and principled despite poverty or hardship.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Antonym:
Story:
Tao Yuanming, also known as Tao Qian, an early Chinese pastoral poet, once took up the post of county magistrate in Pengze in 405 AD to support his family.
One winter, an arrogant inspector (Dūyóu) sent by the prefect arrived and summoned Tao Yuanming. Tao, who always disdained officialdom and sycophancy, was about to go when a clerk stopped him, insisting he must dress in official attire and bow to the inspector.
Tao Yuanming, finding this a great humiliation for a paltry salary, sighed and famously declared, "I cannot bend my back for five bushels of rice for a petty commoner!" He then immediately sealed his official seal, wrote a letter of resignation, and left his post after only eighty-odd days, choosing to uphold his personal dignity over a meager income.