合浦珠还 — “Things lost are recovered, or people who left have returned”

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the coastal areas of Hepu Commandery were rich in pearls. The pearls produced there were round, large, and pure in color, enjoying fame both domestically and internationally, earning them the name "Hepu Pearls." The local people relied on pearl fishing for a living, exchanging pearls with the neighboring Jiaozhi Commandery for grain.

The profits from pearl fishing were high, and some officials took the opportunity to engage in corruption and extortion, inventing various pretexts to exploit the pearl divers. To gain more illicit wealth, they disregarded the natural growth cycle of pearl oysters, constantly forcing the divers to over-harvest. As a result, the pearl oysters gradually migrated to the nearby Jiaozhi Commandery, and fewer and fewer could be found in Hepu.

Fishermen along the Hepu coast had always depended on pearl fishing and rarely cultivated rice. When pearls were abundant, incomes were high, and spending money on grain was not a concern. However, with the dwindling pearl production, incomes drastically decreased, leaving many fishermen without money to buy food, and quite a few starved to death.

After Emperor Shun of Han, Liu Bao, ascended the throne, he appointed a man named Meng Chang as the Prefect of Hepu. Upon arriving, Meng Chang quickly discovered the reason why the local fishermen were starving. He issued orders to eradicate abuses, abolish illegal regulations that allowed exploitation, and prohibited fishermen from over-fishing and reckless harvesting to protect the pearl oyster resources.

In less than a year, the pearl oysters multiplied again, and Hepu once more became a place abundant with pearls.