必恭必敬 — “To be extremely deferential and respectful”

King You of Zhou, Ji Gongnie, was the last monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty. He was incompetent and tyrannical, leading to a corrupt government. In 779 BC, the state of Bao presented a beautiful woman named Baosi. King You doted on her greatly. Baosi, however, was not fond of smiling. King You tried music, dance, and delicious food, but nothing could make her laugh.

Someone suggested lighting the alarm beacon towers to summon the feudal lords' armies, tricking them, and making Baosi smile. King You gladly agreed. He took Baosi to a temporary palace for amusement. That night, he ordered the beacon fires to be lit. When the feudal lords saw the beacon smoke, they mistakenly believed the capital was under attack by bandits and rushed with their troops to rescue it. Upon their arrival, they saw King You drinking and enjoying himself. King You sent someone to tell them, "There are no bandits; you have troubled yourselves for nothing!" The lords, feeling deceived, came in haste and left in haste. Baosi, seeing this spectacle, couldn't help but burst into laughter, and King You was also very pleased.

Baosi later gave birth to a son named Bofu. King You deposed Queen Shen and made Baosi his queen; he also deposed Crown Prince Yijiu, son of Queen Shen, and made Bofu the new crown prince. Deposed, Yijiu lived with his maternal grandfather, Marquis Shen.

Filled with worry for his own fate and the future of the state, he was deeply pained and wrote a poem titled "Xiaobian" to express his feelings. The third stanza of the poem says: "Seeing the mulberry and catalpa trees by the house, one must be utterly respectful and reverent (必恭敬止). I respect my father, I yearn for my mother. Who is not born of their parents' flesh and blood? Heaven gave me birth, but where can I find my good days?"

Because King You was unjust, the feudal lords gradually rebelled. In 771 BC, Yijiu's maternal grandfather, Marquis Shen, allied with the Quanrong (Dog-Rong) army to attack Haojing. King You ordered the beacon fires to be lit, but the lords, having been deceived before, sent no rescue troops. The Quanrong army captured Haojing, killed King You, and abducted Baosi.

The phrase "必恭敬止" later evolved into "必恭必敬", and is also sometimes written as "毕恭毕敬".