Each has its own distinctive features or strengths; each excels in its own way, like trees that remain green in winter and flowers that blossom beautifully in spring.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Story:
In the Southern Qi Dynasty, there was an upright official named Xin Pi, who held the post of Shangshu. He greatly disdained literature and once openly ridiculed the scholar Liu Ti, saying, 'The flowery language of you literati is like transient blossoms, a pleasure of the moment, not a mark of great talent. How can it compare to us, who are like thousand-foot pine trees, constantly enduring wind and frost without wilting easily!'
Liu Ti immediately countered, 'What if there are both cold-enduring trees and blooming spring flowers?'
Xin Pi had no choice but to acknowledge the point.