Daily Chinese Proverb: Unselfish

"To be fair and unselfish"

大公无私

dà gōng wú sī - da4 gong1 wu2 si1

The story about this quote is;

In Chinese Imperial Court in about 476 About a man named Qi Huangyang, who was commissioned by the king to select the best person for a certain job.

Qi Huangyang selected his enemy for the job. The king was confused by the selection, but Qi Huangyang explained that he was asked to find the best person for the job, not necessarily someone that he liked.

Later, Confucius commented on how unselfish and impartial Qi Huangyang was by saying "Da Gong Wu Si" which if you look it up in a Chinese dictionary, is generally translated as "Unselfish" or "Just and Fair".


Photo Source:
Flickr:alfredng