This month Sinorama introduces two stories on filial piety; the first took place during the Ming dynasty, the second during the Ching dynasty.
Kuo P'o was a famous scholar official who. tried to put into practice the principles he learned from the "Classics.'' One day he received a letter from his hometown; his family wanted to build a new house and was involved in a dispute with a neighbor as to where the wall dividing the two properties should be erected. They beseeched Kuo to submit their case with the proper authority. Kuo, in his reply, not only refused to speak in their behalf; he also gave them a written discourse about maintaining proper relations with neighbors. He also enclosed a poem intimating that sending a letter a great distance to squabble over a small piece of land was like making a mountain out of a molehill. Furthermore, he suggested that they give up their claim to the disputed piece of property. Kuo's family, upon receiving the letter, complied with his wishes. The neighbor, moved by Kuo's sense of propriety, also agreed to withdraw his claim. The result was that the new "open area" was large enough to construct a small lane. It was named "Love and Justice" lane in Kuo's honour.
During the Ching dynasty, the southeast coast of China was plagued with pirates, who not only plundered and set fire to ships, but also committed blackmail, extortion, and every other heinous crime known to mankind. One of the most infamous of these pirates was a scoundrel named Chen Pa. Chen and his cohorts captured and held for ransom one of the inhabitants of T'ungan County, a man named HsuCh'iao. His brother, Hsu Tze, immediately set out to raise the necessary funds to obtain his brother's release. When Hsu Tze arrived at the pirates hideout, he was told that his uncle was also being held captive. Hsu Tze found himself in a dilemma; he wasn't sure who he should save first--his younger brother or his uncle. Finally, Hsu decided to first free his uncle. Then he made a deal with the pirates allowing him time to raise the ransom money to save his brother. Unfortunately, the pirates broke their promise and killed his brother. Thereupon, Hsu Tzu recruited a military corps for the purpose of ridding the county of the "pirate nuisance." Coincidentally, the Imperial court had already dispatched an army unit to deal with this threat. The two units combined forces and routed the pirates. Hsu Tze avenged his brother's death by killing Chen Pa and helped his country by eliminating the pirate menace. As a result of his courageous deeds, he was first made "protector of the town," and later became the town prefect.
(Craig Scott Galper)
Stories of Filial Piety （11,.
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