nìng wéi yù suì

bù wéi wa quán

Literal Meaning: to be broken jade rather than complete tile

Metaphorical Meaning: Die with honor rather than survive with dishonor

In 550 AD, Gao Yang, Chief General of the Eastern Wei Dynasty of the North Dynasties (386 – 581 AD), forced the king of the Eastern Wei Dynasty to abdicate his crown. Then Gao Yang founded the Northern Qi Dynasty. A year later Gao Yang poisoned the previous king and his three sons to death.

One day, an eclipse happened. Gao Yang considered it inauspicious and worried that his crown would one day be taken by the others. So he asked one of his men: “Wang Mang once took the reign of the country away from the emperors of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). But the he was defeated by the offspring of the previous emperor. Why?”

The man said: “My lord! Wang Mang should be blamed for his failure because he didn’t annihilate all the relatives of the Han Dynasty’s emperor.”

Upon hearing that, Gao Yang immediately ordered to kill all the relatives of the king. 25 families or 700 people got killed. Even the infants could not survive.

The news spread all over the country and all the people surnamed Yuan (the surname of the previous king) were frightened. They got together to think of the solutions. A county magistrate named Yuan Jingan said: “The only way to keep us safe is to make Gao Yang allow us to change our surnames to Gao.” However, his cousin Yuan Jinghao strongly opposed this idea. He said: “How can we keep our lives by changing our surnames and forgetting our ancestors. Man should be broken jade rather than complete tile. I’d rather die than change my surname.”