ExclusiveTraditional Chinese Tales：No Pursuit of Vanity

No pursuit of vanity. Qi Jingtong, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, had a son when he was 56 years old and named him Qi Jiguang. The father truly loved his son. Besides teaching his son literature and martial arts, Qi Jingtong was very strict with Jiguang's conduct and ethics. When Qi Jiguang was 13 years old, he wore a new pair of exquisite silk shoes. He felt so happy that he couldn't help but walk in front of the court a few more times. His father saw this and called his son to the study room. He lectured his son seriously. Once one wears fine shoes, he must wish for fine clothes. Once one wears fine clothes, he must wish for fine food. If you pursue fine food and fine clothes at such a young age, you'll become greedy in the future. Once you grow up, you will go after fine clothes and fine food. If you become a military officer, you may even embezzle the soldier's food and money. If you continue on this path, it will be difficult for you to inherit your father's career. Later, although Qi Jingtong knew that the pair of silk shoes was a gift from his son's grandfather, Qi insisted on his son taking off the shoes and tearing them apart on the spot so that the young son would not develop a bad habit of pursuing extravagance starting in childhood. The dozens of huts of the Qi family were in a terrible shape due to aging. One year, Qi Jingtong hired several craftsmen to renovate them in order to have a formal place to receive court officials. Qi Jingtong asked the craftsmen to install four carved doors in the main hall and assigned Qi Jingguang to supervise the work. The craftsmen thought that Qi's family was a prestigious family and to install only four carved doors would appear a little stingy. So they suggested to Qi Jingguang privately, your family is a big general's family. Such a family must be rich. So you should install 12 carved doors inside and outside instead to match the big name of your family. Qi Jingguang thought it was a good idea and suggested it to his father. Qi Jingtong seriously lectured his son for pursuing vanity. He warned his son, if you pursue vanity when you are young, you will not be able to do great things when you grow up. Qi Jingguang accepted his father's criticism and had the craftsmen install four carved doors only. Qi Jingtong also taught Qi Jingguang that the purpose of studying literature and practicing martial arts was not to pursue personal fame or wealth, instead to make contributions to the country and people. Hence, one must learn to cultivate moral virtues such as loyalty, filial piety, and temperance. Qi Jingguang was taught by his father to happily live a simple and virtuous life while studying literature and practicing martial arts diligently. Eventually, Qi Jingguang became a famous general in history. The pursuit of vanity wears down one's will and ultimately leads to nowhere. The moral principles of Qi Jingtong are worth learning by today's people.