Cui Zhu, an official during the Qi Dynasty, murdered Emperor Qi Zhuanggong in 548 B.C. Cui supported the former emperor's brother Chujiu as the new emperor, Qi Jinggong. After Qi Jinggong became the new emperor, he appointed Cui Zhu as prime minister. To cover up the truth, Cui Zhu ordered the court historian, who wrote down royal activities into historic record, to record the cause of Qi Zhuanggong's death as malaria. The historian sternly refused, in compliance with professional ethics and the tradition of recording history in a “straightforward and factual manner." He carved into the bamboo slip that Cui Zhu murdered the emperor on that specific day. (Paper had not yet been invented at that time, so characters were engraved on bamboo slips.) Cui Zhu was furious, and he killed the historian and destroyed the bamboo slip.
The historian's younger brother was filled with indignation after hearing of his older brother's death. According to law, he succeeded his older brother as court historian. He too recorded history according to the facts. Cui Zhu took advantage of his power and killed the new historian.
But the story does not end here. The court historian had two younger siblings. The youngest now succeeded his two brothers as the historian. This brother did not flinch at all, and followed his two brothers in recording the truth on the bamboo slip.
Despite Cui Zhu's powers as prime minister, he was frightened by the fact that all three brothers showed great courage in upholding justice. With the newly engraved bamboo slip in hand, Cui Zhu asked the youngest brother, "Don't you treasure your life? As long as you follow through with what I instructed you to write, you will not die like your two older brothers." The young man answered, "To record history according to the facts is the inherent responsibility of a historian. How can I treasure my life and not treasure historical fact!"
Facing such a righteous young man who was loyal to his responsibility, Cui Zhu became fearful. He returned the bamboo slip to the young historian to be preserved in the historical collection.
Afterword: Si Maqian (145-90 B.C.) was a historian during the Han Dynasty, and is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography. He deeply admired the three brothers' heroic and dauntless deeds of recording historical fact with the integrity of their lives. He wrote their story in his famous work, Records of the Grand Historian.
Read the original article in Chinese:
