honor, keeping promises, trustworthiness

6 Consequences of Not Living Up to Your Promises

At some point in life, you have likely made a promise to yourself or made to others or come across a person or people who promised you something. Keeping promises makes you trustworthy and honorable, while not honoring them slowly erodes your self-belief and respect from other people. Understanding why living up to your promises ...

Nathan Machoka

Broken promises.

The Four Anchors Are Traditional Chinese Virtues

The Chinese proverb of the Four Anchors, also known as the Four Social Bonds (四維 sìwéi), represents the sense of propriety, justice, integrity, and honor (禮義廉恥 lǐ yì lián chǐ), which are the traditional Chinese virtues. lǐ (禮) means proper rite, ceremony, propriety, etiquette, courtesy, manners; yì (義) denotes righteousness, justice; lián (廉) signifies honesty, cleanness, incorruptible; chǐ (恥) means shame, a sense ...

Billy Shyu

A Chinese temple.

Accumulation of Virtue by Ancestors and the Prosperity of Future Generations

Do we actually inherit rewards for the goodness accumulated by our ancestors? Some religions believe that we do. Is there a tangible connection between the virtuous lives of our ancestors, their sacrifices, and the prosperity bestowed on later generations? Chinese society is very patriarchal, and they will consider the future of their male offspring in ...

Michael Segarty

Precious stones.

The Three Treasures of Life: Integrity, Wonder, and Self-discipline

An old saying goes: “Only by knowing shame can we have self-esteem.” Shame is not far from reproach. With a sense of guilt and remorse, you feel ashamed of yourself when you do something wrong. You feel upset when you fall short of your efforts and let your family and friends down, as well as ...

Emma Lu

A red and white water lily.

Transforming King Wen of Chu Into a Powerful Leader

Many stories were passed down from the Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty (770-476 B.C). One of the most famous stories was about Bian He offering a piece of precious jade to the King. After offering the jade unsuccessfully to the first two kings, the third, King Wen of Chu (689-677 B.C.) finally ...

Emma Lu

A silk painting of figures of a dragon and phoenix during the Warring States Period in the Hunan Provincial Museum.

The Wartime ‘Brothers’

On December 20, 1943, American pilot Lieutenant Charlie Brown was assigned to destroy an arsenal in Bremen, Germany. The bombing mission was successful, but a safe return was most difficult because, in the process of the bombing, the bomber was attacked by at least 15 enemy planes. The plane had lost its tail gun and ...

Helen London

A Flying Fortress.