Gongyi Xiu Loves Fish
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
An anecdote from the Records of the Grand Historian about Gongyi Xiu, a minister of Lu who loved fish yet refused all gifts of it. His reasoning was that accepting gifts would lead him to bend the law, which would cost him his office and with it the salary that bought fish. The core proposition is that refusing a small short-term gain can be the rational way to protect a much larger long-term interest. The key qualification is that self-restraint needs supporting rules.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Interest inventory: name the long-term interest that a short-term temptation would endanger. - Temptation list: write down the specific offers that would threaten it. - Structural guard: add disclosure and recusal rules so restraint does not depend on willpower.
Anchor fast decisions
The gift creates an obligation that compromises the judgment the office depends on, so accepting it converts a personal benefit into a threat to the position itself. Once the position is lost, the stream of benefits it funded also disappears. Refusing the gift therefore preserves the much larger flow of value that the position generates, which makes restraint the self-interested choice rather than a sacrifice.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AC%E5%84%80%E4%BC%91verified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS