A Single Character Worth a Thousand in Gold
The Lüshi Chunqiu is a great book from the end of the Warring States period. It covers heaven and earth, nature, and the art of ruling a country. Xianyang was the capital of Qin at that time. A thousand pieces of gold was a huge reward — Lü Buwei offered it to show how confident he was in his book.
Near the end of the Warring States period, the state of Qin had a chancellor named Lü Buwei. Lü Buwei was a learned man, and many scholars served him as his guests.
Lü Buwei felt that the books of his time were not complete enough. He wanted to gather everyone's wisdom and write one great book that covered everything.
He invited more than three thousand guests to help write the book. They shared the work and wrote for a long time. At last they finished a great book called the Lüshi Chunqiu.
When the book was done, Lü Buwei was very pleased. He felt it was complete, with nothing missing. But he also wanted to know what people outside would think of it.
So he had the book hung up at the city gate of Xianyang, the capital, with a notice beside it: whoever can add a single character to the book, or take one away, will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold.
When the news spread, many people came to the city gate to read. Some scholars read for days, wanting to change something but not knowing where to begin.
One man tried adding a character, but when he read it again, he felt it was better without it. Another wanted to remove a character, but felt the book would be less complete.
In the end, after waiting a long time, no one won the thousand pieces of gold. Everyone admired the book: it was written so well that not a single character could be changed.
From that time on, the saying "a single character worth a thousand in gold" has been passed down. It is used to describe writing that is excellent and of great value.
The Lüshi Chunqiu is a great book from the end of the Warring States period. It covers heaven and earth, nature, and the art of ruling a country. Xianyang was the capital of Qin at that time. A thousand pieces of gold was a huge reward — Lü Buwei offered it to show how confident he was in his book.
