Who can move this stick? (立木為信)
The Warring States Period in China.
The king of Qin Kingdom hopes to make the
kingdom stronger.
He hired a person named (Wei Yang) to be
responsible for promoting a series of system reforms.
Before (Wei Yang) started to promote
reforms, he did a strange thing.
He placed a slender wooden stick in front
of the gate south of the capital.
An announcement was posted next to the
stick, which stated that if someone could move the stick to the gate in the
north of the capital, he would get 10 gold coins.
This task is too simple and the bonus is so
high. So all people think this must be a scam.
The next day, because no one was going to
move the stick, (Wei Yang) raised the bonus.
Five days later, the bonus has reached 50
gold coins.
At noon on this day, a man suddenly
approached the stick.
He picked up the stick and walked to the
north gate.
When many people saw it, they followed him
to the north gate.
(Wei Yang) Waiting at the gate in the
north, he saw the man come over and put the stick in front of him.
(Wei Yang) immediately gave him 50 gold
coins and said to him, you have completed the task specified by the king, so I
will now give you the prize money on behalf of the king.
The people watching around all around
exclaimed.
After this incident, (Wei Yang) began to
promote reform.
This idiom is used to describe a person who
has a lot of credibility.
Dear friend, what kind of inspiration or
ideas do you have after listening to this story?
In your opinion, why did (Wei Yang) do this
strange thing before pushing forward the reform? How does this matter affect (Wei
Yang)'s success in reforming later?
I hope this story will give you some new
gains.
立木為信
中國的戰國時代。
秦王國的國王希望能夠使王國更強大。
他便聘請一個名字叫做(衛鞅)的人來負責推動一系列的制度改革。
在(衛鞅)開始推動改革之前，他做了一個奇怪的事情。
他將一根細長的木棍，放在首都南邊的城門前。
木棍旁邊貼了一張公告，公告上面寫著，若有人能將這根木棍搬到首都北邊的城門前，他就可以得到10個金幣。
這個任務實在太簡單、獎金又那麼高。所以所有的百姓都覺得這一定是一個騙局。
第二天，因為沒有人去搬這木棍，所以(衛鞅)就提高獎金。
五天後，獎金已經高達50個金幣。
這一天的中午，突然有一個人走向了這根木棍。
他把這一塊木棍拿起來，然後走向北邊的城門口。
許多百姓看見後，都尾隨在他後面一起走向北邊的城門口。
(衛鞅)在北邊城門口等候，他看見這個人走過來把這跟木棍放在他的前面後。
(衛鞅)立刻拿出了50個金幣給他並且對他說，你完成了國王指定的任務，所以我現在代表國王把獎金發給你。
周圍圍觀的民眾都發出了驚嘆聲。
這件事之後，(商鞅)才開始推動改革。
這句成語被用來形容一個人很有信用，說到做到。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你認為(衛鞅)為何推動改革前、而要先做這件奇怪的事情呢?這件事情對(衛鞅)後來可以成功改革有怎樣的影響嗎?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。