📖 Meaning
A metaphor for picking up lost valuables and returning them to their rightful owner rather than keeping them. It describes honesty and integrity, refusing to take what does not belong to you.
📜 Origin Story
According to legend, Pei Du, who later became a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, visited Xiangshan Temple in his youth and found three precious belts that a woman had dropped. The belts had been borrowed to ransom her father, who was imprisoned for a crime. Pei Du waited at the temple and returned the belts to her. The story is recorded in the Song dynasty work 'Zhitian Lu' by Ding Yonghui.
💡 Example Usage
他拾带重还的品德赢得了众人的敬佩。
His integrity in returning lost property won everyone's admiration.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 拾带重还
- Pinyin: shí dài zhòng huán
- Literal Translation: pick up, belt, again, return
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4