📖 Meaning
To handle matters with fairness and integrity, refusing to bend to pressure or show favoritism. It describes a person who upholds righteousness and principle in all situations, regardless of who is involved. This idiom is a variant of the more common form 守正不挠.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is a variant of 守正不挠, a phrase rooted in classical Chinese moral philosophy emphasizing the importance of maintaining justice and rectitude. The character 桡 (ráo) carries the sense of bending or yielding, interchangeable here with 挠 in older texts. It reflects the Confucian ideal that an upright official or gentleman should never compromise fairness for personal gain or powerful connections. The phrase appears in historical accounts praising officials who administered law impartially despite political pressure.
💡 Example Usage
他一生为官守正不桡，从不因权贵而枉法。
Throughout his career as an official, he upheld justice without bending, never twisting the law for the powerful.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 守正不桡
- Pinyin: shǒu zhèng bù ráo
- Literal Translation: guard, upright, not, yield
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4