Fan Zhongyan was demoted several times for speaking out. His friend Mei Yaochen wrote a rhapsody on a crow to urge him to say less. Fan answered, probably in 1036, with a rhapsody of his own (灵乌赋). His crow knows the risk: “If it warns, disaster turns back on itself. If it does not warn, disaster ripens for others.”
The crow decides: “Better to cry out and die than to live in silence.” (宁鸣而死，不默而生)