一诺千金 One promise, a thousand gold. A promise of the highest worth. It goes back to a saying of Chu recorded by Sima Qian: “Better to get a hundred gold than one promise from Ji Bu.”
一言既出，驷马难追 Once a word is out, a team of four horses cannot catch it.
一言为定 One word settles it. A word once given is not changed or taken back.
Before he announced his new laws, the Qin reformer Shang Yang feared that the people would not believe him. He set up a pole three zhang tall at the south gate of the capital’s market and offered ten gold to anyone who moved it to the north gate.
People found this strange, and nobody moved it. He raised the reward to fifty. One man moved it and was paid fifty at once, “to show that there was no deceit.” Then the laws were issued. The story is in Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian, and it is known as 徙木立信, moving a pole to establish trust.
Zengzi’s wife was going to the market, and their son followed her, crying. She told him to go home and promised to kill the pig for him when she came back. When she returned, Zengzi was about to catch the pig. She stopped him. “I was only joking with the child.”
Zengzi answered: “A child is not someone to joke with. A child does not yet know anything. He learns from his parents and listens to what they teach. If you deceive him now, you teach him to deceive.” He cooked the pig. The Han Feizi tells the story under the line “When small trust is kept, great trust is established.”
Confucius said: “A person who is not trustworthy, I do not know how he can be of any use. A large cart without a yoke pin, a small cart without a collar pin, how can they move?” (Analects 2.22)
Asked what a state needs, Confucius named enough food, enough weapons and the trust of the people. If one had to go, he would give up the weapons first, then the food. “Since ancient times, all have died. Without trust, the people cannot stand.” (Analects 12.7)
Asked to rank the kinds of gentlemen, Confucius gave the lowest rank to the man who keeps every word and finishes every act. 言必信，行必果，硁硁然小人哉. “His words must be kept, his acts must be carried through. He is a stubborn little man, though he may still count as the next rank down.” (Analects 13.20)
Mencius said: “A great man’s words need not be kept, his acts need not be carried through. He goes only where righteousness lies.” (Mencius, Li Lou II)
Modern dictionaries give the first line a positive meaning: always keep one’s word and act with resolve.
Article 7 of China’s Civil Code says: 民事主体从事民事活动，应当遵循诚信原则，秉持诚实，恪守承诺. “Parties engaged in civil activities shall follow the principle of good faith, uphold honesty and keep their promises.” The National People’s Congress adopted the Civil Code on May 28, 2020.
In November 2012, the report to the 18th Party Congress summed up the Core Socialist Values in 24 characters, at three levels: the state, society and the citizen. For the citizen, it named patriotism, dedication to work, 诚信 and friendliness.
Dictionaries define 诚信 as the virtue of being sincere and keeping one’s word.
In July 2013, the Supreme People’s Court adopted rules for publishing a list of 失信被执行人, judgment debtors who have broken faith. These are people who are able to do what a court has ordered and do not. In everyday speech, they are called 老赖, deadbeats.
The court said that in cases from 2008 to 2012 where debtors had assets, more than 70 percent of them had evaded or resisted enforcement. By June 30, 2018, the courts had published 11.23 million entries. People on the list had been blocked from buying plane tickets 12.22 million times and high-speed train tickets 4.58 million times.
King Cheng of Zhou was playing with his younger brother, Shu Yu. He cut a paulownia leaf into the shape of a jade tablet, gave it to him and said: “With this I give you a fief.” The court historian Yi asked him to choose a day for the ceremony. “I was only joking,” said the king.
The historian answered: 天子无戏言. “The Son of Heaven does not jest. When he speaks, the historians record it, the rites complete it and music sings it.” So Shu Yu was given the state of Tang. (Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian)
On his first mission, traveling north, the Wu prince Ji Zha passed through the state of Xu. The Lord of Xu admired his sword but did not dare to say so. Ji Zha understood, but he was on a mission to the great states and did not give it. When he came back, the Lord of Xu had died. Ji Zha untied his sword and hung it on a tree at the tomb.
His attendant asked: “The Lord of Xu is dead. Who is it for?” Ji Zha answered: “Not so. In my heart I had already promised it to him. How could I betray my heart because he has died?” (Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian)