Young Chen Ping (陈平, ?–178 BCE), later a minister of Western Han dynasty, as being an exemplar of fairness in his everyday work. According to Sima Qian’s (司马迁, 145BCE – ?) famous work Historical Records – Prime Minister Chen’s Family (史记 – 陈丞相世家 ), one day, Chen Ping’s village held a ceremony to offer sacrifice to the Earth God. He was entrusted as the arbitrator to divide the meat offerings among attending villagers after the ceremony. As he divided the meat offerings in very even quantities, a village elder remarked that Chen was very impartial, to which he replied ‘Should I one day take rule of the land, I would rule it as impartially as I split the meat offerings.’

Related blog:

Misinterpretation of Chinese paintings: Chen Ping Dividing Meat

• Fig 1. woodblock print, “Antiquarian Playing Cards”, Chen Hongshou (1588 – 1652), drawn in 1651 and published in 1653, Wanggo H. C. Weng Collection, published in James Cahill, The Distant Mountains: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Dynasty, 1570 – 1644, New York: Weatherhill, 1982, p. 258

  Fig 2. covered jar, Kangxi (1662 – 1722), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 38, Hong Kong: The Commercial Press, 1999, plate 128