The court historian, when compiling Xie Tiao's biography, summarized his life: "Born into dark times, he stepped into the trap of calamity first." This means Xie Tiao was born at the wrong time and was framed to death before he could fully realize his ambitions.
Xie Tiao was highly talented. He studied diligently in his youth and wrote excellent essays. He excelled at composing five-character poems, praised by contemporaries as "no such fine poetry in two hundred years." He was also skilled in cursive script, his characters as round and beautiful as pearls.
During the reign of Emperor Ming of the Southern Qi Dynasty, Xie Tiao served as an advisor to the Prince of Jin'an and Administrator of Nanhai Commandery, overseeing affairs in Southern Xu Province. He reported his father-in-law, Wang Jingze, for plotting rebellion, demonstrating a spirit of placing loyalty to the state above family ties. The emperor greatly appreciated this and promoted him to a high-ranking position in the Ministry of Personnel. Xie Tiao repeatedly begged the emperor not to accept the post, leading court officials to suspect he was seeking fame. Although he submitted another resignation letter, the emperor refused. Xie Tiao's act of sacrificing family for loyalty was not for personal gain but out of devotion to the throne, yet it sparked suspicion among ministers and enraged his wife. His wife, grieving her father's death, often hid a knife in her robes, seeking revenge, forcing Xie Tiao to avoid returning home to face her.
But worse was yet to come. The reigning emperor was morally bankrupt, with real power in the hands of the powerful minister Jiang Hu and his brother Jiang Si, who plotted to install a new emperor. They secretly confided this plan to the imperial advisor Xie Tiao. Meanwhile, Xiao Yaoguang sent his trusted lieutenant Liu Feng to privately sound out Xie Tiao, hoping to win him over as an ally. Xie Tiao, feeling bound by gratitude for the late Emperor Gaozong's kindness and unwilling to betray the court, firmly refused. He told Liu Feng, "I cannot agree to this."
Soon, Yao Guang continued to win over Xie Tiao, appointing him as acting commandant of the palace guards. Frightened, Xie Tiao reported Jiang You and others' conspiracy to Zuo Xingsheng, but Zuo Xingsheng, terrified himself, could not decide. When Jiang You heard this, he immediately told Yao Guang. Enraged, Yao Guang devised a plan, falsely claiming the emperor summoned Xie Tiao and making him wait. He then joined Xu Xiaosi, Jiang You, and Liu Xuan in a joint memorial to the emperor, impeaching Xie Tiao as an insatiably greedy man who used accusations for personal gain, colluded with insiders and outsiders to spread rumors and win public favor, and even secretly communicated with enemy states to sell out his country for glory—all capital offenses. The confused emperor ordered Xie Tiao imprisoned. Soon after, Xie Tiao died in prison at age thirty-six.
The idiom "Insatiable Ravine" describes someone whose greed is too great to satisfy.
Source: *Book of Southern Qi*, "Biography of Xie Tiao"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "溪壑无厌" came to describe how someone whose greed is too great to satisfy.