During the Western Jin Dynasty, Grand Commandant Jia Chong, a former minister of Cao Wei who became a founding hero of the Jin regime after participating in the murder of Emperor Cao Mao and supporting the Sima clan's rise to power, was known for his ruthless ambition.
On the third day of the third lunar month, the people of Luoyang flocked to the banks of the Luo River for a spring outing, with nobles and imperial relatives joining the throng, their carriages and silks creating a dazzling spectacle. The powerful Grand Commandant Jia Chong arrived with the grandest procession of all—guards in front, female musicians behind—drawing envious glances from the crowd.
Jia Chong looked around with smug satisfaction. Suddenly, he spotted a small boat moored by the Luo River, with medicinal herbs drying on deck and a man sitting upright nearby, eyes half-closed as if utterly oblivious to the bustling scene around him.
Intrigued, Jia Chong stepped down from his carriage and approached the riverbank to ask the man's name. After a long pause, the man leisurely gave his name: Xia Tong, from Kuaiji Yongxing (present-day Xiaoshan, Zhejiang), a reclusive scholar who despised worldly affairs and valued personal integrity, having come to the capital to buy medicine for his gravely ill mother.
Jia Chong asked if his hometown had such customs, and Xia Tong replied disdainfully, "The people there are upright and kind, not greedy for vanity, with noble virtues that carry on the legacy of the sage Yu." Jia Chong, astonished, then asked, "You live by the sea, so you must be skilled at boating and swimming!"
"Of course." Xia Tong replied, packed up his herbs, and steered the boat straight toward the river's heart. The small skiff leaped and bounded through whitecaps, startling waves so fierce that fish were flung into the air and landed in the cabin. The high officials on the shore watched, dumbfounded.
Jia Chong asked him, "Can you sing the folk songs of your hometown?"
Xia Tong then sang three songs from the Wu and Yue regions, praising the sage-king Yu, the filial daughter Cao E, and the righteous warrior Wu Zixu. His voice soared with passion, stirring the spirit; then dipped into sorrowful melodies, moving listeners to tears; and finally rose with tragic intensity, leaving everyone breathless with awe.
Jia Chong, even more astonished, felt that Xia Tong was no ordinary man, so he personally boarded the boat and declared, "I wish to recommend you for an official post." Unexpectedly, upon hearing the word "official," Xia Tong grew displeased and refused to speak another word.
Jia Chong, seeing Xia Tong so unmoved, decided to conquer him with power, rank, and temptation. He ordered his men to display their might—on the riverbank, Jia Chong's honor guard paraded with majestic splendor, luxurious chariots racing back and forth, while Xia Tong's boat was crowded with seductive women.
But Xia Tong remained completely unmoved, his expression stern and indifferent. Jia Chong remarked to the crowd, "This lad from Wu and Yue truly has a heart of wood and stone!"
With that, the crowd dispersed, each going off to seek their own pleasures, and soon the extraordinary man Xia Tong was forgotten by them all.
Later, people used the idiom "Wooden Man, Stone Heart" to describe someone with unwavering will, immune to temptation and unmoved.
Source: *Book of Jin*, "Biography of Xia Tong"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "木人石心" came to describe how someone with unwavering will, immune to temptation and unmoved.