What is being benevolent and righteous? To sacrifice life for the truth and for righteousness.
Song Jiang and Liu Huangshu both weren’t the most talented people; however, they finally reached exceptional achievements because they were benevolent to others and did righteous things. The stories in Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms may not be true, but they are great representations of how much ancient Chinese value benevolence and righteousness.
In the Chinese culture, piety ranks on top of all virtues. It might be difficult for some people to serve the country and at the same time take care of their aging parents. However, when it comes to treating friends, benevolence and righteousness are beyond everything.
The government always promotes benevolence while normal people value righteousness. For some reason, in China the pursuit of righteousness was always related to the pursuit of political power so it was not favored by the government.
