Perfectly Fair and Impartial

Chi Huang-yang lived during the Spring and Autumn Period. When the king asked him who he thought would be a suitable magistrate for Nan-yang Country, Chi Huang-yang answered, "Shie Hu would definitely do a very good job." The king was very surprised at this answer, and asked him, "Isn't Shie Hu your enemy? How come you're suggesting that he do the job?" Chi Huang-yang replied, "You only asked me who would make a suitable magistrate for Nan-yang Country; you didn't ask me whether or not Shie Hu was my enemy!" So the king sent Shie Hu to be the magistrate of Nan-yang Country, and as expected, he did many good things for the people three.

When Confucius heard about this, he praised Chi Huang-yang highly. When recommending a person for a job, Chi Huang-yang considered only that person's ability. Even if a person was his enemy, he would still make known that person's good qualities. Chi Huang-yang was a perfectly fair and impartial person.

大公無私

春秋時，晉平公有一次問祁黃羊說：
“南陽縣缺個縣長，你看，應該派誰去當比較合適呢？”
祁黃羊毫不遲疑地回答說：
“叫解狐去，最合適了。他一定能夠勝任的！”
平公驚奇地又問他：
“解狐不是你的仇人嗎？你為什麼還要推薦他呢！”
祁黃羊說：
“你只問我什麼人能夠勝任，誰最合適；你並沒有問我解狐是不是我的仇人呀！”
於是，平公就派解狐到南陽縣去上任了。解狐到任後。替那裡的人辦了不少好事，大家都稱頌他。

過了一些日子，平公又問祁黃羊說：
“現在朝廷裡缺少一個法官。你看，誰能勝任這個職位呢？”
祁黃羊說：“祁午能夠勝任的。”
平公又奇怪起來了，問道：
“祁午不是你的兒子嗎？你怎麼推薦你的兒子，不怕別人講閑話嗎？”
祁黃羊說：
“你只問我誰可以勝任，所以我推薦了他；你並沒問我祁午是不是我的兒子呀！”
平公就派了祁午去做法官。祁午當上了法官，替人們辦了許多好事，很受人們的歡迎與愛戴。

孔子聽到這兩件事，十分稱讚祁黃羊。孔子說：
“祁黃羊說得太好了！他推薦人，完全是拿才能做標準，不因為他是自己的仇人，心存偏見，便不推薦他；也不因為他是自己的兒子，怕人議論，便不推薦。像黃祁羊這樣的人，才夠得上說“大公無私”啦！”