Jie Zhitui

Jie Zhitui (centuryBC), also known as Jie Zitui, was an ancient aristocrat who served the Jin prince Chong'er during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. Chinese legend holds that when Chong'er finally ascended to power as the duke of Jin ("Duke Wen"), Jie either refused or was passed over for any reward, despite his great loyalty during the prince's times of hardship. Jie then retired to the forests of Jin in what is now central Shanxi with his mother. Supposedly, the duke so desired to repay Jie's years of loyalty that, when Jie declined to present himself at court, he ordered a forest fire to compel the recluse out of hiding. Instead, Jie and his mother were killed by the fire on . By the Han, Jie was being revered in central Shanxi as a Taoist immortal. He was annually commemorated with a ritual avoidance of fire that, despite many official bans, eventually became China's Cold Food and Qingming Festivals.

Names Jie Zhitui or Jiezhi Tui A single 2nd-century source has "Jiezi Sui" . Others state that the entire name Jiezi Tui was a posthumous title and that his real name had been . Giles considered Jie to be the same person as the "Jiezi Tui" who is mentioned as having been a minister in Chu at the age of 15.

In 655BC, Jie followed Chong'er into exile but he explains he has already criticized the other nobles so harshly that he could not possibly return and is resolved to withdraw into the wilderness. She accepts his decision and leaves with him. When the duke later realized his mistake, he sought out Jie but failed. He then set aside the produce of the fields of Mianshang to endow sacrifices in Jie's honor, "a memento ... of my neglect and a mark of distinction for the good man".

During the exile of Gongzi Chong'er, Jie Zhitui with made soup from flesh carved from his own body to feed his master (illustration from the Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms).

The annals compiled BC under Qin's chancellor Lü Buwei opine that Duke Chong'er never became a king because he proved less capable in success than he had been in adversity. Its account of Jie's fate—which omits mention of his mother—begins with the moral that "it is easy to hold onto others if you offer them honor and wealth[, b]ut it is difficult ... if you offer them poverty and debasement". Lü's scholars do not suggest that the duke overlooked Jie, however, but that he was simply "far from the vulgar crowd" and embarrassed by the behavior the duke's other close retainers. (Knoblock & al.) translate it as: (In fact, the four-character lines and rhyming dialogue in Jie's conversations with his mother suggests it draws on an earlier, now-lost poetic treatment of the life of Chong'er.) Sima specifies that Jie hid himself out of disgust at what he took as Hu Yan's insincere and overdramatic retirement on the journey from Qin to Jin, which Chong'er declined with similar overstatement. Sima interrupts Jie's story, though, to make excuses for the duke's tardiness in remembering and rewarding Jie. The beginning of Chong'er's reign was distracted by rioting caused by Duke Yu's partisans and Xi Rui, who even succeeded in burning down the ducal palace before being captured and put to death with Duke Renhao's assistance. When Jie is brought back to Chong'er's attention by the poem on the gates of the new palace, (Nienhauser & al.) translate it as: since his duty to his mother would overcome his pride. However, the fire raged three days and nights and Jie was burnt to death under a willow The lyrics of "The Dragon and Snake Song" or "The Song of the Dragon and the Snake" are included in the Qin Melodies. to endow sacrifices in his honor. and had a temple in Taiyuan and another at at his tomb on Lord Jie Ridge. The mountain temple supposedly also preserved various relics of Jie's, brought there by Chong'er. A grove of blackened trees on the mountain was also revered and, in the 6th century, supposed to be a place of miracles granted by the sage. later, a menu developed of items that were precooked but kept long enough that they could be eaten unheated during the festival.

From the 2nd to the 5th century, Zhou Ju , Shi Le, and Tuoba or Yuan Hong all attempted to ban this Cold Food Festival because of the suffering that it caused children and the elderly. but, after the incorporation of ancestral veneration and other aspects of the Double Third Festival under the Tang, the prohibition against fire and remembrance of Jie slowly diminished in importance as it became the modern Tomb-Sweeping Festival by the Qing. Today, as was true long in the past, observance of the fire taboo is mostly limited to the countryside around Jiexiu and in Shanxi, where there is still a small temple in his honor, the Pavilion of the Divine Jie . Some people hang willow beside their doors. Downtown Jiexiu also holds themed events and temple fairs during the old Cold Food Festival and some cold foods like qingtuan continue to be popular as seasonal staples.

Jie is usually considered the namesake of the town of Jiexiu , which was renamed from Pingchang under the Tang about AD618 to reflect the name its surrounding commandery—including MtMian—had borne since the Northern Wei (4th–6th century).

His legend—with adjustments—appears in Wang Mengji's 17th-century short story "Jie Zhitui Sets Fire to His Jealous Wife", which uses irony and absurdities to comment on feminine jealousy and the difficulty of matching results to intentions. The first contemporary dance troupe on Taiwan, the Cloud Gate Dance Theater, has dramatized the story of Jie Zhitui as Han Shih since 1974. Jie is depicted in "a white robe with a long, broad trail ... as the hero[,] dragging the weight of his principle, struggles to his self-redemption". He Bing portrayed "Jie Zitui" as the main character of the 2011 TV drama Song of Spring and Autumn.

Jie's intransigence has not always escaped criticism. The Legalist philosopher Han Fei listed him among the absurd advisors who "were all like hard gourds". Holzman acknowledges that Jie's behavior "earned him immortality as a loyal official who chose obscure retirement rather than sacrifice his principles", but still personally finds it "rather strange... and rather petulant". A 2015 article in the Shanghai Daily admits that, "judged in light of modern notion", Jie "would probably be suffering from personality disorders that lead to him to perceive and understand the world in ways that are 'inflexible'". Being "one of the most celebrated models of integrity of the old school", however, Jie is not faulted for his actions but listed as "a mentally sound person who live in an 'unhealthy society'" and did not "fit" it.