一孔录子谓子产：有君子之道四焉：其行己也恭，其事上也敬，其养民也惠，其使民也义。The Master said of Zichan: He had four ways of the gentleman. In conducting himself he was respectful; in serving his superiors he was reverent; in nourishing the people he was kind; in employing the people he was just.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子评说子产：他身上有四样君子之道：待己谦逊，奉上谨慎，养民给人实惠，差使百姓合乎事理。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Read as Confucius praising Zichan point by point, showing Zichan was perfect.
注Key words in the commentary
“恭，谦逊也。敬，谨恪也。惠，爱利也” — gong is modesty, jing is carefulness, hui is loving benefit; “使民义，如都鄙有章，上下有服，田有封洫，庐井有伍之类” — employing the people justly means such things as capital and outlying districts having their rules, upper and lower having their garments, fields having boundaries and ditches, and households being grouped in fives.
家What other commentators say
Wu Yu: “数其事而责之者，其所善者多也……数其事而称之者，犹有所未至也……今或以一言盖一人，一事盖一时，皆非也” — when one lists someone's deeds to blame him, his good points are many; when one lists his deeds to praise him, there is still something he has not reached; now to sum up a person in one phrase, or an age in one event, is always wrong.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Praising point by point actually shows there is still somewhere he has not reached. Respectful to himself, reverent to superiors, kind to the people, just in employing them: each of the four has its own object. Judging a person by one phrase or one event is wrong. Today: don't judge a small shop open for thirty years by one bad review.
家Other commentaries
Our base text is Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries (above). Here are other commentaries side by side: for old commentaries, the first line of the sub-commentary with a link to the woodblock scan; for modern editions, one short quoted translation for comparison. The “compared with Zhu Xi” notes are written by Yikonglu, not quoted.
皇侃《论语义疏》Liang dynasty · 1750 Japanese woodblock edition · juan 三
“云子謂子產有君子之道四焉者，言子產有四德，並是君子之道也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | differs | fairly sure | 恭敬惠义的字训相同。钱不因列四美而着重未至之处，朱兼引吴氏谓列举其善亦见未尽，评价取向略异。 |
核Check every citation
Every commentary line quoted in the video: the original wording, who said it, and the page in the base edition. “Paraphrase” marks our summary, not the commentator's words. About this edition
| Quoted text | Source | Page |
|---|---|---|
| “子产，郑大夫公孙侨。恭，谦逊也。敬，谨恪也。惠，爱利也。使民义，如都鄙有章，上下有服，田有封洫，庐井有伍之类” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 68 |
| “数其事而责之者，其所善者多也，臧文仲不仁者三、不知者三是也。数其事而称之者，犹有所未至也，子产有君子之道四焉是也。今或以一言盖一人，一事盖一时，皆非也” | Wu Yu, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 69 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 行 | 其行己也恭 | xíng |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 公冶长第五 5.15 “Zichan had four ways of the gentleman”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/gong-ye-chang/15.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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