The Friendship of Wu and Guo

A Story by Feng Menglong

This story recounts an examples of friendship & loyalty in Chinese society. The story begins around 740 CE, the mid-point of the rule of Xuanzong of Tang, one of the most famous rulers in all of Chinese history.

Note: the plot is absurdly convoluted so the Sage will simplify the narrative.

The Plot

Guo Zhongxiang (Guo Z) was the nephew of the prime minister, Guo Zhen. He joined an army heading south to fight the newly formed state of Nanzhao on the southern border of Szechuan province. Early in the campaign, Guo Z received a letter from a man named Wu Bao-an, who said he came from the same town and would be grateful for a position in the army. Guo Z, despite knowing nothing about Wu Bao-an, got him a minor position in the supply train.

A month later, the Tang army was surrounded and defeated by the army of Nanzhao and Guo Z was captured. Guo Z wrote a letter to Wu Bao-an, telling him that his captors wanted 1,000 bolts of silk for his release.

Comment: Why did Guo Z send a letter to Wu instead of to his family, or his uncle, the Prime Minister? The claim is that Guo Z thought that Wu Bao-an would be in Chendu, much closer than Chang’an, the capital.

The letter reached Wu Bao-an and he - grateful for having been given his job in the supply train - immediately set out for Chang’an. Wu arrived in the capital only to discover the Prime Minister had died two months earlier and the family had left Chang’an to bury the minister in his home town.

Wu decided that the Guo’s family would be unable to raise the money to ransom Guo Z, so he would have to do it.

Comment: this very odd decision is never explained and makes no sense to the Sonoma Sage. Even though Prime Minister Guo is dead, his family is certainly rich enough to help ransom their nephew Guo.

Wu Bao-an spends the next ten years trying to raise the money to ransom Guo Z, neglecting his wife and his son, Tianyou. His poor wife, utterly destitute, finally sets out to find her husband and is only saved from death on the road by the kindness of the newly appointed governor of the south, Yang Anju. Governor Yang puts out word to locate Wu Bao-an and the man is found.

Wu tells the Governor that in ten years time, he has obtained 700 bolts of silk, but still needs more to ransom his friend (who he has never met) Guo Z. Governor Yang gives Wu 400 more bolts of silk and Wu sets about trying to obtain Guo Z’s release.

Since being captured, Guo Z has suffered greatly but he is still alive and when the ransom is paid, he is released and he finally meets Wu Bao-an at the border of Tang territory. Both men were praised by Governor Yang and the two men returned to the capital and each was given a new job working for the Tang government.

Ten years passed and Guo Z decided to visit Wu Bao-an. He discovered that both Wu and his wife had died at their post from a plague. Guo Z resolved to carry their bones back to their home town, with the aid of their son, Wu Tianyou. This was a long journey but Guo Z felt he had to honor his great benefactor. Later, after the funeral rites were completed, he wrote a memo to the Ministry in the capital, asking that Wu Tianyou take over his job based on the great obligation he felt towards Wu’s father.

The Ministry officials were impressed by the story and decided to give official positions to both men, in neighboring districts. They both did their jobs well and remained in touch for many more years.

Comments on the Story

In Feng’s time, the most famous example of friendship was the example of Yang Jiao’ai and Zuo Botao - a legend from the years before Confucious (around 700 BCE). Feng retold this story but it seems utterly ridiculous to the Sage.

Feng admits that some people have questioned the wisdom of Wu Bao’an in neglecting his duty to take care of his wife and child for ten years while he tried to raise the money to ransom Guo. Feng counters this by saying A gentleman can leave this world without regrets if he has found one truly trusting friend.

For the Chinese, the necessity of dying without regrets is of huge importance. It comes up in stories and conversation all the time. The Sage has been trying to understand what exactly it means to die without regrets, and hopes to write about this sometime in 2023. The Sage can say that when a Chinese man tells someone If I do [x] I can die without regrets - that seems to be the ultimate justification for the proposed action.

From a European perspective, the story seems unbelievable. No one would go to such efforts on a behalf of a man that he did not know. In European stories and history, friendships are always based on meeting people and getting to know them first.

The Chinese place such a value on responding to obligations and repaying debts of kindness (AKA guanxi) in a fashion which is incomprehensible to Europeans.

Is the story true?

Feng names a number of historic people, places, and events in this story. He claims there is a Temple of Double Loyalty in Lanzhou county dedicated to the memory of Gu and Wu. The story itself is so messy and there are so many extraneous details that it could be true.

However, the Sonoma Sage thinks there is far less generous way to interpret the events related by Feng.

When Wu Bao-an said he went north to Chang’an but could not deliver his news that Guo Z was still alive (because Prime Minister Guo had recently died) it seems entirely possible that he never went near the capital. After all, news that a nephew of the recently deceased prime minister had survived the terrible battle would have been seen as a favorable omen for the future. People would have hurried to bring Wu Bao’an to the Guo family - bearing the glad tidings. Yes, a thousand bolts of silk was worth a sizable amount of money, but likely less than 5,000 taels of silver and a modest sum for a Prime Minister’s family, they would spend that much on his burial alone. Further, even though the Prime Minister was dead, Wu never made any attempt to contact Guo Z’s parents or wife.

When Wu Bao’an told his wife he was going to go raise the money to pay for 1,000 bolts of silk, it is possible that he just wanted to leave her and his child… for reasons. The rational strategy to raise money for Guo Z’s ransom would have been to go to Guo Z’s parents and then visit the large and wealthy extended Guo family, soliciting donations for the cause. This was twenty years before the An Lushan’s rebellion and the wealthy of Tang society were fabulously rich. Instead, Wu Bao’an spent ten years away from his wife trying to make money as a merchant in Szechuan, nowhere near the Guo family in Hebei. This seems worse than ignorant, it seems deliberate.

Year later, when Wu Bao’an had a government post, he failed to keep in touch with Gou Z. After his death from illness, his son, Wu Tianyou, never wrote Gou Z to tell him his parents had died. This seems inexplicable, what reason could Wu Tianyou have for not writing a letter to Gou Z?

The Sage thinks Feng overlooked some obvious clues that Wu Bao’an’s behavior was not what he claimed.