In ancient China, taking an oath was a solemn and sacred act — an invocation made before Heaven, Earth, and the Divine. It was a declaration of one’s resolve, offered with the understanding that higher beings were witnessing one’s words and deeds, and would reward virtue while holding wrongdoing accountable. To underscore the seriousness of such commitments, people often held a twig while swearing an oath. Upon completion, the twig would be snapped in two. This simple yet powerful gesture symbolized the weight of their promise: if they were to break their oath, they would be as easily and irrevocably broken as the twig itself.
Fear of being surpassed
There is a story recorded in The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties and The Rise of the Tang Dynasty about Qin Qiong and his cousin Luo Cheng. The two exchanged their family’s most closely guarded martial arts — the “Luo Family Spear” and the “Qin Family Mace” — and swore to one another that they would conceal nothing. Qin Qiong declared: “If I hide even the slightest detail, I shall vomit blood and die!” Luo Cheng likewise swore: “If I conceal even the smallest part, I shall surely die pierced by a hail of ten thousand arrows!”
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