A Short Story about Chopsticks

About 3,000 years ago, during the Shang Dynasty in China, there was an emperor called Zhou. He was the  last emperor of the Shang.

Zhou became king when he was about 20 years old. He was the king for 29 years. In the first 20 years, he was a good emperor. He worked hard, and his ministers were kind and nice. The empire was very strong. People were rich and happy. But the last 9 years were the opposite!

Do you know when the Shang Dynasty began to decline? Or, what event destroyed the Dynasty?

It was a pair of chopsticks! The Shang Dynasy was damaged by a pair of chopstisks!

Can you believe it?

One day, an important minister, whose name was Bi Gan, suddenly found that the emperor Zhou change to using the Ivory chopsticks. He knew the emperor was used to using Bamboo chopsticks. He had used Bamboo chopsticks for nearly 40 years. Why did he change to using the Ivory?

Bi Gan’s heart was shaken! He felt something would happen.

Bi Gan, who was very clever with high IQ, talked to another minster who was also well known,
" Did you notice our boss changed to using the Ivory chopsticks? If he uses the Ivory chopsticks, can he eat nomal foods? He must eat the only delicious foods like abalone, lobster, bear paw, and sea cucumber, etc. If he begins to eat this kind of food, won't  he start to drink? If  he drinks, is it possible to have no singing and dancing? Is it possible that there will be no beautiful girls and toadies around him? If these kinds of people surround our king, who will manage our country? How unfortunate for our country! "

It happened just as Bi Gan said. A sprite of a fox, who turned into a pretty girl named Daji, became one of Zhou’s wifes. Not long after she became the Queen.

She did the worst things.

She always gave bad advices to Zhou and always offered new ideas to kill people and ministers.

Zhou drank and played with Daji every day. He did not take care of what happened outside the palace. In the end, people rebelled. He killed himself by fire. The Shang Dynasty was finished.

This short story tells us that tiny things may be lead to great disasters.