I would rather be a piece of jade than a tile. This is an idiom. It means that it is better to make jade and be broken than to make earthenware and keep it. It is a metaphor that one would rather sacrifice for a just cause than lose one's integrity and live in an ignoble way.

1. Idiom: It is better to have broken jade than to make it intact

nìng wéi yù suì, bù wéi wǎ quán

I would rather make jade and be broken into pieces than to make it. The earthen vessel is preserved. It is a metaphor that one would rather die for a just cause than live in humiliation.

Synonyms: I would rather die than give in, I would rather break the jade than destroy it all

Antonyms: Suffer and live in peace

2. Idioms and allusions

Tang·Li Baiyao's "Book of Northern Qi: Biography of Yuan Jing'an": "A real man would rather have a jade broken into pieces than a whole tile."

In 550 AD, Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei Dynasty was forced to give up his throne to Prime Minister Gao Yang and was poisoned to death. Gao Yang also killed his son and all relatives to eradicate the evil. Later, he threatened to kill his distant clan. Yuan Jinghao said, "A real man would rather be a piece of jade than a piece of brick." He would rather be beheaded than change his surname to Gao. Yuan Jing'an reported on it and was killed by Gao Yang.

Extended information:

1. Gao Yang, the prime minister of the Northern Dynasty and the Eastern Wei Dynasty, forced Emperor Xiaojing to abdicate, became the emperor himself, and established the Northern Qi Dynasty. Gao Yang was ruthless and in order to avoid any further trouble, he killed Emperor Xiaojing and his three sons in 551 AD. But after doing something bad, he felt very scared.

One day, a solar eclipse appeared in the sky, and he was worried that this was an ominous sign. So, he asked Yuan Shao, a member of the Yuan clan, why Wang Mang usurped the Liu family's world at the end of the Western Han Dynasty and why Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu was able to regain the world.

Yuan Shao replied that it was because Wang Mang did not eradicate the roots and kill all the members of the Liu clan (Wenxuan asked Shao: "Why did Guangwu of the Han Dynasty revive?" Shao said: "To kill all the Liu clan." ). Gao Yang believed it to be true, so he killed all the close relatives of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, including the children.

2. Gao Yang's cruel behavior frightened the distant clans of the Eastern Wei clan and worried that they themselves would be killed soon, so they got together to discuss countermeasures. Some people advocate changing the surname to Gao instead of Yuan. The person who came up with the idea was a county magistrate named Yuan Jing'an. His cousin Yuan Jinghao flatly rejected this suggestion.

He said that the method of changing the surname is unacceptable in any case. He believed that a man would rather be broken into pieces as a jade article than be preserved as a tile. He would rather die nobly than live in humiliation. Later, Yuan Jinghao was executed for informing Yuan Jing'an. But Gao Yang also died of illness three months later. Eighteen years later, the Northern Qi Dynasty was declared destroyed.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Better to have broken jade than complete tiles