poor yet not losing one's righteousness
Poverty is not lost, idiom, Pinyin is Qi ó NGB ù sh ī y ì, meaning that although poor, but not lost etiquette. It's from Mencius with all his heart.
The origin of Idioms
"Mencius heart up" said: "so the poor scholars do not lose their righteousness, can not be separated from the road
Idiom usage
It means that people have backbone
poor yet not losing one's righteousness
have great ambition but little talent - zhì dà cái shū
It's easy to hide an open gun, but hard to defend a hidden one - míng qiāng yì duǒ,àn jiàn nán fáng
living as a recluse in one 's hometown - jiǎo jīn sī dì