The whole poem:
千锤万凿出深山，
烈火焚烧若等闲。
粉身碎骨浑不怕，
要留清白在人间。 'A thousand hammers and ten thousand chisels bring it out of the deep mountains; it takes the burning fire as nothing. Ground to powder, it has no fear at all; it wants to leave its pure whiteness in the world.' It is said to be a poem of
于谦's youth, and it reads like a forecast of his life: he saved Beijing in 1449 and was executed on false charges in 1457.
