The word
小人, xiǎorén, literally means "small person." In the oldest texts it meant the common people, those without rank. Under Confucian ethics it came to mean smallness of character: someone short-sighted, focused on immediate advantage, bending to whatever suits them. In Cambios we say "the petty person," without gender. Older translations often say "the inferior man."
Where it appears
Usually beside the noble person, to draw the contrast:
- In The Fall: "The noble person gains a carriage; the petty person's hut is stripped."
- In Renewal: "The noble person changes like the leopard; the petty person changes face." One changes within; the other only on the surface.
Elsewhere it's a warning about whom to put in charge. In The Army and After the End: "Do not employ the petty person."
How to read it
It isn't an insult or a permanent label. Everyone has petty moments and noble ones. When the petty person shows up in your reading, it may point to someone around you, or to an attitude of your own worth keeping an eye on. The same event brings good fortune and misfortune depending on where you stand in it.