This term means suffering injustice in life can spur one to create great works. It

originated from the "Preface by the Grand Historian to Records of the Historian."

After Sima Qian, an official in the Western Han Dynasty, suffered the unjust

punishment of castration, his indignation spurred him to write the great

work, Records of the Historian. In the book he gave expression to his thoughts,

feelings, and aspirations, which made the book a classic for later generations.

The expression "indignation spurs one to write great works" was used to explain

one of the motivations and reasons for creating masterpieces. It points to the

fact that injustice suffered by an author often turns out to be the source of

inspiration for him to write a literary masterpiece. It later led to similar terms

like "Where there is injustice there will be an expression of indignation" and

"Frustration inspires poets to write fine poems."