One of the tales in the Yuan dynasty work 24 Paragons of Filial Piety records that in ancient times a man named Guo Ju, who was too poor to keep his mother properly fed, proposed to his wife that they kill their three-year-old son-since he was consuming a share of the old lady's food. This they duly did, digging a pit and burying the boy alive.
元代郭巨敬所編的《二十四孝》記載，漢代郭巨家境貧寒，一日，郭巨對其妻曰：貧乏不足以供養母親大人，而兒子還要分吃母食，何不埋掉兒子少張嘴。於是夫婦兩人挖好坑，親手將自己三歲的幼兒活埋。