Military Service in Chinese / Japanese...

盡忠報國 is a proverb that is the tattoo worn on the back of Yue Fei, a famous Chinese warrior who lived until 1142 A.D.

The tattoo can be translated as “Serve the country with the utmost loyalty.” More literally, it means “[The] Ultimate Loyalty [is too] Duty [of] Country.”

Legend has it that this tattoo once saved his life when he was accused of treason.

The first two characters have come to create a word that means “serve the country faithfully” or “die for the country.” Note: It's more a willingness to die for one's country than the actual act of dying.

The last two characters have come to mean “Dedicate oneself to the service of one's country.”

Both of these words are probably only in the Chinese lexicon because of this famous tattoo.

If you break it down, character-by-character, here is what you get:
1. To the utmost, to the limit of something, the ultimate.
2. Loyalty or duty (a sense of duty to one's master, lord, country, or job).
3. Report, recompense, give back to (in this case, you are giving yourself to your country as payback).
4. Country, state, nation, kingdom.

More about the famous warrior and army general, Yue Fei

海軍 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja word for “Navy.” 海軍 is not country-specific, so it is the title for “naval service” from any country with a navy.

These two characters literally mean “sea military.”

A nice scroll for any sailor who likes Asian characters and has pride in their service.

克己奉公 is a Chinese proverb that is often used to express how one should act as a government official. Most of us wish our public officials would hold themselves to higher standards. I wish I could send this scroll, along with the meaning to every member of Congress, and the President (or if I was from the UK, all the members of Parliament, and the PM)

This can also mean: “Place Strict Standards on Oneself in Public Service.”
The story behind this ancient Chinese idiom:
Cai Zun was born in China a little over 2000 years ago. In 24 AD, he joined an uprising led by Liu Xiu, who later became the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Later, the new emperor put Cai Zun in charge of the military court. Cai Zun exercised his power in strict accordance with military law, regardless of the offender's rank or background. He even ordered the execution of one of the emperor's close servants after the servant committed a serious crime.

Cai Zun led a simple life but put great demands on himself to do all things honorably. The emperor rewarded him for his honest character and honorable nature by promoting him to the rank of General and granting him the title of Marquis.

Whenever Cai Zun would receive an award, he would give credit to his men and share the reward with them.
Cai Zun was always praised by historians who found many examples of his selfless acts that served the public interest.
Sometime long ago in history, people began to refer to Cai Zun as “ke ji feng gong.”

See Also:  Unselfish | Selflessness | Altruism