PURPLE FORBIDDEN CITY 77 



Vultures and kites tear the bowels of men with their beaks, 

 And fiy to hang them on the branches of dead trees. 

 Soldiers lying in mud, in grass, in undergrowth ; 

 Helpless the General — Yes, incapable before this ! 

 We have learnt that soldiers are evil tools, 



But wise men have not accomplished the ending of strife, and 

 still employ them. 



(Translated by F. Ayscough, Rendering, Any Lowell). 



Impractical, Utopian, as this system seems to us who 

 have lived in a different atmosphere, is it not well to reflect 

 that whereas, our forms have been ephemeral in the extreme, 

 this form, this conception of social relationships, has proved 

 as enduring as is its most popular emblem of longevity 

 the bamboo? China, ruled on the principles of 

 accord and harmonv, has existed, in the realm of authentic 

 history since about the year 2000 B.C. Germany the most 

 perfect example of Rule by Force which the world has seen 

 has lasted — how long? 



I cannot do better, in closing this paper, than to throw 

 on the screen a picture of the simple and appropriate monu- 

 ment which marks the resting place of "The Great and 

 Perfect One; The Holy One beyond Comparison; 1 The 

 King whose Virtue Diffuses Transforming Doctrines;" the 

 man whose ideals still inspire the people of "The Hundred 

 Surnames." Lionel Giles writes of him: 



Throughout the anarchy of this terrible period, the light 

 kindled by Confucius burned steadily and prepared men's minds 

 for better things. His ideal of government was not forgotten, 

 his sayings were treasured like gold in the minds of the people. 

 Above all, his own example shone like a glorious beacon, darting 

 its rays through the night of misery and oppression and civil 

 strife which in his lifetime he had striven so earnestly to remove. 

 And so, it came about that his belief in the political value of 

 personal goodness, was in some sort justified after all ; for the 

 great and inspiriting pattern which he sought in vain among the 

 princes of his time was to be afforded, in the end, by no other 

 than himself — the throneless king," who is for ever enshrined in 

 the hearts of his countrymen. It is absurd, then, to speak of 

 his life as a failure. Measured by results— the most incalculably 

 great and far-reaching consequences which followed tardily but 

 irresistibly after he was gone — his life was one of the most 

 successful ever lived by man. Three others and only three, are 

 comparable to it in world-wide influence : Gautama's self-sacrific- 

 ing sojourn among men, the stormy career of the Arab Prophet, 

 and the" sinless years "which found their close on Golgotha." 



1 JC ^ M 1 51 a 5 Inscription on Confucius tomb-stone. The 

 Wen Hsuan Wang, was the title given during the T'ang Dynasty, the 

 Chih Sheng was added by the Sung Dynasty and the Ta Cheng by the 

 Yuan. 



