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Chapter XXVIII.

ON NATIONAL ILLS.

(a) The Literati: No fault it is of the scholars
that the worthiest among them find no employment in
this state, but rather a shame to the authorities. A great
sage was Confucius, but none of the feudal lords saw fit
to use him. When, however, he had occupied a comparatively
insignificant position in Lu but for three
months,[95] he needed no orders to have things carried
out and no prohibitions to stop malpractices. His
beneficial influence was like unto the downpour of the
seasonal rain causing the efflorescence of all things. How
much more could he have done had he occupied an exalted
position at the central court of the Empire and had been
able to diffuse abroad the sonance of a sage Emperor's
virtue and the balsam of his instructions? But you,
Lord High Minister, for more than ten years you have
been occupying an eminent position holding the reins of
government over the Empire[96] ; yet you never have
diffused any achievement or moral excellence over the
world, but have been studiously belaboring the people.
While the people are impoverished and in dire distress

your own family has amassed a fortune estimated by
tens of thousands of gold. Of such conduct was the
Superior Man ashamed and such ones are criticized in
the poem `They are felling the hickories.'[97] In former
days when Shang Yang was Chancellor of Ch'in he
relegated etiquette and courtesy to the encouragement of
selfishness and greed, honored `head hunting'[98] [by his
soldiers] and concentrated on conquest and aggression.
He made no effort to propagate virtue among the people,
but imposed severe laws and statutes on the country so
that morals become more corrupt daily and the people
increasingly complained. So King Hui was forced to
boil and embrine his body in order to placate the Empire.
At that time he also had no opportunity left to make his
disquisitions on national affairs. Now you, our present
authorities, resent the fact that the Confucianists, poor
and insignificant, talk too much, but we[99] also have our
worries occasioned by the many annoyances you create
with your wealth and undue pre-eminence.

Woefully[100] the Lord Grand Secretary looked at the
Literati and said nothing.

(b) The Cancellarius[101] : Now, now! Why can you
not in discussing the administrative affairs of the nation
and in discoursing on the policy of the authorities,
expostulate with reason point by point, why wax vehement
to such an extent? The Lord Grand Secretary
considers it difficult to abolish the salt and iron monopoly
not for the sake of his private fortune but out of consideration
for the national expenditure and the needs of the

borderland. You also, Doctors, in contending reprovingly
against these state monopolies, are not working for
yourselves, but in earnest wish to return to the practices
of old and to entrench firmly altruism and justice. Both
sides to this debate have their preferences but as circumstances
change with the changing time, how could it be
possible to stick fast to the ancient methods and deny the
validity of modern ways? Furthermore, according to
the Hsiao Ya, in criticising others, one must offer
something constructive in exchange. If you, doctors,
could devise however, means to give peace to the country
or to subdue the distant lands, so that there would be no
calamity from raids and attacks at the frontier then all
the dues and taxes would be abolished for your sake, to
say nothing of the salt and iron monopoly and the equable
marketing system. According to your most esteemed
precepts, a Confucian should treasure a retiring and
complaisant disposition and treat all people in the proper
way. Now in your vigorous debates and accusations, you
have shown not the eloquence of Ch'ih and Ts'ê but
demonstrated only your crude and violent manners, unheard
of here. If the Lord Grand Secretary has gone
too far, you doctors have also done so. It is only just
that you should apologize to the Lord Grand Secretary.

(c) The Worthies and the Literati all arose from
their mats and said: Benighted provincials that we
are, who have seldom crossed the precincts of this great
court, we realize that our wild and uncouth speeches may
indeed find no favor here even unto offending the
authorities. Yet, so it seems to us, as a medicinal tonic
though bitter to the palate still is of great benefit to
the patient, so words of loyalty, though offensive to the
ear may also be found beneficial to mend one's morals.
A great blessing is to be able to hear straightforward
denial, it cheapens one to hear nothing but adulatory
praise. As swift winds are raging through the forest
so flattering words encompass the rich and powerful.
After hearing daily at this court controlling myriads of
li of territory nothing but servile aye-aye's you hear now
the straightforward nay-nay's of honest scholars. `Tis
indeed a great opportunity for you, Lord High Minister,
to receive a well-needed physic and the benefit of stone
and needle.[102]

(d) The Lord Grand Secretary's countenance
relaxed and with relief he turned his back[103] to the Literati
and said addressing the Worthies: Difficult indeed it
is to debate with men who, having seen little, offer
arguments as devious as the crooked lanes in which they
live. These Literati maintain a death grip upon vaporous
talk; there is no hope they will ever change their views.
We have already examined the precepts which held good
for antiquity, but in viewing the problems of the modern
world, we must rely on what our eyes have seen and what
our ears have heard. With the changing generations,
situations change. At the time of Emperors Wên and
Ching and at the beginning of the Chien Yüan period,
the people were simple and all followed the fundamental
occupation [agriculture], while the officers were honest
and self-esteeming. With abundance and superfluity
everywhere, the population swelled and families became
rich. Now, without any change in the administration or
in education, why is it that society is becoming increasingly
frivolous and morals are on the decline? The
officers have little sense of honesty, the people, little sense
of shame. In spite of the punishments imposed on the
wicked, evil-doings do not cease. As it is currently said,
the provincial Confucianists are inferior to the metropolitan
scholars. The Literati, all coming from Shantung,
seldom participate in important discussions. You, my
lords, have been at the capital long enough to desire that
administrative problems be intelligently analyzed and the
pro and con intelligently discussed. It is but natural.

(e) The Worthies: The navel of the world is Shantung,
the battlegound of distinguished scholars! When
Emperor Kao [Tsu] took his dragon flight and soared up
like a phoenix betwixt Sung and Ch'u, who but the
youth of Shantung, men like Hsiao, Ts'o, Fan, Li, Têng
and Kuan came to his assistance? Though it was indeed
an age different from antiquity yet in it were found men
that could be compared with none but Hung Yao and
T'ai T'ien. From among the western Ch'iang came Yü,
Wên was born among the I of the North, but in sagely
virtue they towered above the world; in ability equal to a
myriad men, they took upon their shoulders responsibilities

no mortal could support. There are men, on the
other hand, who come and go through the metropolis'
teeming squares no one knows how many times every
morn, yet finish their days as nothing more than stable
boys. We humbly grant that not being born or raised
in the capital, shaggy in talent and scant of wit, we are
not qualified to discuss affairs of great importance, but
we would like yet to report the tales told by the elders of
our village communities. It is not so long ago, it seems,
that the common people were clad in warm and
comfortable clothes with no ostentatiousness and were
perfectly satisfied in making use of crude and simple
materials and instruments. These clothes sufficed to
cover their bodies; these implements, to facilitate their
work. A nag sufficed to serve their steps, a wagon to
transport them. They had enough wine to make their
meetings merry, but none for dissipation; sufficient music
to set their hearts aright, but none for revelry. One
heard of no wild banquetting in the home, of no pleasure-seeking
excursions abroad. The itinerant went with
their packs and bales; the sedentary hoed and weeded.
Sparing in their needs, they abounded in wealth, cultivating
the fundamental, the people were prosperous. Paying
the last honors to their dead, they were sorrowful, never
with pomp; in nourishing their living, meet, never
extravagant. High officials were upright and not
extortionate, those in authority tolerant, never harsh, so
that the black-haired people found peace within
themselves and all the officers security in their positions.
Such was the state of affairs at the beginning of the
Chien Yüan era when culture was exalted, moral
excellence cultivated and the Empire was enjoying a well
earned peace. Then, evil ministers one after another set
their wily arts to work at the destruction of perfect
government, monopolizing mountains and seas abroad
and promoting various profiteering schemes at the court.
Yang K'o [-shêng] instituted the `Income Reports,' Chiang
Ch'ung regulated dress, the ta-fu Chang amended laws,
and Tu Chou took charge of prisons. There were rigidly
enforced regulations concerning penalties and redemptions
drawn in minute detail and in incalculable numbers.
The gangs of Hsia Lan carried out arbitrary arrests and
Wan Wên-shu's posses, summary executions. Murderous
officers-of-the-law sprang up in great number to the utter
dismay and confusion of honest people. At that time no
one among the populace felt his head secure on his
neck and even among the rich and influential none could
guarantee the safety of his family. Then the sage
Emperor awakened to the realization of what was going
on! Thereupon Ch'iang and his crowd suffered the
extreme penalty and the murderous brigands were
executed in order to pare off the resentment of those
condemned to death and stop the odium of the Empire.
Since then, everywhere among the settled people peace
has been restored, yet the damage that had been done
would take several generations to be repaired and the
wounds and sores of the nations are not yet healed to the
present day. Thus, there are still officials who practice
the same methods of the murderous brigands and
powerful stewards with hearts of revenous despoilers.
High ministers, having exclusive control of great power,
smash and break as they see fit, strong rascals form
cliques and abuse everyone, the rich and prominent
indulge in luxury and extravagance while the poor and
humble take to rapine and murder.

Women's handiwork, so hard in making, is easily
destroyed, carts and utensils, so difficult to complete, are
easily broken. A cart lasts less than two years, implements
are broken before the expiration of a twelvemonth.
But a cart costs one thousand weights of grain, a suit
of clothes, ten bushels. The common people use fancy
goblets, painted tables, tabourets and mats, and well
seamed and doubled garments. The serving wenches
sport colored silk dresses and satin sandals, the plebeian
has hulled rice and meat on his fare. Fashions in every
village, factions in every association, spirited races on
country highways and football games in beggars' alleys.
Too few are those who grasp the plough and clutch the
shuttle and personally engage in farming and weaving
and too numerous those who squeeze their waists and
studiously paint their faces with white powder and black
pencil. Paupers play the part of opulence and the
destitute boast extravagantly, with gay coats without
lining, silk breeches over hempcloth underwear, elaborate
funeral cortèges for the dead, while the living are not
properly fed, patrimonies are wasted to provide sumptuous
funerals, dowries by the cartloads for marrying
daughters. The rich strive to surpass one another, the
poor, to catch up with the rich, the former depleting
their substance, the latter weighing (borrowed) goods.
This is why the people become desperate and the need
increases year by year. Poor, they have little shame;

destitute, they have scarcely any honesty: this is the
explanation to corruption not diminishing in spite of the
punishment of wrong doers and the execution of the
wicked. Thus it is that these manifestations of terrific
nervousness in the country produce the ills of insufficiency
[described] before.[104]