A man's fairy tale

Author: Li Yaping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Perhaps due to the existence of Qin Shi Huang, the Chinese have lost the innate grand humor and the show-like talent of a comedy master and investment master like Lu Buwei. This has tinted the history of the following two thousand years with a touch of black humor to some extent. The reality ended with Liu Bang's victory and Xiang Yu's utter defeat. In later generations, we could rarely find examples in our history where integrity and honesty triumphed over conspiracy and trickery. No one can say for sure whether this is a blessing or a curse for the Chinese and Chinese politics. Perhaps one day, when we see billionaires spend 360,000 yuan at a single meal, when we see the best land in the city being used to build luxurious mansions for the wealthy with painstakingly explained justifications, and when we wake up to the tidal wave of corruption where thousands of prefectural, provincial, and ministerial-level officials are unseated every year, we might be stunned to realize: Japan has left us far behind once again.