Deceiver: Official cannot be a merchant, Merchant cannot deceive

Author: Wang Qingping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: Officials cannot be merchants, and merchants cannot deceive. It is not that deceivers are clever, but that those deceived are numb and unresponsive. Rulers put on a show as if it were real, while those deceived delude themselves. A new official's first three tasks in office—what to set fire to first? This is a life story that ties one's future, fate, and chastity to a carefully crafted (deception). Absurdity is the form of the legend, and reality is its essence. Absurdity and reality are united and represent a higher realm. Legends did not exist in the first place. Legends are born either because of the cruelty and indifference of reality or because of the vast disparity between ideals and reality. Tragic is the plight of those who go with the flow.