Oriental wisdom

British parliamentary procedure, insurance systems, steam power, and public education were all described in considerable detail in Chinese texts of the 1830s. Yet despite this, major misconceptions endured. Many still believed British land warfare capabilities were weak, and that tea embargoes would collapse the British economy. Yan Sizong declared: Once the barbarians fail to obtain tea and rhubarb, they will fall into illness… Their whole nation can hardly survive.

Britain through Chinese Eyes: Anglo-Chinese Relations before the First Opium War Sebastian Yang


When Britain launched its offensive in 1840, the Qing was caught intellectually and militarily unprepared. And, if anyone wants to take some current message from the above, it will be pretty obvious that, following a long period of success, a civilisation will take time to perceive the existence and nature of a new challenge. It will not investigate. It will not prepare. It will be taken by surprise. Speaking personally, I would find a renewal of conflict between Britain and China very painful. The best way to avoid this, I suggest, would be for British observers of China to stop behaving like the Chinese elites before 1840, and to start seeing things as they really are. 

Ibid.

According to a certain person, a number of years ago Matsuguma Kyoan told this story: In the practice of medicine there is a differentiation of treatment according to the Yin and Yang of men and women. There is also a difference in pulse. In the last fifty years, however, men's pulse has become the same as women's.

Noticing this, in the treatment of eye disease I applied women's treatment to men and found it suitable. When I observed the application of men's treatment to men, there was no result. Thus I knew that men's spirit had weakened and that they had become the same as women, and the end of the world had come. Since I witnessed this with certainty, I kept it a secret.

When looking at the men of today with this in mind, those who could be thought to have a woman's pulse are many indeed, and those who seem like real men few. Because of this, if one were to make a little effort, he would be able to take the upper hand quite easily. That there are few men who are able to cut well in beheadings is further proof that men's courage has waned. And when one comes to speak of kaishaku, it has become an age of men who are prudent and clever at making excuses.

From The Hagakure moral code, " The Way of The Samurai"