“The world saw men of prescience with far-reaching vision, and the reason for [these men] not showing deep loyalty by helping to correct the evils of government lay in the state’s excesses in proscribing contrary opinions. Often before upright words could even be uttered, the body had met death. Thoughtful people…would only listen and incline their ears, standing with one foot on the other, not daring to offer their services while keeping their mouths shut in silence. The three [leaders] lost the proper way while loyal officials offered no remonstrance and advisers no plans. With the realm in chaos and unworthy officials not reporting their troubles to their superiors, was this not a tragedy?”
Any guess as to when this was written? 1989? Democracy Wall? May 4th Movement? Last week? Nope…It was written by the Han dynasty poet and official Jia Yi (201-168 B.C.E) and is part of a larger essay called “The Faults of Qin” (過秦論) describing the sudden demise of the Qin dynasty in 207 B.C.E. Despite their age, Jia Yi’s words could have come from a Nanfang Zhoumo issue on corruption in China‘s media today. For that matter, they wouldn’t sound out of place in