| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: artificial flowers, followed by little boys and girls as gaily
dressed as themselves. Here they find all kinds of toys, curios,
and articles of general use, from a top to a broom, from bits of
jade or other precious stones, to a snuff bottle hollowed out of
a solid quartz crystal, or a market basket or a dust-pan made of
reeds.
Peking being the city of the court, and the headquarters of many
of the greatest officials, is the receptacle of the finest
products of the oldest and greatest non-Christian people the
world has ever known. China easily leads the world in the making
of porcelain, the best of which has always gone to Peking for use
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: The last royal projectors with whom the world
has been troubled, were Charles of Sweden and the
Czar of Muscovy. Charles, if any judgment may be
formed of his designs by his measures and his
inquiries, had purposed first to dethrone the Czar,
then to lead his army through pathless deserts into
China, thence to make his way by the sword through
the whole circuit of Asia, and by the conquest of
Turkey to unite Sweden with his new dominions:
but this mighty project was crushed at Pultowa;
and Charles has since been considered as a madman
|
