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Curzon
Author

Curzon

Date

November 8th, 2005

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Call me Guang Rong Kong

Via Simon, from Milton J. Madison: you can now instantly recieve a Chinese name. I follow the instructions and punch in George Curzon, and the computer decides to call me Guang Rong Kong ! (Or Kong Guang Rong, if you put the family name first.)

That sounds far less noble, but as the (real) Lord George N. Curzon noted himself at the turn of the 20th century:

We must remember that the ways of Orientals are not our ways, nor their thoughts our thoughts. Often when we think them backward and stupid, they think us meddlesome and absurd. The loom of time moves slowly with them, and they care not for high pressure and the roaring of the wheels. Our system may be good for us; but it is neither equally, not altogether good for them. Satan found it better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven; and the normal Asiatic would sooner be misgoverned by Asiatics than well governed by Europeans.

Comments to this entry

davesgonechina
November 8, 2005
11:59 pm
I find the best way to view that quote is to replace the words Oriental and Asiatic with "American". And switch "slowly" to "quickly" and remove the "not" before "high pressure". "We" can still be "Europeans". Still works, don't it?
Curzon
November 9, 2005
2:34 am
We must remember that the ways of Americans are not our ways, nor their thoughts our thoughts. Often when we think them backward and stupid, they think us meddlesome and absurd. The loom of time moves quickly with them, and they care for high pressure and the roaring of the wheels. Our system may be good for us; but it is neither equally, not altogether good for them. Satan found it better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven; and the normal American would sooner be misgoverned by Americans than well governed by Europeans.
Dan
November 9, 2005
3:09 am
Beautiful!
Skippy-san
November 9, 2005
3:25 am
Subsitute Arab for Oriental and I think the quote is perfect! Arabs truly do not think the way normal people do and plus they have the added millstone of Islam around their collective necks.........
davesgonechina
November 9, 2005
3:27 am
bingo.
Chirol
November 9, 2005
7:26 am
Hmm, something about good government and Europe doesn't work.

See: France