I had returned to China looking for my old country. I found an even older and more decrepit one. It called itself new and belittled everything old, such as courtesy, culture, civilization. No one under forty said, “Please” or “Thank you” They just pushed and shoved. Revolutionary class struggles do not lead to reciprocal love, that’s for sure. Things have really fallen apart.
–Julia Ching, The Butterfly Healing: A Life between East and West
What pity! Such a pity! This exquisitely refined culture is teetering on the brink of extinction and can never be revived. Exactly as the scriptures state, “Everything follows the law of Dharma, like the fleeting shadow of a dream, like a drop of dew, like a flash of lightning.” Yet though my body declines daily with age, my older years still have been a very happy time for me. No one can turn back the tides of history, so people today will never have the good fortune to behold the rare treasures of ancient Chinese culture. But fortunately for me, when I was young, my love for China ran very deeply, and I immersed my whole heart and soul in her, so that even today, whenever I wish, I can still roam and enjoy her charms in my dreams. What happiness could compare with this?
–John Blofeld, My Journey in Mystic China: Old Pu’s Travel Diary —The Memoirs of an Englishman in China
