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understanding. Wong Ching Wai has not yet grown old, but he
will very soon become worthless. I was born late, and therefore
did not witness the preservation of our Viceroy with sugar, but
those who are older than I, also appeared to have been too
insensitive to be aware of this. Later successive diplomatic
failures gradually brought this to light. After the birth of
our President and the rising of the Boxers, we appeared,
despite general chaos and disorder, to have recovered to
a certain extent from our state of numbness, and after May the
9th we have made further progress, for in one day every year, we and especially our children have been roused from this state.
Next year perhaps we may find it unnecessary to observe our
Humiliation Day but we shall have an opportunity to celebrate
our success. Mr. Chan has already made some reference to
Communism, and I find it necessary to tell you some strange diplomatic experiences. Do you know the condition of China before the Opium War, I am old and stupid, but I can relate
When I was a young child 50 or 60
some history to you. years ago, I held foreign devils in very low esteem; it appeared to me that they were more like monkeys than men. At
that time all Chinese despised foreigners. After the War of the Kap Ng year, 20 years later, China proved herself no better than a paper tiger, and it then appeared to me that the foreign devils were very noble; I even felt sorry that I had not had
a prominent nose and yellow hair, so that I could carry a
walking stick in my hand and be taken for a perfect foreign
devils Alas'. this was how my mind had been influenced.
You must know that during the regime of Kin Lung, our Chinese
treated Ministers of foreign countries no better than ordinary
individuals, and a marquis who came to China, had even to
perform the ceremony of thrice kneeling and nine times knocking his head. He was unwilling to do this, and he
pleaded
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