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151

it is an excellent thing for democracy to gloat over the corpse of empire and know for itself that empire is but clay.  So [[strikethrough]] n [[/strikethrough]] I rejoice in the republic; I am glad that these places may now be kept up, preserved, and made available to the people who made them possible: I am glad for the disillusionment that should come, but will not for a little while; I glory in the mighty [[strikethrough]] n [[/strikethrough]] past that shows itself in the exhibitions of the central portion, and the old buildings and furnitures; I regret the recent past that could not cope with the West in decoration any more than it could in politics - I am thrilled by beauty, revolted by incongruity, sorry for the human emperor and his court driven out of their home by the Christian general, glad for the New China coming into its heritage of ages.

Sunday, 3 January

Today we had the four Ting Hsiang girls over for lunch, and then we went to the museum again.  The Western section was open today.  This part had been built by Ch'ien Lung over the ruins of the old Ming palace, and was be^[[a]]utiful in architecture and decoration.  First there was a library, with old printed books in wooden boxes, - a lofty building inspiring in its line and decorations, with a rockery of rare fancy behind it.  There were courts with cedar trees around the edges, a dragon screen of [[strikethrough]] porcelain tiles [[/strikethrough]] colored tiles, a great hall where tribute was received and foreigners often entertained, and gorgeous apartment, rich with carving and cloisonné decorations, with balconies and screens and what not.  To compare these apartments with the modern wall-papered linoleum-tabled ones of yesterday was to regret that the Chinese court had been so eager to learn, so adaptable to the West that was forced upon them.

In strange contrast to the seals of state, fine old pictures and maps; portraits; illustrated catalogs of the insignia of state and the royal apparel; the courts robes and armor; and the old furnitures, were snapshots made of an^[[d]] by the empress, scraps of paper with notes in Chinese and English, bits of English lessons, childish caricatures of acquaintances.  The crowd, unusually thick today, hung over these mementoes with eager interest.