LAN TING-YÜAN.
a.d. 1680-1733
[Also known as Lan Lu-chou. One of the most attractive writers of the Manchu dynasty, especially of State papers and judicial records, and known in his day as a just and incorrupt judge. He managed however to offend his superiors, and was impeached and thrown into prison. From this he was released by order of the Emperor, who loaded him with honours and appointed him to be Prefect in Canton. He died, however, a month later, of a broken heart.]
ON THE SOUTHERN BARBARIANS.
THE barbarians of the south can do no harm to China. The prohibition against trade should be cancelled and the people allowed to do business with them, supplying the deficiencies of the Middle Kingdom from the superabundance of the lands beyond the sea. There should be no delay in this matter.
Recently, a Lieutenant-Governor of Fuhkien presented a secret memorial to the Throne, stating that he suspected the merchants engaged in foreign trade of selling ships to the barbarians, and that the latter carried rice away to other countries, which practice might ultimately become a great loss to China. He also feared that foreign ships were addicted to piracy, and requested that all native vessels might be prohibited from going abroad and so lessen the risk of such calamities. This was but the shallow, narrow-minded opinion of a book-worm, the limited area of sky which appears to a man sitting at the botton of a well! He himself regarded it as the far-reaching foresight of a statesman, as an excellent plan laid at the feet of his sovereign;―but he was wrong. His Imperial Majesty K‘ang Hsi took it very much to heart, fearing that there was at any rate some chance of what he said turning out to be the case. Accordingly, he made enquiries both among high officials and private individuals; for he had his suspicions about those statements, and wished to get hold of some person who was acquainted with the affairs of these distant peoples, from whom he might learn the actual truth. However, at that time none of the officials had ever been beyond the seas, and it was impossible for private individuals
