monday ruminations

I have always preferred to visit the museums than the cinema for reasons that the shows are not always the same and I cannot catch them again back home on DVD!

It is the experience of discovery that intrigued me.

The Kangxi Emperor: Treasures from the Forbidden City exhibition ACM (Asian civilization museum)
You may have heard about the exploits of one of the greatest Emperor of China, Kangxi Emperor; his life stories, his works and his family life but unaware that that it refers to the same person.
He is not Han Chinese but realized that for the minority Manchu to rule the vast Chinese land, he needed more than power, he needed the people to be contented and happy with non- Chinese rule. For that to happen, people must not feel that they are being looked down, their culture identity suppressed and welfare looked after.

This Manchu emperor learnt the Han Chinese ways, maybe embracing and taking them as his own is a better way of looking at it. He took on its Confucius values for running of the country, was a scholar and patron of the arts, military strategist, skilled soldier, astute politician and man of character. Truly the renaissance man of the east.

He instituted many reforms and advocated many values of good governance like inspection of the land, promotion of efficient farming practices, anti corruption. Truly during his reign, his son Yong Zeng and Qianlong was the most prosperous period of ancient China.

Despite of all that he and his children had done; creating structures, stabilizing turbulent foreign relations, preserving and encouraging culture, he cannot stop the country from declining, officials from being corrupted and eventual downfall of the Qing dynasty.

Lesson for all of us, we can leave a legacy and it is great but from the viewpoint of eternity, nothing is forever.
Then what really matters?