Monday, February 21, 2022

千字文 / The Thousand Character Classic, part 31

 遐迩一體

 xiá ěr yī tǐ

"those near and far treated as a whole"


This one's pretty straightforward. 體 can mean body, as in modern Chinese 身體, or per Kroll, also limb or element, or substance or essential being. Thus "one body," or "a whole." I remain dubious about imperial claims to such uniformity of treatment, but better that some effort is made towards treating all subjects of the empire as equals rather than relegating conquered peoples to second-class status, or worse.


微臣
史大偉


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