Sunday, June 27, 2010

Paradise: 1741

This Place may be called, as well as Hang tcheou in the Province of Tche kiang, a City of Pleasure; nothing is wanting here to complete the Pleasures of Life; therefore in the Chinese Books there is an old Proverb that says, Chang yeou tien tang, Hia yeou sou hang, Paradise is above, but below is Sou tcheou and Hang tcheou: One may truly say that these two Cities are the Terrestrial Paradise of China.
--From The general history of China--

I bet if we went back in time and saw those cities we would see all sorts of faults; sickness, poverty and ignorance among them. Which makes me wonder: is there anywhere today someone could call a terrestrial paradise? Perhaps paradise can only exist in our minds, because if anyone came back from "Paradise" they'd be sure to spill the truth and tell us all its faults.

P. S. Using the same logic, I'm pretty sure hell isn't half as bad as some people would have us think.

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