Joaquim Augusto Barbosa de Melo - The Great Empire

The Emperor, with the advancing of his age, far from the glow of other times, no longer sought the company of girls or concubines to awaken in him the pleasures of life. He lived in the palace ever more distant from everyday life and closed in on himself. In recent times, with the passing of the months, his health has been deteriorating markedly, increasing the protagonism of the Empress. The illness had been installing itself and to such a point that he had even stopped presiding over his own official acts. The entire imperial court was now wondering about the future. It was known that he had made a will, but its contents were unknown. When death finally came and the contents of this will were known, some of the old sages of the court left the palace quietly and definitively 3.

The funeral ceremonies took place without the apparatus of olden times. The tradition, greatly altered by the Emperor’s will, however, retained some of the rites and forms, among them the verticalisation of the body, unlike most culture in other countries, where the body is buried in horizontal form. His reign had come to an end and with it began a paradoxical time, in which his son, only four years old, ascended to the throne now represented by the widowed Empress, Xi.

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2. Men in the service of the Emperor who agreed to be castrated, voluntarily, so that they could exercise permanent activity in the palace.

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The Decision of the Gods 19th century

Green fields of rice growing in the wind and bathed in the sun! It was with this landscape that Li found her home village again when she left the palace. Li’s youth had been spent in this paradisiacal setting. Relaxed and happy days! Fields full of farmers working under a burning sun, hidden in their straw hats, happy with themselves and with life, perhaps because from an early age they got used to appreciate what they had. Her sudden return did not arouse any great curiosity among family members, much less among the people of the village. No one had the courage to question her for having left the palace, not even her mother, who was used to reading her soul in the expressions of her face. With Li’s arrival, the idea of building a school in the village began to form in her mind. The aim was to put, alongside the basic and cultural teachings, contents of professional training. The school would have a private management, but would include free teaching for the children of the most deprived farmers. Li looked at the region where she was born, rich in rice production, with eyes of growth and prosperity. Often, she was assaulted by memories of her father, her uncle and the place where she lived her youth. Her father belonged to the small nobility and throughout her life developed a social concern for the poor and homeless, seeking to do good. He was an active person in society, respectful of conventions, but not influenced by it, following his own thoughts. He had a positive attitude towards life, trying to transmit to his children a rigorous, intellectual education of great emotional balance. One of his lessons that would haunt Li for the rest of her life was: “the ultimate goal of every human being is to be happy” he said over and over again. Intervening, he considered that nations and their rulers had to do everything to achieve, in a peaceful way, a permanent state of development and well-being among peoples. He advocated that the path to reach this state of maximum development of nations should be based on a planetary government representative of all regions. Li also recalled that, thanks to her father’s action and influence, many of the current cultivation methods and fertilizers used in rice cultivation were included by him in agricultural practice, as well as new organized irrigation techniques, acquiring a determining importance for increasing productivity.

Rice is not a very demanding cereal because it tolerates a wide variety of soils well, but in order to obtain high yields in small areas it is necessary that the cultivation is well oriented. In the growing season the water must have a certain minimum depth to ensure uniform growth. To conserve water, therefore, small walls are built around the fields which, through irrigation channels, make it possible to manage the crop. When the harvest approaches, the fields are drained and the harvest begins.

As in the past, Li went on to visit the weekly market. Among a wide variety of products, merchants sought to attract the attention of potential customers. In those spaces they sold a bit of everything: from ceramic pieces to fabrics; passing by agricultural products; natural medicines; cattle and so many other things. Tournaments and shows were held periodically, which, with their diversity, lent a bit of joy and enthusiasm to the faces of the people. Once in a while there were interesting people there, almost always with an enigmatic message to leave, sometimes pleasant, sometimes not so pleasant. They traveled through esoteric worlds, full of magic, speaking of “future truths” almost always improbable and nebulous. But if the message was promising, the clients retained in their memory the hope of a time full of mystery and charm. As she witnessed those scenes, Li recalled a time in her youth when, accompanied by her uncle, one of those “fairies” insisted and pursued her for a long distance, telling Li that she had an important message to give to her. Her uncle, at that time, drove away the said “fairy” several times, but that one, with the insistence of those who have a high mission to fulfill, did not let go of her. Already tired of being bothered so much, she looked the said “fairy” in the eye and told her:

- What is so important you have to tell me?!

Her uncle still tried once again to intervene, but that gesture proved late, as the “fairy” had already taken her hand and started to read the message: “the girl is of good lineage and has a beautiful future ahead of her! You are well educated and have good principles but almost always you will not be understood in your intentions. You will travel and meet other places - attracted by dream, beauty and charm. You will live among silk, jewels and gold, but you will not be happy in this place. The sunshine will not let you see the stars, even though they so insistently look at you. This place, from the distance, will seem to you a paradise, full of gardens and charms, but as you approach, you will notice that it exhales strong odors of putrefactive matter. Everywhere you will find flowers laden with poison, living side by side with verdant trees where menacing snakes walk. The air in this garden is almost unbreathable. At first you will feel attracted by the beauty of this place and makes an effort to adapt, but you will not be able to live with all that! One day, dragged by a strong storm, you will return to the place where you were born. There you will find again the peace and the star that for a long time was looking at you. Then, as if by enchantment, your life will change, becoming intense, exuberant, distributing knowledge and joy everywhere. Then you will feel invaded by a wave of happiness and with it everything around you will grow, like an immense virgin forest full of sunshine and charm!” Li remembered saying to her: “That’s all?” surprised by the message. At the time the good “fairy” smiled, accepting the little silver coin that her uncle gave her. She also remembered that on the way home she had not stopped thinking about everything she had just heard, but as at that time she understood almost nothing of what the good “fairy” had told her, she shrugged her shoulders and fell silent. Now, years later, recalling those scenes (but without her uncle’s presence), she wondered: “how is it possible that now, after all these years, the words of the “fairy” make perfect sense?