Conversation

A court eunuch (太監) appeared in the town square to place a Ban (禁令) on calling imported laborers nanban [foreign barbarians] (南蠻), claiming that it stirred up their spirits and made them violent. The Master saw the Ban and laughed openly. “If your workers are so civilized and equal to the people of the kingdom, why are mere words able to reduce them to violence like irate primates? Surely, we cannot shirk from using words that truly represent all things under heaven!” From that day forward, the Master demanded that his students always refer to the barbarians by the “N” word that truly represented them, no matter what the court eunuchs declared.