The three peoples, indeed, form so many links in one long chain of borrowing.

China took from India, then Korea copied China, and lastly Japan imitated Korea.

In this simple manner they successively became possessed of a civilization which originally was not the property of any one of them.

In the eagerness they all evinced in purloining what was not theirs, and in the perfect content with which they then proceeded to enjoy what they had taken, they remind us forcibly of that happy-go-lucky class in the community which prefers to live on questionable loans rather than work itself for a living.

Like those same individuals, whatever interest the Far Eastern people may succeed in raising now, Nature will in the end make them pay dearly for their lack of principal.
The Far Eastern civilization resembles, in fact, more a mechanical mixture of social elements than a well differentiated chemical compound.
For in spite of the great variety of ingredients thrown into its caldron of destiny, as no affinity existed between them, no combination resulted.