In this milieu, innovation did not enjoy prestige: the unheard of was best not heard of again. The ideal society was the stable society. Anything that sounded echoes of the past had luster; anything that smacked of disruption had an odor. The great goal of human endeavor was social harmony. If ever that were achieved, change could stop, and that would be the greatest success of all: who doesn’t want to get to healthy adulthood and then stay that way forever? The great project for people of the present day was to reach again the level of the past. China became not just inward looking but
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