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Rh the Chinese. Massarani’s Book of Jade is translated from the French of Judith Gautier; Mario Chini has given us an Italian rendering of the Si-siang-ki of Wang-chi-fu, but it is based on the French of Julien, and is merely a verse translation of the poetic portions of the work. The most active Italian translator, who is at the same time the dean of European Sinologues and one of the most truly learned of them all, is Carlo Puini. To him and to Giovanni Vacca, his scholar and my friend, I owe my knowledge of Kwang-tze, one of the noblest of Chinese philosophers, and at the same time an excellent writer.

Kwang-tze was a Tâoist, and lived in the fourth century before Christ. Very little is known about his life. The Chinese are not greedy for biographies. They say: “He flourished under such and such a dynasty”—and they ask nothing further.