10th century, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, quotes, Southern Tang, stories
Here a jester cracks a joke in response to a question from the emperor, not only making him laugh but also persuading him to ease excessive taxes. This isn’t the only example of Chinese jesters intervening to reduce taxes, and we will be sharing other such...
10th century, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, quotes, stories
Following the accession of Emperor Taizu of the Later Liang 後梁太祖 (r. 907-912), a jester used an indirect way to criticize an unfair tax using the reductio ad absurdum technique; this involves taking a policy or idea to a logical extreme to demonstate its absurdity, a...
