The cultivated Peiping gentleman cherishes three things in his quiet walled courtyard: a peng (broad overhead matting) for shade, a goldfish pool for the cool grace of its inmates, and a pomegranate tree for its fruit. With these he can free his mind from such pressing disorders as the occasional boom of cannon outside the town and the runaway inflation inside.
This summer the pleasant pattern for contemplation was threatened. The municipal health department decided to attack the fly and mosquito population by air-spraying the town with DDT solution. Private goldfish fanciers were outraged at the danger to the fish population.
Wrote one:...
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