Silk cloth

A silk cloth on which the Chinese intellectual Liang Qichao inscribed a Tang poem while touring Australia in 1901.

Image Courtesy of: Kira Brown

Turn your head to the emblems that are Foo-song’s bronze pillars,

A dark miasma (about them) has not yet fully dissipated. Of kingfisher plumes from Yuet-sheung, there is no news,

Of bright pearls from the South Sea, there has long been silence. A special bestowal created a Minister of War,

Commanders (now) all have the ermine of a Director of the Chancellery stuck (in their hats).

This heavenly realm of scorching southerlies and snowy northlands

Depends entirely on the assistance of the good and loyal at its sacred court.