This account gives us our first truly foreign perspective of life inside the Middle Kingdom - a place where the dead are fed until the living are bankrupt, and healthcare and education are subsidized by the state. Written in 851 and added to 50 years later by renowned Arab sailor Abu Zayd al-Sirafi.

Enormous thanks to translator Tim Mackintosh-Smith and the Library of Arabic Literature for the use of this translation. https://nyupress.org/9781479830596/accounts-of-china-and-india/

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David Kelly

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Thanks to:
SeasonsinthesunScott
Semans World Coins (CoinCoin.com)
Gary Todd
Zhang zhicheng [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Discott [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Dennis Jarvis