THE NIGHT OF ASIA
the monasteries of Kashmir, were brought by pilgrims and wandering monks to the thought-centers of China, Korea, and Japan. Kingdoms often exchanged courtesies, while peace married art to art. From this synthesis of the whole Asiatic life a fresh impetus was given to each nation. It is curious to note that each effort in one nation to attain a higher expression of humanity is marked by a simultaneous and parallel movement in the other. That liberalism and magnificence, resulting in the worship of poetry and harmony, which, in the sixth century, so characterized the reign of Vikramaditya in India, appear equally in the glorious age of the Tang emperors of China (618–907), and at the court of our contemporary mikados at Nara. Again the movement toward individualism and renationalization which, in the
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