WHEN China was ruled by emperors and governed by mandarins, the political spin used to discourage attempts to oust the ruling dynasty, and to cow smaller kingdoms into submission was the claim that the emperor “possesses the Mandate of Heaven.” Every Chinese ruler of the Celestial Empire had to have this mandate of Heaven. Otherwise it would be an illegitimate power that deserved to be dislodged.

The ruler with Heaven’s Mandate would also have to be as good as the gods. He should have the soothing voice of the Benevolent Father. The more powerful an emperor, the more kind he sounded. The weaker ones were the more strident.

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