Confucius saw that headline in the Financial Times today and remarked to a bystander, “If the economic crisis goes on—and protectionism starts seriously affecting foreign trade—this is the kind of thing where the Mandate of Heaven gets withdrawn and tens of millions of Chinese die, because that’s how Chinese history works.”

So now, via Matt Continetti at the Standard blog comes news that that twenty-million statistic is actually from Hsin-Hua*, the state press agency, which is almost surely minimizing the dislocation.

Man, the ice feels thin under the feet sometimes. Let’s hope that cracking sound isn’t what it sounds like…

*As previously mentioned, Wade-Giles is the official Chinese romanization of the Gormogons. And who knows, maybe China soon. Ayiyi.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.