Please correct the grammar of the following essay.
- Bronze mirror: There are more than 4000 years history of bronze mirror in China. It was widely used till the beginning 20th century. In chinese culture, It is also a metaphor, which indicates a caution to people. Li shimin, one of the emperors of Tang dynasty, has a famous saying: With copper as mirror, you can dress properly. With history as mirror, you can know rise and decline well. With other people as mirror, you can see gain and lost clearly (以铜为镜 可以正衣冠 以史为镜 可以知兴替 以人为镜 可以明得失).
- Two inches: measure words to describe something short and small. A chinese phrase says as short-sighted as mice (鼠目寸光). In the Chinese classic literature Jinpingmei (《金瓶梅》), Wu Da-lang (武大郎) is described as three inches tall （三寸丁）to show how short he is; and Jinlian’s (潘金莲） foot is so pretty that they are only three inches.
- Seahorse: overseas horse. There are many words in chinese to describe foreign things. 1. Fan (番)：tomato (番茄)，potato (番薯). The word originally means animals’ feet, so It was an insulting name for foreigners at ancient times. 2. Hu (胡)：means western area. Pepper (胡椒)，(胡萝卜)，(胡人)。3. Yang (洋)：used from modern times around Qing denasty. Western people (洋人)，foreign styled house (洋房）.
- Personal seal （印章／图章）：an important part of calligraphy and painting. (名／字／号／别号／雅号／室名章。大类：名章，闲文章。) It also represents trustiness (取信之物). In the article the author mentions that people don’t even dare to seal on anything from western world.
- National characteristics (国粹): originally is essence of a culture. For example, Beijing opera, Chinese painting, Chinese medicine. In this article the author is using it to sarcasm.There is an inherent weakness of the nation, which could be arrogant, sense of inferiority and self-deception.
- Mid-summer (中夏)：used for both season and place. It means both May in lunar month and the central area of China (中原 华夏 震旦 中土).
- Calendar (历法): Gregorian calendar and lunar calendar are both used in China. Since 1949, gregorian calendar was being used. The lunar calendar is still used by people and some traditional festival.
- Restriction / taboo (忌讳): In chinese custom, people avoid saying something negative because they afraid of them becoming true. For example, people instead of saying “die”, they say beng崩 hong薨 zu卒, etc.
- Traces of them can still be found (余烈可寻)：In chinese version, lie 烈 means herotic deeds. The idiom implies the long history and important role of bronze mirror.
- Decorative figures (藻饰)：In chinese version, water plants implies splendid decoration.
Question: What kind of knowledge does one need to engage intelligently with the essay?
Lu xun is criticising the inherent weakness of Chinese national characteristics. To understanding that psychological states, readers have to have some background knowledge about Chinese history.
There are at least 2000 years history and 24 dynasties of China. Before Tang dynasty, people were pretty egocentric and consider themselves the best under heaven (“老子天下第一“）, which made them becoming arrogant. At that time, ambassadors from foreign countries who came to visit China had to say they were pilgrimage (?朝圣）. Culture communication was basically one-way output. From Song dynasty, the central part of China was invaded by the minority nations from Liao, Jin and other small countries. Han nationality was defeated by minorities in Yuan and Qing dynasty and lost their regime. However, the Han culture was not wiped out. Han people was still playing an important role in ruling class. They were anxiety and self-contemptuous. The only way for them to find comfort was from their powerful and mighty ancestors. After Opium war, the servility (奴性） characteristic of Chinese became even more serious because of their failure.
That is why, from the beginning of 20th century, many Chinese intellectuals who was pursuing a bright future for China exposed the inherent weakness of Chinese and appeal to people to learn advanced technology from western world.
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