Personality and Impact of Reign
Under Qian Liu's reign, Wuyue prospered economically and freely developed its own regional culture that continues to this day. He developed the coastal kingdom's agriculture, built seawalls, expanded Hangzhou, dredged rivers and lakes, and encouraged sea transport and trade. He built an embankment against the famous "bore" in the Qiantang River near Hangzhou, which was his capital; and on one occasion, when the works were threatened, he is said to have driven back the waters by the discharge of a flight of arrows. Qian Liu is said to have used on his campaigns a cylindrical pillow, to prevent him from sleeping too heavily. Despite these contributions, however, the Song Dynasty historian Ouyang Xiu (the lead author of the New History of the Five Dynasties) blamed him for luxurious living and for imposing heavy taxation and punishments on his people.
Read more about this topic: Qian Liu
Famous quotes containing the words personality, impact and/or reign:
“The child begins life as a pleasure-seeking animal; his infantile personality is organized around his own appetites and his own body. In the course of his rearing the goal of exclusive pleasure seeking must be modified drastically, the fundamental urges must be subject to the dictates of conscience and society, urges must be capable of postponement and in some instances of renunciation completely.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)
“In order to prove a friend to one’s guests, frugality must reign in one’s meals; and, according to an ancient saying, one must eat to live, not live to eat.”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)