Shen Le sorted through this passage in the Records of the Grand Historian: House of Chu concerning King Wu of Chu and suddenly understood.
The way King Wu of Chu had looked at the Son of Heaven of Zhou in the Central Plains, along with the powerful vassal states clustered around him, was probably somewhat like how people had viewed Western countries after China's reform and opening up:
Wow, so advanced, so prosperous, so civilized. Truly lands of poetry, books, rites, and music. We had to learn from them properly.
Then, after studying them for twenty or thirty years, the more they looked, the more something seemed off. Why was your ruler using money meant for the navy to build massive warships on gardens instead?
Why could your ruler spout nonsense all day, say something today and deny it tomorrow, then shout "Fake News"?
Why were your railways curved like noodles? Could trains even run on tracks like that?
Why were your poor folded up on the streets every day, freezing to death in icy rain, while the rich kept wanting to hand them pills so they could hurry up and overdose?
Compared to our infrastructure, our shipbuilding pace, our poverty alleviation efforts—
Damn it!
Who were the civilized people, and who were the barbarians?
And even then, there were still people shouting every day about "aligning with international standards." Align with what? With the standards of more than a century ago, when East Asia was full of "sick men"?
Thinking of it that way, Shen Le could understand why King Wu of Chu—oh, he had not yet called himself king at the time—had proclaimed, "We are barbarians, and do not share China's titles or posthumous names."
There was nothing worth yearning for on the Zhou Son of Heaven's side!