Interesting text, I just had a read through it (I only read about a few hundred Chinese characters out of the 40,000 (if memory serves)). I wonder if it was an award of some sort since this is a rather personal message with the first character being used is one for 'teacher' or 'master' (like si-fu), I almost wonder if this was some sort of presentation piece from a military instructor to a graduating cadet? Sadly, I'm not a Pinyin person (I'm old school Wade-Giles) but I wonder if we could learn more about this Chan Kwong Chung.
I enjoyed that bit about suppressing internal turmoil and protecting from foreign incursions, it's written in a neat way, almost reminds me of basic level poetry the way it evokes the 'heavenly duty' of guarding one's country and protecting the people or maybe evoking some sort of Imperial decree. Very, very cool! Where did you find this, Alvin? I won't attempt my own translation as I don't think I'd do the original Chinese justice. I would love to have something like this in my collection, I wonder if it dates from the Warlord period or after the Nationalist Northern Expedition.
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Michael
Nos morituri te salutant - Supposed saying of the gladiators to the emperor ('We, who are about to die, salute you.')
'We are the lantern bearers, my friend; for us to keep something burning, to carry what light we can forward into the darkness and the wind' - From Rosemary Sutcliff's The Lantern Bearers
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