The simile of the patriarch
Aristocracy was a significant feature of the conventional social structure in ancient and colonial China. The superiority of the monarchy is compared to patriarchy. The author writes, “In China, the monarch is chief as patriarch. The laws of the state are partly legal, partly moral so that even the inward law–the knowledge on the part of the individual of the content of his will as his inwardness–is present as an external statutory command." During most of its existence, the Chinese monarch's power varied depending on its aptitude to merge the laws on various governance factors. Every person was expected to observe the rules and structure, and failure to do so attracted severe punishment.
The simile of Brahm
The author compares the God of the Jewish people to Brahm when he writes, “The coasts mediate a connection with foreign lands. Amid this confusion, we come upon the spiritual God of the Jews like Brahm, existing only for thought, yet jealous, excluding from Him and abolishing all that particularity of direction freely allowed in other regions.” In Hinduism, Brahm is a god associated with knowledge, creation, and the Vedas. Therefore, Brahm is a supernatural being, and all human beings and other creatures are under him. Consequently, Brahm and the God of the Jewish people are both associated with creating the universe and everything in it.
The simile of the moral principle
The paternal care part of the emperor is compared to the children’s lack of independence. The author writes, “This paternal care on the part of the emperor, and the spirit of his subjects-who, like children, do not advance beyond the moral principle of the family circle, and can gain for themselves no independent and civic freedom-makes the whole an empire, government, mode of product which is at the same time moral and thoroughly prosaic – that is, a product of the understanding without free reason and imagination.” Since the emperor's position is hereditary, the upcoming leader is expected to continue following the principles laid down by predecessors.
