The process of huddling together is, in the long run, inimical to individual development, though it may be a necessary condition during certain incipient stages–which apothegm may be illustrated by reference to the common practice of rice-cultivation in China.

First of all the seed is sown closely together in a little plot, and soon grows up into a miniature field of dazzling emerald. But were it to remain thus, there would be little individual development among the rice-plants, and therefore a very small sum-total of grain from the whole. If China has become a notable example of arrested development, it has been largely due to the mechanical or social huddling together of the populace inhabiting her riverine neighbourhoods. There are too many to the square mile literally, and the crowds of individuals are much too closely connected socially. They need planting out.

Once, in days of yore, China much resembled ancient Greece in all but serrated coastline. Her fourteen larger states, based upon so many original tribes, were separated by rivers and mountains, and developed under the conditions of vigorous rivalry. It was then that China produced her sages, her classics, and her individuals. This was in the period B.C. 1122–221, since which she became a nation, but soon ceased to be a nation of individuals.