The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-11-18
Edueation Of Chiness Prince.

The sons of the Mancbu emperors
| (taOGngtsz) undergo from their tender
est youth system of the strictest edu-,
cation. Rising about 3 O'Clock in the
morning, they first take Their lcSsC "A in
Chinese literature. under the sup in
tendence of the only tutor who has the.
title OF SAtfJH, or master The itOr
rises from his chair a. 500 a. the M
perial pupils enter, and ?, .ives ON
the latter a courtesy G-ch "a. " eh
! is then returned in tn. same yrm. Lne
tutor takes the seat ui Egno- aud W len
the lesson is learned the U,spil br IS
up his book, deposits 1t 5efore his
teacher, and Jhcn returns g. MS SEE to.
repeat the task By heart Ii the Lesson
Is not learned the tutor requests a ern-
uch in attendance az bring the ferule
(ch'iqg PAM. anG makes u show of ad-
miniSterinG correction Bat each i'm
perial pupil is accompanied by eight
fellow-students (p5oaR-tUb) known in
the Manchu language as hG-tf-chu who
study the same books as their young
master. When it becomes necessary TO
admOnish the latter more seriously, tho
hd-ba-chu are beaten with the fer1lle
vicariOusly; but when the imperial pupil
acquits herself well they are, on the
other hand, commended or rewarded
A recaicitrant and obstinate prince is
as the last resort actually himself
flogged, though probably only nomi-
naily. by the teacher, or taken before
the emperor, who directs a eunuch to
pinch his cheeks (ch'M pa-jon). The
late Emperor Tung-chih was frequent
ly tweaked in this way by order of the
empresses. The Chinese lesson occu-
pies two hours; after this come the Man
chu and Mongol lessons in composition,
given by the teachers who enjoy The less
honorable title of sefu. and who are
obliged To meet their pupil at the door
and make the first obeisance. Then
come lessons IN various spoken Ian
guages -Manchu, Mongol, Tangut-
and in local Chinese dialects After
these come courses of instruction in
foot and horse archery (nla-pIt-chicn),
athletics, fencing, putting the stone,
etc, (tMHg-tU-shh), under the guidance
of class of instructors called au-td
The whole OF the young princes day is
taken up with mental and physical ex-
ercises. and they retire to rest at a very
early hour. At suitable intervals their
meals are weighed out to them, and Oh
no account are they allowed to indulge
in the pleasures of the table. At the
age of 10 they must marry. One wear
before a wife is selected for the heir ap-
parent he is provided with a handmaid
taken from the families of the inner
banners Qlei-cND OF the imperial house
hold (Iei-Uutt), who must be one year
older than himself, and prepare him for
a husbands duties. On his accession
this handmade (tdco hp0rkOkO) receives
the title of tei, which is given to her
alone among those inmates of the harem
who are selected from the inner ban
ners. No one but the empress is allow
ed 10 pass the night with the emperor.
The emperor sleeps with eight hand
maids (ch'dng-tSuD sitting upon his
bed, and sixteen others (td-ying) under
meath the bed, all of them girls from
the He-a0U-tu. Their function is to keep
watch over his majesty, and they are
not allowed to sneeze, cough, spit, or
utter any sound. The movements of the
emperor after awaking in the morn
ing are signaiized by clapping of
hands on the part of the eunuch on
guard. Once year-on New Years
day-the emperor and empress pres Ie
at grand banquet, tise empress sitting
on the emperor's left hand This is le
only occasion during the year Oh wh h
the emperor can see his wives togel ar
and compare their respective meE 5
The empress presents articles of tc Il
Oe-Shth) to the eunuchs, who receive it
from her majesty on their h'.ees, = I'd
the emperor performs Tire same pol e
ness to the women.-H0ng hong la ~
Press.