The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-09-17
EDUCATING CHINESE PRINCES
A whole Day Taken Up with Mentsl
and Physical Exercises.

The sons of the Manchn empertr RS
(hwangtsz) undergo from their tenderest
| youth system of the strictest educa-
ton. Rising about clock in the
morning, they first take lesson IN Chin
csc literature, under the superinten-
dence of the only tutor who has the
title of shihfu or master" The t-tor
rises from his chair as soon as the i'm
periaI pupils enter, and receives from
the latter courtesy tia ch'len), which Is
then returned in the same form. The
tutor takes the seat of honor, and when
the lesson Is learned the pupil brings up
his book, deposits it before his teacher,
and returns TO his seat to repeat the
task by heart. If the lesson is not
learned the tutOr requests a eunuch IN
attendance to bring the ferule (ch'tng
PAM, and makes show of administer
ing correction. But each imperial pu IL
is accompanied by eight fellOw-stuuents
(pWdR-tub) known in the Manchu Ian
guage as hG-hG-chu, who study the
same books as their young master.
| When it becomes necessary TO admUnlSh
the latter more seriously, the hG-hd-ch
are beaten with the ferulC vigorously
but when the imperial pupil acquits b. r
self well, tuey are, on the other nand,
commended or rewarded. A rca:cltrant
anu obstinate prince is as the last resort
actually himself logged, though proba-
| bly, only nominally, by the teacher. or
| taken before the emperor, who directs
eunuch TO pinch his Cheeks( CHI iii JONI.
The late Emperor T'ung-chih was
| frequently tweaked in this way by Crder
of the expresses. The Chinese lesson
| occupies TWO hours; after this come the
Manchu and Mongol lessons IN compost
ton, given by the teaC hers who enjoy
the less hoaerable title of sefu, and VINO
are obliged to meet their pupil at the
door and make The first obeisance. Then
come lessons in various spoken Ian
guages - Manchu, Mongol, T'angut-
and in local Chinese dialects. After
these come courses of instruction in foot
and horse archery (mG-pu-chien), athlet-
! les, fencing, putting the stone, etc.,
| (kung- tdu-Shih), under the guidance VI. a
class of instructors called au-td. The
whole of the young princes day is taken
up with mental or physical exercises,
and they retire to rest at very early
hour. At suitable intervals their meals
are weighted out for them, and on no
account are they allowed to indulge in
| the pleasure of table. AT the age OF Is
they must marry. One year before a
| wife is selected for the heir apparent he
| is provided with a hand-maid taken
from the families of the inner banners
| (nei-ch') of t1e imperial household Cnei-
1Ou-fu). who must be one year older
than himself and prepare him for
husbands duties. On his assession this
nand- maid (tdch'ipOk0kO) receives the
title of fei, which is given to her alone
among those inmates of th5 harem who
are selected from the inner banners. No
one but the empress is allowed to pass
the night with the emperor The EN-
peror sleeps with eight hsndmaids
| (ch'dny-tS Gt) sitting upon his bed, and
sixteen others (tG.yiag) underneath the
bed, all of them gIrls from the ne1Uu-flI.
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 morning are signalized
by a clappIng of hands on the part of
the eunuch on guard. Once a year-On
New Years day-the emperor and
empress preside at a grand banquet, the
empress sitting at the emperOr's left
hand. This is the only occasion during
the year on which the emperor can see
his wives together and compare their
respective merits. The empress pre-
sents articles of food (k'e-shih) to the
eunuchs, who receive it from her
majesty on their knees, and the emperor
performs the same politei ess to the
WOmen.-HOng Kong DGitU Press