The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-01-31
CHINESE ETIQUETTE.
Signs Of Progress in the Flowery
Kingdom.
]he Emperor Inauguratca Some New
Measures md Gives Yearly Audi
cnces to tho Ambassadors
or Othor Countries.

yearly audience to all foreign Minis
tiers.
That is not much in itself, says the
New York Sun, but, taken with SINH
lar pieco of news from Siam n few
months ago that the 1ii:'cs &c Il decrccd
that his mobiles need no lc:., - approach
him on their ston;achs, it 90 x, to indi-
cate that what we cali Wcs5,s civiliza-
ton Is beginning to work EN- among
the most conservative of peoples.
The Emperor of China is the might
lest of all rulers, in his own estimation.
He is ''The Son of Heaven and Fnther
OF Ills People" equal to the gods whom
he graciously consents TO worship, and
quite above the necessity Of being DO
lite to representatives of foreign Gov
ernments. So, only occasionally, when
he feels' as If he'd like to look ut the
foreign devils" has he ever granted
audiences to the Ambassadors md Min
listers from other countries; md his new
departure is, therefore, particularly
striking, and in it's nature n very strong
precedent for his SUCCESSORS. In fact, If
he really does as he says he will do, his
successors will have to follow HIM; for
the customs of the Chinese are us tho
laws of the Modes and Pcrsians-they
alter not, unless the Emperor has q
mind to change them.
feature of the so-called "audienccs."
which up to 1878 were granted to the
foreign Minister'S, was the ceremony of
the l1owtow, insisted on by tho Chinese
court functionaries, generally resisted by
the foreign Ministers, occasionally, and
since 1873 always, graciously waived by
the son of heaven and the father of his
people 1t was nn abasement 70 tho
ground of the body of person ap-
preaching the Majesty Of China, md
knocking Of the head Of that person
upon the ground q certain number of
times to satisfy the demand of court
etiquette; and, like so many other
things in China, it was founded by Con-
fucius, though the sagc's book, "Li-Ki,"
doesn't soy word about it.
Tho word kowtow Git Is spelled also
kotow, kotou, kotoo, kootoo, kotau.
koti. and has been adopted into the En-
glish languagc) Is derived from two
Chinese words, k'ow row, meaning
"a knocking of the head" It is the
eighth and highest grndc of obeisance,
rendered only to the Emperor and his
equnls, the gods, and though wo spcnk
- Az -" oS sio viz hOWVOW, CnuL llQTl0
Is applied properly only TO the fifth
grade. That consists OF lsneeling and
knocking the head once upon the
ground. The sixth grade Is the san koo,
the performer kneels and knocks his
head three times. Tho seventh grade
In the luh llao; it consists in
kneeling and knocking the head
thrice. rising, knecling again and
knocking the head three times more.
The eighth grade is tho sun kwei kin
kGA which is the kowtow performed
three times. All the time, too, that the
san kwei kin kao, the three l,neelings
and nine lsnockings," Is going on tho
imperial band plays to the tune lung
ping, "a splendid humiliation" Alto
gether, the Chinese mobiles who have
the privilege of an audience must be
devoutely grateful that the Emperor is
no higher than the immortal gods.
Now this kowtow (mcaning the obei-
sance of the highest grndc) Is per-
formed by the Kings of Cochin China,
Korea and other tributary States when
they are confirmed by the Emperor in
their succession to their thrones, and as
Sir John Francis Davis in his book on
China points out, Is exactly the Same Us
the homage performed by tenants in
capite In the fcudal times, and there
fore Is ON overt recognition of the Elm
peror of China as overload of the per
son making the l1owtow. For this
reason the Ministers and Legates of for
eign Governments have almost invaria-
blyrefused to perform the ceremony; and
though the Chinese officials have insist
ed In most instances they have had to
yield on the point. and the audiences"
at which yellow curtain did duty for
the Emperor, were not cnlivened bv
the spectacle of gentlemen in gold
laced uniforms or in dress suits kneel-
ing ungraciously and rufaing both shirt
fronts and tempers in ncrobatic per
formances for which their garments
were not adapted.
The Dutch Ambassadors in 1888 per-
formed the Aowtow before the yellow
curtain. hoping to receive valuable con-
cessions for trade. They had been told
that the Emperor would send them
food from his own table; they got
"some Sleeps trOtters on dirty plate"
by way of food from the Emperor's ta-
BILE, and further received permission to
send an embassy every eight years and
four ships with it. Again in 1902 tho
the Dutch Ambassador nbased himself.
t". Holland got no greater benefits
from the Chinese than did other
countries whose representatives had
not kowtowed In 1903 tho first
Ambassador from Great Brit
ain, Lord Mccartney, had an
audience with the yellow curtain, and
did not do either the kowtow or san
1yxr-nt LIT, 1<oA. 1>,,k, ul,o
arrived in China in 1910 the ceremony
Il LII Il L.