The Irish standard., 1891-01-24
CHINESE ETIQUETTE.
Signs of Progress in the F1owery
Kingdom.

Signs Of Progress in the Flowery
Kingdom.
The Emperor Inauguratcs Some New
Measures and Gives Yearly Audi
ences to the Ambassadors
of other Countries.
A decree has been issued at Pekin an
nouncing that the Emperor will grant
q yearly audience to all foreign Minis
tiers.
That is not much in itself, says the
New York Sun, but, taken with a SINH
lar piece of news from Siam few
months ago that the King had decreed
that his mobiles need no longer approach
him on their stomachs, it goes to indi-
cate that what we call Western civiliza-
ton is beginning to work even 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 Father
of His People," equal to the gods whom
he graciously consents to worship, and
quite above the necessity Of being po-
lite to representatives of foreign Gov
ernments. So, only occasionally, when
he feels as if he'd like to look at the
"foreign devils" has be ever granted
audiences to che Ambassadors and Min
listers from other countries; and his new
departure is, therefore, particularly
striking, and in it's nature a very strong
precedent for his SUCCESSORS In fact, if
he really does as he says he will do, his
the customs of the Chinese are as the
laws of the Modes and Pcrsians-they
alter not, unless the Emperor has a
mind to change them.
A feature of the so-called audiences
which up to 1873 were granted to the
foreign Ministers, was the ceremony of
the kowto,v, insisted on by the Chinese
court functionarics generally resisted by
the foreign Ministers, occasionally, and
since 1878 always, gracionsly waived by
the son Of heaven and the father OF his
people. It YVES an abasement to the
ground of the body Of IL person APP
preaching the Majesty Of China, and a
knocking of the head of that person
upon the ground a 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 sage's book, "Li-Ki," "
doesn't say IL word about it.
The word kowtow lit is spelled also
kotow, lzotou l1otoo, kootoo, lzotau,
koti, md has been adopted into the En-
glish langungc) is derived from two
Chinese words, lz'ow Eow, meaning
"a knocking of the head" 1t is the
eighth, and highest grade of obeisance,
rendered only TO the Emperor and his
equals, the gods, and though we speak
Of it always as tho kowtow, that name
is applied properly only to the fifth
grade. That consists Of kneeling and
knocking the head once upon the
ground. The sixth grade is the san kao;
the performer kneels and knocks his
head three times. The seventh grade
Is tho Iuh lao: it consists in
knceling and knocking the head
thrice, rising, kneeling again and
knocking the head three times more.
The eighth grade is the sam kwei kin
three times. All the time, too. that the
san kwci kin kao, the three lzneclings
and nine knockings,' is going on the
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 lxowtow (meaning the obei~
sance Of the highest grade) lis 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 as
the homage performed by tenants in
capite in the feudal times, and there
fore is an overt recognition Of the EN-
peror of China Us overload of the per-
son making tho lc VOW. 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 o. yellow curtain did duty for
the Emperor, wore not enlivened bv
the spectacle of gentlemen in gold
laced uniforms or in dress suits knecl-
Ing ungraciously and rufling both shirt
fronts and tempc:s in acrobatic per-
formances for which their garments
were not adapted.
The Dutch Ambassadors in 1866 per-
formed tho koyvtow before the yellow
curtain, hoping to receive valuable con-
cessions TO: trade They had been told
that the Emperor would send them
food from his own table; they got
''somc sleeps trotters on dirty plate"
by way of food from tho Emperor's ia
Bile, and further received permission to
send an embassy every eight years and
four ships with it. Again in 1892 the
tho Dutch Ambassador abascd himself,
but Holland got no greater benefits
from the Chinese than did other
countries whose representatives had
not kowtowed. In 1898 the first
Ambassador from Great Brit
-, ror1 nIoos rt-,ov Ind on