The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1894-03-16
CHINESE ETIQUETTE.
DELICATE WORK FOR A MoNeoLlAN
MASTER OF CEREMONIES.

Y
of Debrett and Burke is novice beside
4 Celestialmaster of ceremonies. Never
theless the latter's system is definite, II
elaborate, and he has many official land.
marks whereby to shape his course. On ,
of the most important of these is q 10
button which is worn by every mands rim
on the top Of his hat Each of the nine
ranks has its particular button, am the
second degree Of the first and second
ranks are also marked by separ ate but-
tons The official list is as folio VS..
! First Rank-First degrees, light cnral rsd
button second degree, deep corsl ID hnttnn
Second Rank-First degree, u ,bt' cyir,sor
I button; second degree, dark Grim an hnttnn
4 Third Rank-Both, light cles r hme.
/ Fourth Rank-Dark prussiS N blue
"Fifth-Qusrtz, glass or cry stal.
! "Sixth-Opaque white.
Seventh and Eighth 2 .ded, yellow or gold
"Ninth-Silver or silver white.
/ at will be seen tha'. red button in
dicates high rank. The rank in general
is personal rather than official. Thus.
for example, a taotatship is an office OF
4 the third rank, and its button is a light,
clear blue, Yet many taotatis, if not a
majority of the class, are decorated with
| red buttons. 1t even happens that per-
I, sulof the second rank, through misfor
tune or political vicissitudss, will hold
an Office Of thefifth or sixth rank. In such
a case he would still wear his red button.
and in many official events would be
/ preceded by an official of dark blue or
crystal button. For this reason ii is
often very difficult TO tell the official
rank Of mandarins by their buttons.
Nor is the difficulty lessened BY the en-
broidered insignia upon the wearing ap-
( parel. This is more elaborate than the
buttons, but, like the latter. does not
discriminate between rank and position.
ITO overcome the difficulty the Chi
nese resort to several expedients. One is
the card on which iswritten a full state
ment of the owners rank, degree and
position. Such card in English might
read, Smith, haronet, judge of session.
Devon Another consists of having the
same facts painted upon the lanterns
with which all chairs are provided.
These can be read with equal ease day
or night. The third is used for the in
formation Of the public and consists in
having the name and all titles carved
in large, bold characters on long red
boards, which are carried by coolies.
Mandarins who have received many hon
ors viii frequently have as many as 20
of these red boards. Where an official
has retired from service he is still en-
titled to place these boards at the en-
trance of his residence A fourth mode
resembles the preceding and applies to
junks or vessels in which a mandarin
travels. The characters are written
upon flags, which are fastened to the
mast and elsewhere in lieu of ordinary
bunting. When the present governor
Of Formoss left Shanghai on the steamer |
Smith, no less than 80 banners Of this |
class were flung to the breeze from the
masts and other parts of tine boat.
'The embroidered insignias of rank
and position are placed upon the front
and back Of official robes. They must
be of the finest workmanship and so well I
executed as 10 snow the design clearly
and accurately. The general design for
4 civil officer is bird. and for mill
tary official quadruped animal. The
civil list is as follows, ranks and not de-
grees being Disseminated:
''First--A Mantchporian crane. second-A
golden pheasant. Third-A peacock. Fourth i
"a wild goose Fifth-A silver pheasant
Sixth-A young egret. seyenth-A quail.
Eighth-A long tailed jay. Ninth-An criole.
'sThe military list runs:
"Firzt-A unicorn. second-A lion. Third
a leopard. Fourth-A tiger. Fifth-A black
bear. Sizth-A tiger cat. seyenth-A notified
bear Eighth-A seal. Ninth-A rhinoceros.
These insignias have been used from
time immemorial, while the buttons are
a acreation Of the Mantchoo conquerors of
China. 1t is singular fact that both
the lion and the rhinoceros are strangers
to the latter country. The limit Of their
habitat seems to be the Ganges and to
have been so since the tertiary period.
the knowledge Of these animals BY the
Chinese was acquired long before the
Christian era, when large fleets Of junks.
naval, pirate or commercial, went from
Canton to nearly every port in Hindoo-
stan and often brought back these and
other wild beasts alive. |,
"a cause of confusion in the use Of
buttons and insignias lies in the ever in
;reasing power of wealth to secure these
lonors by purchase. Originally they
meant pedigree, military heroism, gener- /
llship or intellectual ability, literary /
srilture or eminent philanthropy. Their |
ownership indicated distinction Of some [
lind TO high degree. This is so no long
II. Ambitious officials are permitted to
gear them in high honorary ranks. In
Canton and Hankow several magistrates
# the seventh rank have purchased the
light and now wear light blue buttons.
)ne, very rich Cantonese, uncon-
ciously reflects upon the decadence Of {
he lines By using as button magnif- |
:ent sapphire worth kings ransom.
1ven private citizens are allowed to graf Il
~ their vanity in this manner. A /
gealthy tea faster in Tamsui, whose ed
lcation would not allow him to become q
m official Of the lowest class, secured the q
Iriyilege Of wearing a dark blna bnttnn a