The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-17

knees and have his sleeves extending for
foot beyond his hands, would require some
time to prepare for action.
The laws provide that certain colors shall
not be worn by common people, and only
the highest mobiles and the Emperor can
wear dresses embroidered with the five
claw dragon. A great many OF the officials
have their gowns embroidered with dragons
and you can tell the rank of a man by the
number of gold dragons he has on his
gown, but these dragons must be Jour
clawed dragons and not five. The laws
regulates the length of the gowns. They
state how the sleeves must be cut and the
number of buttons that an official must
use on his underclothes. Their cuffs must
be cut in the shape of a horses hoof, and
the man who understands the Chinese can
tell just how high an official is and what
he is by his clothes. Every high noble and
many of the officials as well wears a square
of embroidery on his breast and his back.
This is made of gold or silver thread, and
stork embroidered on a mans breast
shows that he is of the first rank, while If
the bird is pheasant, its wearer must be
OF the second rank. For the other ranks
there are peacocks, wild geese and quail.
Each of these squares is about the size OF
a lady's pocket handkerchief, and the work
is beautifully done. The military officers
| have their breasts embroidered the same
way, but they use beasts instead OF birds,
and lions, tigers and dragons take the
places of the Quails and the storkS.
One of the funniest things in the eyes OF
the foreigners during this war has been
the fact that the Chinese generals carried
umbrellas and fans when they went into
battle This is also matter of law. Each
officer has his own rank and this is indi-
Gated by the number of umbrellas and
banners which are carried in front of him
when he goes out to ride. Even the small
est mandarins whom l saw going through
Chinese city had one or more dirty red
umbrellas carried on high pole in front
of them, while Falstaff's army of SER
wants carried red banners upon which
were the Chinese characters indicating
their titles. An officer OF the first rank has
the right to two fans, and every great man
as he goes through the country has men
in front of him who beat gongs to warn
the common people to get out of the way.
These umbrellas and banners are always
in red The fans are of the same color,
and officials have carried fans in China
from the remotest antiquity. 1t is impos-
sible to enumerate the little things which
indicate official rank in China. Every
thing has to be just so, and the for
eigner who tries to go about in style is
sure to make mistakes. For instance,
when l went to call upon the Viceroy Lii
Hung Chang l had to 60 in a sedan chair
covered with blue cloth, while the Ameri-
can Consul went IN one of green. Green is
L,
could not use 1t. These chairs are swung
between poles and are carried by men.
You can tell the rank OF the man in the
chair by the brass tips at the ends of the
poles. Those of high mobiles have dragon
heads, and below these come heads of
lions, while common citizens must have
the ends of the poles perfectly plain. The
winter dress of these officials is different
from their summer dress, and one of the
Tautois of the Human province whom |
saw had on an official coat lined with fur,
while his official boots were of black broad
cloth with soles of white wool fully two
inches thick. l met Chinese noble at
He had on black fur cap with peacock
feather sticking out of its back. His blue
silk Jacket was fastened with buttons of
gold, and his long gown was of bright yell
low satin. He took me through his estab-
lishment which was made up of a number
of houses surrounding courts.
In one of these courts the family furs
were hung out for airing, and there were
hundreds of fur-lined garments of all kinds,
some of which must have been worth
several hundred dollars apiece. One of
these big officials always has lot of lack
eys about him, and there is world of
pomp connected with each one of them.
In every town there are Government offices
which are known as Yamens, and the Gov
eminent clerks and subordinates are called
Yamen runners. The mum Der of these
officeholders are legion, and the ofice-seek-
ers are found everywhere by the thousands.
Foochow contains half q million people,
and have heard it estimated that it had
25, 900 men who held Office, though a large
number of them we're probably connected
with the government of the provinces in
which Foochow is located. Surprising
each of these men to have five hangers-on,
or to have family of five, this would make
total of $4,000 people to be supported in
some way by Offices.
The Chinese have way of ennobling
men after they are dead. When a man
does something great he not only gets
| honors himself, but his dead grandfather
may be made marquis or count. Me-
mortal arches are often erected on account
of good conduct and for deeds which have
caused the death of the doer. Widows
who have committed suicide out of grief
for their husbands have sometimes such
arches erected for them, and young girls
who have cut pieces of their own flesh out
of their bodies in order to cook them and
give them as medicine to their dying
friends have been so honored.
4mIf 4 q