Evening star., 1901-02-19
BUTTONS OF A MANDARIN.
How He Gets Them and What the
Various Ones Signify.
From the London Mail.

| From the London Mail.
The hostilities in China cause us to hear
so much about maudarins. and we in Eng
land are apt to look upon them as Chi
nese officials of great Importance and
wealth, that 1t will be news to many 10
know that practically every Chinese gov
eminent servant is a mandarin. and that
there are thousands of them scattered
about the celestial empire whose official
salaries do not exceed 81 per month
These are the lowest, or ninth, class OF
mandarins, and have just passed their fret
examination, and are usually petty officials
! In one of the numerous custom houses
When promotion follows in due course. our
budding viceroy, providing his peculations
have not exceeded the bounds of modera-
ton, becomes successfully mandarin OF
the eighth and seventh classes
These two steps however mean very lit
tie advance in rank, and before the sixth
d1NlSlon can be entered another examination
mas to be passed A little knowledge and a
great deal OF bribery having been succesG-
full in getting him through this, our man
DARN Is now person of some Importance
sort or district magistrate probably and
MS button is of pure white quartz. In this
cSfacity ne can supplement his income
gioflouSly by substantial presents from both
plaintiffs and defendants alike and in a
lew years has probably extorted enough
the NTH class and wear a transparent crvs-
tai button on his cap. Yet another grade
by the same means, he may advance in due
course and upon attaining to the dignity of
a 1ourth-clasS mandarin turquoise button
Is substituted for the crystal one.
Here 1t is that many Chinese stop in their
upward career. for before another step i'm
advance may be made another examination
mas 10 be passed, and this is a terribly
expensive process. Should the resources
OF our mandarin, however, prove equal to
the occasion, he proudly enters the third
claSs' ana his button, though still blue, is
transparent like amethyst.
BY diplomacy and cringing still moro
brlDery and cunning, the second class is a
last open to him. and with carved red
cofal button upon his cap he proudly gov
erns one of Chna's great cities
He can now go no higher save Hv obtain
ing the good will of the emperor or of the
empress. The mandarinship of the first class
Is the direct gift of the reigning monarch
ana carries with it still a red coral button
out quite plain and smooth. instead of being
carved, as in the second class.
Ihere is title, 'kung. which is very
rarely bestowed, and which is practically
equal to a dukedom. Instead of descending
from father to son. however Ii goes back
TO his ancestors, all of whom are ennubled
en- bloc
The examinations referred to in this arti-
Gle are usually held in large halls The ex-
animation hall, or koong yuin. as 1t Is
called. at Canton contains 800 cells. Each
cell measures four feet by three. and is
hlsn enough to stand up in. The furniture
consists of two boards, one to sit on and the
other for writing at
The cells are arranged around a number
of open courts, so that the soldiers who
guard the palace can look in and see that
no student communicates with another.
Inc characters on the cells indicate each
students particular place. Confinement in
SO cramped an area, where it is impossible
to lie down, is said to cause the death of
many students, some of whom are quite old
men ~