Dr. X was seated in the corner booth, his face radiant in the cool, 
UV-filtered sunlight. He was wearing a mandarin cap with dragons embroidered in 
gold thread and a magnificent brocade robe. The robe was loose at the neck and 
had short sleeves so that Hackworth could see the inner
garment of a hoplite suit underneath. Dr. X was at war, and had emerged from 
the safe perimeter of Suzhou, and needed to be prepared for an attack. He was 
sipping green tea from a jumbo McDonald's cup, made in the local style, great 
clouds of big green leaves swirling around in a tumbler of hot water. Hackworth 
doffed his hat and bowed in the Victorian style, which was proper under the 
circumstances. Dr. X returned the bow, and as his head tilted forward, 
Hackworth could see the button on the top of his cap. It was red, the color of 
the highest ranks, but it was made of coral, marking him as second rank. A ruby 
button would have put him at the very highest level. In Western terms this made 
Dr. X roughly equivalent to a lesser cabinet minister or three-star general. 
Hackworth supposed that this was the highest rank of mandarin permitted to 
converse with barbarians.