“The first day was consecrated to the purpose of rendering a solemn, sacred, and devout homage to the supreme majesty of the Emperor. The ceremony was no longer performed in a tent, nor did it partake of the nature of a banquet. The princes, tributaries, ambassadors, and great officers of state were assembled in a vast hall; and upon particular notice were introduced into an inner building, bearing at least the semblance of a temple. It was chiefly furnished with great instruments of music, among which were sets of cylindrical bells suspended in a line from ornamental frames of wood, and gradually diminishing in size from one extremity to the other, and also triangular pieces of metal, arranged in the same order as the bells. To the sound of these instruments a slow and solemn hymn was sung by eunuchs, who had such a command over their voices as to resemble the effect of musical glasses at a distance. The performers were directed, in the gliding from one tone to the other, by the striking of a shrill and sonorous cymbal; and the judges of music among the gentlemen of the embassy were much pleased with their execution. The whole had, indeed, a grand effect. During the performance, and at particular signals, nine times repeated, all present prostrated themselves nine times, except the ambassador and his suite, who made a profound obeisance. But he whom it was meant to honor continued, as if in imitation of the Deity, invisible the whole time. The awful impression intended to be made upon the minds of men by this apparent worship of a fellow-mortal was not to be effaced by any immediate scenes of sport or gaiety, which were postponed to the following day.”[225] The mass of the people are not admitted to participate in these ceremonies; they are kept at a distance, and care, in fact, very little about them. In every provincial capital there is a hall, called Wan-shao kung, dedicated solely to the honor of the Emperor, and where, three days before and after his birthday, all the civil and military officers and the most distinguished citizens assemble to do him the same homage as if he were present. The walls and furniture are yellow.
The right of succession is hereditary in the male line, but it is always in the power of the sovereign to nominate his successor from among his own children. The heir-apparent is not commonly known during the lifetime of the incumbent, though there is a titular office of guardian of the heir-apparent. During the Tsing dynasty the succession has varied, but the bloody scenes enacted in Turkey, Egypt, and India to remove competitors are not known at Peking, and the people have no fear that they will be enacted. Of the eight preceding sovereigns, Shunchí was the ninth son, Kanghí the third, Yungching the fourth, Kienlung the fourth, Kiaking the fifteenth, Taukwang the second, Hienfung the fourth, and Tungchí the only son. When Kwangsü was chosen this regular line failed, and thus was terminated an unbroken succession during two hundred and fifty-nine years (1616 to 1875), when ten rulers (including two in Manchuria) occupied the throne. It can be paralleled only in Judah, where the line of David down to Jehoiachin (B.C. 1055 to 599) continued regularly in the same manner—twenty kings in four hundred and fifty-six years.
In the reign of Kienlung, one of the censors memorialized him upon the desirableness of announcing his successor, in order to quiet men’s minds and repress intrigue, but the suggestion cost the man his place. The Emperor said that the name of his successor, in case of his own sudden death, would be found in a designated place, and that it was highly inexpedient to mention him, lest intriguing men buzzed about him, forming factions and trying to elevate themselves. The soundness of this policy cannot be doubted, and it is not unlikely that Kienlung knew the evils of an opposite course from an acquaintance with the history of some of the princes of Central Asia or India. One good result of not indicating the heir-apparent is that not only are no intrigues formed by the crown-prince, but when he begins to reign he is seldom compelled, from fear of his own safety, to kill or imprison his brothers or uncles; for, as they possess no power or party to render them formidable, their ambition finds full scope for its exercise in peaceful ways. In 1861, when the heir was a child of five years, a palace intrigue was started to remove his custody out of the hands of his mother into those of a cabal who had held sway for some years, but the promoters were all executed.
THE IMPERIAL HOUSE AND NOBILITY.
The management of the imperial clan appertains entirely to the Emperor, and has been conducted with considerable sagacity. All its members are under the control of the Tsung-jin fu, a sort of clansmen’s court, consisting of a presiding controller, two assistant directors, and two deputies of the family. Their duties are to regulate whatever belongs to the government of the Emperor’s kindred, which is divided into two branches, the direct and collateral, or the Tsung-shih and Gioro. The Tsung-shih, or ‘Imperial House,’ comprise only the lineal descendants of Tienming’s father, named Hien-tsu, or ‘Illustrious Sire,’ who first assumed the title of Emperor A.D. 1616. The collateral branches, including the children of his uncles and brothers, are collectively called Gioro. Their united number is unknown, but a genealogical record is kept in the national archives at Peking and Mukden. The Tsung-shih are distinguished by a yellow girdle, and the Gioro by a red one; when degraded, the former take a red, the latter a carnation girdle. There are altogether twelve degrees of rank in the Tsung-shih, and consequently some of the distant kindred are reduced to straitened circumstances. They are shut out from useful careers, and generally exhibit the evils ensuent upon the system of education and surveillance adopted toward them, in their low, vicious pursuits, and cringing imbecility of character. The sum of $133 is allowed when they marry, and $150 to defray funeral expenses, which induces some of them to maltreat their wives to death, in order to receive the allowance and dowry as often as possible.
The titular nobility of the Empire, as a whole, is a body whose members are without power, land, wealth, office, or influence, in virtue of their honors; some of them are more or less hereditary, but the whole system has been so devised, and the designations so conferred, as to tickle the vanity of those who receive them, without granting them any real power. The titles are not derived from landed estates, but the rank is simply designated in addition to the name, and it has been a question of some difficulty how to translate them. For instance, the title Kung tsin-wang literally means the ‘Reverent Kindred Prince,’ and should be translated Prince Kung, not Prince of Kung, which conveys the impression to a foreign reader that Kung is an appanage instead of an epithet.
The twelve orders of nobility are conferred solely on the members of the imperial house and clan: 1. Tsin wang, ‘kindred prince,’ i.e., prince of the blood, conferred usually on his Majesty’s brothers or sons. 2. Kiun wang, or ‘prince of a princedom;’ the eldest sons of the princes of these two degrees take a definite rank during their father’s lifetime, but the collateral branches descend in precedence as the generations are more and more remote from the direct imperial line, until at last the person is simply a member of the imperial clan. These two ranks were termed regulus by the Jesuit writers, and each son of an Emperor enters one or other as he becomes of age. The highest princes receive a stipend of about $13,300, some rations, and a retinue of three hundred and sixty servants, altogether making an annual tax on the state of $75,000 to $90,000. The second receive half that sum, and inferior grades in a decreasing ratio, down to the simple members, who each get four dollars a month and rations. 3 and 4. Beile and Beitse, or princes of and in collateral branches. The 5th to 8th are dukes, called Guardian and Sustaining, with two subordinate grades not entitled to enter the court on state occasions. The 9th to 12th ranks are nobles, or rather generals, in line of descent. The number of persons in the lower ranks is very great. Few of these men hold offices at the capital, and still more rarely are they placed in responsible situations in the provinces, but the government of Manchuria is chiefly in their hands.
Besides these are the five ancient orders of nobility, kung, hao, peh, tsz’, and nan, usually rendered duke, count, viscount, baron, and baronet, which are conferred without distinction on Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese, both civil and military, and as such are highly prized by their recipients as marks of honor. The three first take precedence of the highest untitled civilians, but an appointment to most of the high offices in the country carries with it an honorary title. The direct descendant of Confucius is called Yen-shing kung, ‘the Ever-sacred duke,’ and of Koxinga Hai-ching kung, or ‘Sea-quelling duke;’ these two are the only perpetual titles among the Chinese, but among the Manchus, the chiefs of eight families which aided in settling the crown in the Gioro line were made hereditary princes, who are collectively called princes of the iron crown. Besides the above-mentioned, there are others, which are deemed even more honorable, either from their rarity or peculiar privileges, and answer to membership of the various orders of the Garter, Golden Fleece, Bath, etc., in Europe.
LIFE IN THE PALACE.