Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- ILLUSTRATIONS and MAPS to VOL. II
- CHAPTER I ‘A RICH AND NOBLE CITY’
- CHAPTER II THE ANCIENT MARCHES OF TIBET
- CHAPTER III ‘THE ARROW FURNACE FORGE’
- CHAPTER IV THE GREAT PLATEAU
- CHAPTER V THE GREAT PLATEAU–continued
- CHAPTER VI REGION OF THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND
- CHAPTER VII REGION OF THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND—Continued
- CHAPTER VIII IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO AND OF AUGUSTUS MARGARY
- CHAPTER IX IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO AND OF AUGUSTUS MARGARY—continued
- APPENDIX A
- APPENDIX B
- APPENDIX C
- INDEX
- Plate section
APPENDIX C
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- ILLUSTRATIONS and MAPS to VOL. II
- CHAPTER I ‘A RICH AND NOBLE CITY’
- CHAPTER II THE ANCIENT MARCHES OF TIBET
- CHAPTER III ‘THE ARROW FURNACE FORGE’
- CHAPTER IV THE GREAT PLATEAU
- CHAPTER V THE GREAT PLATEAU–continued
- CHAPTER VI REGION OF THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND
- CHAPTER VII REGION OF THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND—Continued
- CHAPTER VIII IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO AND OF AUGUSTUS MARGARY
- CHAPTER IX IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO AND OF AUGUSTUS MARGARY—continued
- APPENDIX A
- APPENDIX B
- APPENDIX C
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
The following table of the rank of Chinese officials is partly deduced from the ‘Desultory Notes’ of T. T. Meadows, partly from information furnished me by Mr. Mesny, and from other sources; but the difficulties of acquiring this kind of information are such that I can hardly hope that the table even now is altogether free from error.
The civil and military officials have been placed side by side to give some idea of relative rank. It must not, however, be assumed that the table can be taken as an absolute Table of Precedence.
The officials of different ranks are chiefly to be distinguished by the balls or globules worn on their official hats. These are often styled ‘buttons’ by the English. They are, in fact, spherical in shape, and generally about an inch in diameter. As they button nothing, the term does not seem altogether appropriate.
The ball, however, is very deceptive. High officials are frequently deprived of their proper one, while low officials constantly are entitled to wear, and do wear, a ball of a higher rank than their own.
It is almost impossible to translate the military titles, or give the comparative European and Chinese ranks, for circumstances are so different, and duties so unlike those of a European officer, that it would be little better than misleading to attempt it.
A European Consul ranks with a Tao-T'ai, and a Tao-T'ai ranks about with a Tu-Ssŭ, and that is all that can be said absolutely with regard to relative rank.
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- The River of Golden SandThe Narrative of a Journey through China and Eastern Tibet to Burmah, pp. 427 - 432Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1880