ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 217 



No functionary goes on duty into the street without being accompanied by 

 all his subordinate officers ; and if one of the populace forgets to render 

 proper respect to the mandarin, or is not sufficiently quick in turning aside, 

 he is driven out of the road by blows of bamboo-canes. (PI. 25, Jig. 2.) 

 When a zong-tu or vice-king goes abroad his retinue consists of at least 

 one hundred men, civil officers, soldiers, police-officers, musicians, house 

 servants, &c., all clothed in the most expensive manner. Military man- 

 darins, upon public occasions and when making journeys, are always on 

 horseback, and display costly riding equipage, the bridle, bit, and stirrups 

 being manufactured of gold and silver. Nothing, however, bears any 

 resemblance in magnificence and splendor to the public audiences given by 

 the Emperor, or his receptions of ambassadors from nations and princes 

 subjected or tributary to him (pi. 22, Jig. 1). 



The first section of the Chinese code of laws, which is written for the 

 good of the subjects in the plainest characters the language affiDrds, bears 

 the title " General Laws," and commences with a summary enumeration 

 of the customary punishments. The mildest is moderate correction with a 

 thin bamboo, which is scarcely considered a punishment by the Chinese, 

 but merely a mild, at any rate not a degrading, admonition. More dis- 

 graceful is the carrying of the tsha, that is to say, a great wooden tablet, 

 upon which the offence of the condemned is written in large characters, 

 and which he is obliged to carry about with him for weeks and months, 

 according to the circumstances of the case. The highest ministers, and 

 grown sons of the Emperors, are not exempt from the punishment of blows 

 with bamboos ; the Emperor himself being the only individual not liable to 

 correction. Death is the severest punishment ; then follows perpetual 

 banishment to a distance of from 2000 to 4000 miles from the capital, with 

 one hundred blows with rods in addition. In many cases, punishment 

 consists also of blows with bamboos upon the soles of the feet. (Bastinado, 

 pL 24, fg. 3.) 



All the military forces of the Chinese Empire are under the ministry of 

 war (JPing-pu), the only final authority, as soon as the Emperor has given 

 his orders in regard to the execution of important expeditions. The 

 command of the army is committed to the Tong-tsliing-fu, or General 

 Field Marshalate, the chief president of which is one of the most respected 

 grandees of the Empire, and under whose immediate orders is the entire 

 army. This is divided into five great bodies, each with a field-marshal 

 and two aides-de-camp, who all reside in the capital of the Empire. The 

 Mandchoo troops are the most important, numbering 678 companies of 100 

 men each ; the second division, 211 companies, comprehends the Monoids, 

 who came into the country with the Mandchoo at the conquest of China by 

 the latter. The third division, 270 companies, is made up of Utsheng- 

 Tshocha, who, at the close of the last Chinese dynasty Ming, went over to the 

 Mandchoo, and assisted them in taking possession of the Chinese throne. 

 These three divisions form the Mandchoo army proper, which consists of 

 about 116,000 men, mostly cavalry, with field artillery to the number of 

 400 pieces, and constitutes the nucleus of the Chinese military force. The 



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