Show CHINESE ETIQUETTE signs of progress in the flowery kingdom r the emperor alea i goias kew measures and gives i caces to tha of other countries A decree has been issued at announcing noun cing that the emperor will grant a yearly audience to all foreign ministers that is not much iril itself says the bew york sun but taken with a similar piece of news from siam a few months ago that the king had decreed tha his nobles need no longer approach him on their stomachs it goes to indicate that what we call vyester VY estem civilization is beginning to work even among the most conservative of peoples tha emperor of china is tho mightiest of all rulers estimation lie is the son of heaven and father of hiis people equal 40 the gods whom he graciously consents to worship and quite above the necessity oberg polite to representatives of orein governments ern ments so only occasionally when lie feels as if hed like to look at the foreign devils jias he audiences to the ambassadors atklin from other countries andIn departure is therefore particularly striking and in its nature a very strong precedent for his successors jp fact if lie really docs as he says lidwill lie will do his have to follow nun for the customs of alic chinese arc as the lawyor the medes and persians they alter not unless the emperor has a mind to change them A feature of taso called audiences which up to 1873 were granted to the foreign ministers was tha ceremony of the kowtow insisted oni by the chinese court functionaries function aries generally resisted by the foreign ministers occasionally and since 1873 always graciously waived by the son of heaven and the father of his people it was an abasement ato tho ground of the body of a person approaching pro aching the majesty of china and a smocking of the head of that person upon the ground a certain number of times to satisfy the demand of court etiquette and like so many other things in china it was founded by confucius though the sages book liki li ki doean doesn t say a word about it the iv ord kowtow it is spelled also kotow cotou kokoo kookoo kobau kati and has been adopted into the english language is derived from two chinese words kow fow meaning a knocking of the head it is the and highest grade of obeisance rendered only to the Emperor and his equals the gods and though we speak of it always as the kowtow that name ia applied properly only to the fifth grade that consists of kneeling and knocking aho head once upon the ground the sixth grade is the kankao the performer kneels and knocks HS head three times the seven thi grade ls tae luh kao it consists in and knock mg the head thrice rising kneeling again and the jeaa three tunes more the eighth grade is the san kwei kin kao is the kowtow performed three times all the time toa gan kasi kiu kao the three and nine is going on the imperial band plays to the tune lung ping a splendid humilia fon altogether the chinese nobles who have the privilege of an audience must be grateful that the emperor is no higher than the immortal gods bow this the obeisance of the highest grade is per formed by the kings of cochin china korea and other tributary states when they are confirmed by the emperor in their succession to and as sir john grands davisjr his book on China points out is exactly the same as the homage performed by tenants in capita in the times and there fore is an overt recognition 0 tho em geror of china as overlord over lord of the person making the kowtow for this reason the ministers and legates eign G have almost invariably perform the ceremony and though the chinese officials have insisted in most instances they have had to yield on the point and alie audiences at which a yellow curtain did duty for the emperor were not enlivened lav the spectacle of gentlemen in gold laced uniforms or in dress kneeling ungraciously and ruffling both shirt fronts and tempers in acrobatic performances for mances for which their garments iv ere not adapted the dutch ambassadors in 1655 performed the kowtow before the yellow curtain hoping to receive valuable concessions ces for trade they had been told that the emperor would send them food from his own table they got some cheeps trotters on a by way of food from the emperors table and further received permission to bend an embassy every eight years and four ships with it again in 1603 the the dutch ambassador abased himself but holland got no greater benefits from the chinese than did i other countries whose representatives had not kowtowed kow towed in 1793 the first ambassador from greata britain lord macartney had an audience with the yellow curtain and did not do either the kowtow or san kaci kiu kao but when lord amherst arrived in china in the ceremony was demanded of him and on his refusal to perform jt he failed to obtain a sight even of the yellow curtain and left pekin the very day he reached there in 1859 the american Minister refused to koiv tow but he did not get an audience again in our Minister F P to perform thea kowtow although the chinese foreign minister offered to in front of the president but the emperor settled the matter himself june by receiving in person tha japanese ambassador separately and afterward receiving the ministers of the united states great britain france and holland and the latest news indicates that the son of heaven is going to be positively polite to as well as merely negatively courteous to hom |