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sovereign outrages justice.
EAST ASIA.
" There is no difference," he said, " between murder by
the sword or by maladministration."
The Government being modelled on the family, both the mother and consort of
the Emperor are entitled to the highest honours. Like him, the reigning Empress
has the golden seals and jade stone, symbols of supreme power, and to her poetry has
consecrated the fong, a fabulous animal analogous to the phoenix. She receives the
homage of the Emperor himself, who every five days pays her an official visit and
bends the knee in her presence. The three other legitimate wives yield her implicit
obedience, as do all the other members of the harem, who are limited by the book
Fig. 152. SI-MMEH PALACE BRONZE LIONS, EMBLEMS OF THE IMPERIAL TOWER.
of ceremonies to one hundred and thirty. A special minister takes charge of the
imperial household, and directs the education of the princes, who have mostly no
rank except in the Manchu armies. From their number the Emperor chooses his
heir, who is nearly always one of the Empress's children. At the death of the
sovereign all social life is suspended. The grandees put on white, the colour of
mourning, for a twelvemonth, the others for one hundred days, during which period
no feasts or weddings can be celebrated. Bright-coloured garments are laid aside,
all leave their hair unshaven, and the barbers, whose office is interdicted, become for
the time State pensioners.
" Lost in his greatness," the Son of Heaven, called also the " Man of Solitude,"