Mandarin (bureaucrat)
Mandarin | ||
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Tâi-lô kuann / kuan | |
quan lại
官吏
Transcriptions | |
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Revised Romanization | kwan |
A mandarin (Chinese: 官; pinyin: guān) was a bureaucrat scholar in the history of China, Korea and Vietnam.
The term is generally applied to the officials appointed through the imperial examination system.
History and use of the term
The English term comes from the
The Portuguese word was thought by many to be related to mandador ("one who commands") and mandar ("to command"), from
In the 16th century, before the term mandarin became widespread in the European languages, the word Loutea (with various spelling variations) was often used in Europeans' travel reports to refer to Chinese scholar-officials. It is frequently used, for example, in Galeote Pereira's account of his experiences in China in 1548–1553, which was published in Europe in 1565, or (as Louthia) in Gaspar da Cruz' Treatise of China (1569). C. R. Boxer says the word comes from the Chinese 老爷 (Mandarin Pinyin: lǎoye; Amoy dialect: ló-tia; Quanzhou dialect: lāu-tia), which was commonly used by people in China to address officials.[9] This is also the main term used to refer to the scholar-officials in Juan González de Mendoza's History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof (1585), which heavily drew (directly or indirectly) on Pereira's report and Gaspar da Cruz' book and which was the Europeans' standard reference on China in the late 16th century.[10]
In the West, the term mandarin is associated with the concept of the scholar-official who immersed himself in poetry, literature, and Confucian learning in addition to performing civil service duties. In modern English, mandarin is also used to refer to any (though usually a senior) civil servant, often in a satirical context,[11] particularly in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries.
The
History
In China, from 605 to 1905, mandarins were selected by merit through the extremely rigorous
After becoming free of Chinese rule and setting up its own independent monarchy, Vietnam emulated the Chinese system of mandarins in its civil service. The last mandarins in history were in service of the State of Vietnam (1949–1955). The Confucian examination system in Vietnam was established in 1075 under the Lý dynasty Emperor Lý Nhân Tông and lasted until the Nguyễn dynasty Emperor Khải Định (1919). Elephants were used to guard the examination halls until 1843 when the emperor said it was no longer necessary.
Ranks under the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) divided the bureaucracy into civil and military positions, both having nine grades or ranks, each subdivided into primary and secondary categories.[15] Civil appointments ranged from attendant to the emperor or a Grand Secretary in the Forbidden City (highest) to being a county magistrate, prefectural tax collector, deputy jail warden, deputy police commissioner or tax examiner. Military appointments ranged from being a field marshal or chamberlain of the imperial bodyguard to a third class sergeant, corporal or a first or second class private.[15]
In the table below, "na" is shorthand for the "nth rank, primary" (正n品), which is a higher sub-rank than "nth rank, secondary" (從n品), denoted as "nb" in the table.
Rank | Civil positions | Military positions |
---|---|---|
1a | Attendants to emperor, Grand Secretaries | Field Marshal, Chamberlain of Imperial Bodyguard |
1b | Deputy attendants to emperor, attendants to heir apparent, Presidents of Courts, Boards & Censorates | Banner Unit Lieutenant General, Manchu General-in-Chief (or garrsion general, highest official of Manchu city), Provincial Commander in Chief of Chinese Army |
2a | Deputy attendants of heir apparent, Vice Pres. of Courts, Boards, Ministers of Imperial Household, Governor General of Provinces | Banner Captain General, Commandants of Divisions, Brigade General |
2b | Chancellors of Imperial Household & Hanlin Institute, Superintendent of Finance, Provincial or Assistant Governors | Major General, Colonel |
3a | Assistant Vice Presidents in the Censorate, Provincial Judge, Director of Courts & Activities | Brigadiers of Artillery & Musketry, Brigadier of Scouts, Banner Division Colonel |
3b | Director of Imperial Banqueting, Director of Imperial Stud, Salt Controller | Banner Brigade Commander Outside Beijing |
4a | Director & Assistant Directors of Imperial Household, Courts, Censorate, Foreign Relations & Circuit Attendants | Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery, Musketry & Scouts Captain, Police Major in Beijing |
4b | Instructors in Grand Secretariat & Hanlin Institute, Prefects | Captain, Assistant Major Domo in Princely Palaces |
5a | Deputy Supervisors of Instruction at Hanlin Institutes, Sub-Prefects | Police Captain, Lieutenant or First Lieutenant |
5b | Assistant Instructors and Librarians at Imperial and Hanlin Institutes, Assistant Directors of Boards and Courts, Circuit Censors | Gate Guard Lieutenants, Second Captain |
6a | Secretaries & Tutors at Imperial & Hanlin Institutes, Secretaries and Registrars at Imperial Offices, Police Magistrate | Bodyguards, Lieutenants of Artillery, Musketry & Scouts, Second Lieutenants |
6b | Assistant Secretaries in Imperial Offices and Law Secretaries, Provincial Deputy Sub-Prefects, Buddhist & Taoist priests | Deputy Police Lieutenant |
7a | Assistant Police Magistrates, Studies Registrars, Directors of Studies in Beijing, District magistrates |
City Gate Clerk, Sub-Lieutenants |
7b | Secretaries in Offices of Assistant Governors, Salt Controllers & Transport Stations | Assistant Major Domo in Nobles' Palaces |
8a | Assistant District Magistrates, Prefectural Secretaries, District Director of Studies | Ensigns |
8b | Sub-director of Studies, Archivists in Office of Salt Controller | First Class Sergeant |
9a | Jail Wardens, District Registrars, Prefectural Archivists | Second Class Sergeant |
9b | Prefectural Tax Collector, Deputy Jail Warden, Deputy Police Commissioner, Tax Examiner | Third Class Sergeant, Corporal, First & Second Class Privates |
See also
- early Republican China
- Yangban – the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon dynasty
- Kapitan Cina – the Chinese officership or mandarinate of colonial Indonesia
- Cabang Atas – the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia
References
- ^ Letters from Portuguese captives in Canton, written in 1534 & 1536: with an introduction on Portuguese intercourse with China in the first half of the sixteenth century. Educ. Steam Press, Byculla. 1902.. The letters were not published at the time, but apparently distributed in manuscript form; Ferguson published the copy found in a Paris library. While Ferguson accepted the 1534 and 1536 dates given in the Paris manuscripts, later researchers concluded that in reality the letters were sent in 1524 (Boxer et al. 1953, p. xxi). In the letters the word occurs numerous times in its plural form, both with a final n/m: mandarĩs, manderĩs, manderỹs and without it: mandaris, manderys, mandarys. (Note that in the 16th-century Portuguese orthography, one would often put a tilde over a final vowel instead of writing an n or m after the vowel; thus ĩ or ỹ would be transcribed as in/im or yn/ym in most modern reprints.)
- ^ Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses, Vol. VI, cap II, 26. Castanheda's spelling (in plural) is still mandarins.
- ^ Matteo Ricci, De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas. Page 45 in the English translation, "China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matteo Ricci", Random House, New York, 1953. In the original Latin, vol. 1, p. 51: "Lusitani Magistratus illos, à mandando fortasse, Mandarinos vocant, quo nomine iam etiam apud Europæos Sinici Magistratus intelliguntur".
- ^ Johnson, Samuel (1827). Dictionnary of the English Language. Longman.
- ^ Mandarin, Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ Mandarin Merriam-Webster
- ISBN 978-0-19-920687-2.
- ^ Ku Seman Ku Hussain; Hafizahril Abdul Hamid (19 July 2009). "PPSMI satu kesilapan" [PPSMI a mistake]. Mingguan Malaysia (in Malay). Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad. p. 7.
Jadi perkataan menteri itu disebut kepada "menterin" dan apabila mereka pergi ke negeri China untuk berjumpa dengan pegawai tinggi akhirnya perkataan "menterin" tadi bertukar kepada "Mandarin".
- ^ Boxer, Charles Ralph; Pereira, Galeote; Cruz, Gaspar da; de Rada, Martín (1953), South China in the sixteenth century: being the narratives of Galeote Pereira, Fr. Gaspar da Cruz, O.P. [and] Fr. Martín de Rada, O.E.S.A. (1550–1575), Issue 106 of Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, p. 10 sq.. Minnan (Amoy and Quanzhou) pronunciation is given as per C.R. Boxer, whose source is Carstairs Douglas's Dictionary of the Amoy vernacular.
- ^ "LOUTEA, LOYTIA, &c" in: Yule, Sir Henry; Burnell, Arthur Coke (1903), Crooke, William (ed.), Hobson-Jobson: a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive, J. Murray, pp. 522–523
- ^ e.g. as in the titles of such works as The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir, Chomsky's American Power and the New Mandarins, etc.
- ^ Guanhua is transcribed by Matteo Ricci and other early European writers as Quonhua, in accordance with Ricci's transcription system that remained in use by Jesuits for a long time after his death. See pages 28–29 in the English translation, China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matteo Ricci, Random House, New York, 1953. In the original Latin, De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu (1617), vol. 1, p. 31: "Præter hunc tamen cuique Provinciæ vernaculum sermonem, alius est universo regno communis, quem ipsi Quonhua vocant, quod curialem vel forensem sonat."
- ISBN 978-0-521-29653-3.
- ^ Bonavia, David Peking New York:1978 Time-Life Books Great Cities of the World series Page 157
- ^ a b Beverly Jackson and David Hugus Ladder to the Clouds: Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank (Ten Speed Press, 1999) pp. 134–135.
External links
- Government of the People's Republic of China at Curlie
- Government of the Republic of China at Curlie