Word: mandarins
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...dimly heard in Wu's classroom. Wu was a bright pupil. Because he was the smallest boy in his class, he was invariably seated in the first row where he could get a better view of the blackboard. Next to him in the front row usually sat a mandarin's son named Chou Enlai...
...Philosopher Lin Yutang is not the best man to evaluate the wisdom of America. Along with his own running commentary, he has gotten together a narcotic collection of bromides from reputable pens; if it proves anything, it proves only that a bromide looks a lot better clothed in a mandarin coat than it does in a Palm Beach suit...
...done. As Amherst withdrew from Peking, the snub was subtly underscored. In the streets he passed a beggar, who rose up deferentially. Amherst's mandarin escort instantly commanded the beggar to sit down again-"the British ambassador," dolefully observed his secretary, "not being now considered deserving respect even from the lowest class of society...
Once they asked the ambassador to kowtow before the figure of a dragon; the imperial emblem. This struck the Occidentals as an Oriental trick that would somehow signify their subservience. Amherst offered to do so if a mandarin of equal rank would genuflect before a portrait of the British sovereign. "Inadmissible!" snapped the Chinese. Amherst played the idea a bit further. He would kowtow to the Emperor if it were guaranteed that any Chinese ambassador in London would make similar obeisance to the English throne. "Impossible!" snorted the mandarins...