Mandarin, << MAN duhr ihn >>. English-speaking people used the name mandarin for any high military or civil official of the Chinese Empire. The Chinese term is guan, which means a public official. The dialect of North China, the language these officials spoke, is called Northern Chinese or Mandarin. People in Taiwan call the dialect Guoyu, which means national language. In China, it is called Putonghua, meaning common language. Today it is China’s official language. See Chinese language.
A Chinese man became a mandarin by taking promotional examinations. He showed his rank by the color of the buttons on his cap. Governors and generals had red coral buttons. Lieutenant governors and judges wore blue ones. Lower officers had other colors.
Each mandarin had an official robe. The military man’s robe had beasts embroidered on it. The civil official’s robe was illustrated with decorative birds. Judges wore plainer robes.
A mandarin could not marry or acquire property in the province to which he was sent. He could not serve over three years in one province.
