[VOL I] DINNER PARTY AT A MANDARIN’S HOUSE

DINNER PARTY AT A MANDARIN’S HOUSE– Of all appeals – no

Cover Image: Dinner Party at a Mandarin’s House / China / Drawn by T.Allom Engraved by G.Paterson – ALAMY Image ID:2X3H91M

*This illustrates the behavior of bureaucrats in various positions at a Chinese-style banquet.

Method’s more sure at moments to take hold
Of the best feelings of mankind, which grow
More tender, as we every day behold,
Than that all softening, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul—the dinner bell.

BYRON.

MANDARIN’S houses are generally more like cabinets of interesting works of art than the frequented homes of stirring and prudent men,—men who have raised themselves to a position of public respect by their intellectual superiority, and who are supposed to retain that rank by their conspicuous virtues. Certainly the vanity displayed in their palaces is much at variance with those high qualities for which alone they are believed to be promoted. The furniture of the dinner parlour, as well as of all the other apartments in a mandarin’s mansion, is of a costly and beautiful description, and the walls and ceilings are always decorated with fretwork, carved designs in hard woods, and brilliantly coloured paper-hangings. On occasions of conviviality, the table, a broad slab supported by a richly carved frame, is spread with various ornaments; china jars in which flowers and fragrant perfumes are placed, generally stand on plateaux of glass, porcelain, or silver, in the centre, a space being reserved all round for the bowls of the respective guests. Chairs, articles so little used in Asia, form part of the furniture of every house, and in those of men of rank are adorned with embroidered silk and velvet cushions and draperies. The host assumes his place at the head of the table, his chair being raised a little higher than those of his guests, who take their seats on either side, as amongst the civilized nations of Europe.

Such entertainments are encumbered with ceremony; the master of the feast drinks to his company, and they to him in turn; he even eats to them, and his every movement is noticed, respected, and his influence upon the immediate part which each visitor performs. Refusal of an invitation is unpardonable unless in case of sickness, or the demands of public duty, and under such circumstances the absentee’s portion is sent to his house with a pomp that is utterly ludicrous. Amongst the Chinese there is a custom something like this,—each guest brought a napkin in his pocket to the banquet, into which he put the fragments of his share of the feast, and sent them home by his attending slave. A dinner in China consists of a number of made dishes, not placed at once upon the table, but served up in succession, in porcelain bowls carried in on trays. The ceremony commences by the host standing up and pledging his friends, which they as courteously return. Custards and preserved fruits are then served by a number of attendants; after follow, in several courses, soups either of mare’s milk and blood, or vermicelli, or of birds’ nests, which is both insipid and gelatinous, or a much superior kind, consisting of an extract of beef seasoned with soy; the next course may be supposed to include basins of stewed sharks’ fins, birds’ nests, deer sinews, and other dishes believed to be peculiarly nutritious; and this is often succeeded by different kinds of meat minced into small pieces and floating in gravy; amongst the latter varieties are included fowls split open and grilled, others stewed, fowls’ livers floating in oil, eggs with their embryo chickens, and puppies’ flesh. The pastry, which is supplied in abundance, is made from buckwheat, is uncommonly light, and white as snow. Fruits are always iced; and this luxury, in the vicinity of Peking, is within the reach of the poorest mechanic. The wine is of a light kind, having the flavour of sherry; it is made from rice, and is served in an earthen kettle, whence it is poured, by a servant bending on one knee, into little porcelain cups, and drank warm. Porcelain spoons are also in use, and four-pronged silver forks were laid at those banquets to which our envoys and officers have occasionally been invited, but chopsticks are the really popular instruments for the transport of every Chinaman’s food, both solid and liquid, from his saucer to his palate.

During the banquet, a deputy from a company of comedians placed at one end of the apartment, presents a catalogue of those dramatic pieces which his associates are prepared to exhibit; but, no matter which may be selected, the din, clatter, jingle, and sibilious noise that is kept up during the performance, would render their early retirement an object most anxiously desired by a foreigner. The intellectual part of the exhibition is generally succeeded by tumbling, jumping, vaulting, and various feats of juggling, strength, and activity; in all which the actors exhibit powers very superior to their dramatic efforts, and such as would undoubtedly excite applause in any assembly where such spectacles are admitted.