THE EMPEROR OF CHINA'S EDUCATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 58, 28 June 1876, Page 2

THE EMPEROR OF CHINA'S EDUCATION.

The educational prospects which as opening before the Imperial infant s Peking are apparently (says the "Celes tial Empire") of a somewhat formidalt nature. We learn from the decree in tk " Peking Gazette " that twice a day tk two Grand Presidents appointed to act m tutors to His Majesty shall deliver thenselves of " suitable admonitions " for Is benefit, by which we may understand loii and solemn harangues on the cultivate of all those virtues which do befit a kins and the duty of studying the recognise canons of propriety. These lectures, ho* ever, are to be varied by the acquisiti® of Manclra, and a training in the urn warlike accomplishments of horsemanslij and archery, in which Manchus, as is wel known, are no mean adepts. It is curioi to observe how jealously , the Imperial family cling to all the -customs mi traditions of their race; now liti desire they show to identify then selves with the great nation they hav conquered, and how continually and tn mistakeably they give signs of beiii an obscure nomadic tribe. But the per son most to be pitied in the program drawn up is the unhappy child who is to suffer for all the little Emperor's misdemeanors, and take all his whippings. We sincerely hope, for the sake of tliii small martyr to Manchu barbarism ani folly, that liis Imperial Majesty will prove an amenable pupil. He is called, m believe, the "Plan-tu," or companion student; "He-he Chu-tze," denoting simply that he is to be used as a means oi " frightening the master" into propriety. If the "whipping boy" were an Englisl lad instead of an Oriental, we fear thai his Imperial fellow-student would haveai anxious time of it ; we can imagine whsl a tin-ashing he would be likely to getfroa his deputy if his behaviour was such ai to entail vicarious whippings upon the latter.