A mandarin was a bureaucrat scholar in the government of imperial China and Vietnam. The term is generally applied to the officials appointed through the imperial examination system. For around 1,300 years, from 605 to 1905, mandarins were selected by merit through the extremely rigorous imperial examination. The mandarins were the founders and core of the Chinese gentry. Entitled: "Gastmahl im Hause eines Mandarinen." Image taken from page 423 of China, historisch romantisch, malerisch (historically romantic, picturesque). A translation by Thomas Allom with historical and descriptive notes by the Rev. G. N. Wright, published 1843.