Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/95

 The first consists of the presiding elder (坐堂大爺), tso t‘ang ta yeh, and the vice president, t‘i tiao (提調) ta yeh. The former position is a very important one, since all believe that the success of their meetings rests on the virtues of their president.

The second grade is called Wu shêng (武聖). Few dare assume the responsibilities of this grade, for their lot in life will then be poor and mouldy and their luck mean and miserable. Some Buddhist or Taoist priests are generally found to shoulder the responsibilities.

The third grade is known as Hsüan Hou (桓侯) san yeh, Hsüan Hou being Chang Fei (張飛), of the "Peach Orchard" trio.

The fourth grade stands with no representative, in fact no one would be allowed to take a position under the grade even if willing. The cause is superstition; ssŭ (四), "four," is akin in sound to shih (事), "trouble," and is the same except in tone as ssŭ (死), "death."

The fifth grade is called Kuan shih (管事) wu yeh. This is a very important position, occupied by two men at each "anchorage," known as the red flag and the black flag managers (紅旗), and (黑旗), Hung ch‘i and hei ch‘i Kuan shih. Most power is in the hands of the former, while most of the drudgery falls to the latter, who is generally a man of inferior ability or one who has been degraded to that position for some misdemeanour. Sometimes, however, a rich man with plenty of money to lose and no brains for managing business may be made black flag leader. From the sixth grade downwards the grades are simply known by numbers. But number seven is another grade without a representative, its positions being mere empty names. This is owing to the character for "seven" being akin in sound to the character "to slice." The eighth grade is called lao pa (老八), or jao pa (幺八), and the last grade is called lao jao or hsiao lao jao.

Any one may buy his way to the top of the Society, i pu têng t‘ien (一步登天), "rising to heaven at one step." Such a one enters the Benevolent Lodge as a senior brother, and is