The following is the translation of the “Order of rites observed in receiving the imperial mandate, raising lamentation, and laying aside the mourning clothes, on occasion of the grand ceremony following the demise of an empress.” It was circulated in Canton as a supplement to the daily court circular. When the imperial mandate, written on yellow paper, comes down the river, an officer is immediately deputed to receive and guard it at the imperial landing place. The master of ceremonies leads the officer, and directs him to receive the mandate with uplifted hands; land and deposite it safely in the _dragon dome_, (a kind of carriage borne by sixteen or thirty-two men,) and spread it out in proper form. The civil and military officers in plain dresses, then kneel down in order, in the “Sunny-side pavillion,” and so remain until the mandate has passed. When they have risen, the officer leads the procession to the grand gate of the examination court; the civil and military officers then first enter the “most public hall,” and there kneel down, the civilians on the east side, and the military on the west, until the dragon-dome has passed; after which they rise and wait till the dome has entered the hall of the constellation Kwei. In this hall an embroidered yellow curtain and incense-table, must previously be prepared, and an officer be sent to receive, with reverence, the imperial mandate and safely lay it on the table. When this has been done all the officers enter; upon which the master of ceremonies cries out: “Range yourselves in order, perform the ceremony of thrice kneeling, and nine times knocking the head.” He then requests to have the mandate read aloud; and the public official reader raises up the mandate to read it. _Master of Ceremonies._ “Officers--all kneel--hear the proclamation read--(and when the reading is concluded he continues)--rise--raise lamentation.” The officers do so accordingly. After the lamentation, the reader places the mandate on the yellow table, and the master of ceremonies calls out: “Deliver the imperial mandate.” An officer is then sent to the yellow table, who raises up the mandate, and delivers it to the governor, kneeling. The governor having received it, rises, and delivers it to the Poo-ching-sze, also kneeling; the latter officer in turn rises, and delivers it to his chief clerk, likewise kneeling. The clerk rises and takes it to the hall of Tsze-wei, (in the Poo-ching-sze’s office,) to be printed on yellow paper.