Mandarin (bureaucrat)
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A mandarin was a bureaucrat scholar in the history of China, Korea and Vietnam.
Three Ming Dynasty mandarins of varying ranks.
A 15th-century portrait of the Ming official Jiang Shunfu. The cranes on his mandarin square indicate that he was a civil official of the sixth rank.
A Qing photograph of a government official with mandarin square in the front
Nguyễn Văn Tường (chữ Hán: 阮文祥, 1824–1886) was a mandarin of the Nguyễn dynasty in Vietnam.
Scholar-official
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The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats, were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Painting that depicts the career of a civil servant. The career path starts with passing the civil service examinations (left side) and progresses to a high position in the government (right side).
A 15th-century portrait of the Ming official Jiang Shunfu. The decoration of two egrets on his chest are a "mandarin square", indicating that he was a civil official of the sixth rank.
Government officials in Changfu during the Wanli era, Ming dynasty
A Western Han fresco depicting Confucius (and Laozi), and his students.