Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty

The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) of China developed a complicated peerage system for royal and noble ranks.

Rule of inheritance

In principle, titles were downgraded one grade per generation of inheritance.

Occasionally, a peer could be granted the "perpetual heritable" privilege (世襲罔替), which allowed the title to be passed down without downgrading. Throughout the Qing dynasty, there were 12 imperial princely families who enjoyed this privilege. They were known as the "Iron Cap Princes".

DAO

Dao or Dão may refer to:

Places

Circuit (administrative division)

A circuit (Chinese: 道; pinyin: Dào; Japanese: dō) was a historical political division of China, and is a term for an administrative unit still used in Japan. In Korea, the same word 道 (도; do) is translated as "province".

China

Circuits originated in China during the Han dynasty, and were used as a lower tier administrative division, comparable to the county (縣, also translated as "districts"), but only to be used in areas in the fringes of the Empire, that were either primarily inhabited by non-Han Chinese peoples, or too geographically isolated from the rest of the Han centers of power. The system fell into disuse after the collapse of the Western Jin dynasty.

The administrative division was revived in 627 when Tang Emperor Taizong made it the highest level administrative division, and subdivided China into ten circuits. These were originally meant to be purely geographic and not administrative. Emperor Xuanzong added a further five and slowly, the circuits strengthened their own power, until they became powerful regional forces that tore the country apart during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During the Later Jin and Song dynasties, circuits were renamed from dao to lu (路), both of which literally mean "road" or "path". Dao were revived during the Yuan dynasty.

The Blade (film)

The Blade is a 1995 Hong Kong martial arts film co-written, produced and directed by Tsui Hark, starring Vincent Zhao, Moses Chan, Hung Yan-yan, Song Lei, Austin Wai, Chung Bik-ha and Valerie Chow. This film is notable for its unusual style, which includes dramatic close-ups, employment of colour gels, frenetic camera use during the fight sequences, and overall dark tone.

Plot

Ding-on is an orphaned blacksmith working in Sharp Foundry, which is run by his master, a friend of his deceased father. The master's daughter, Ling, who narrates the movie, is romantically attracted to both Ding-on and his colleague, Iron Head. One day, Ding-on and Iron Head see a monk fending off a group of thugs, who later ambush and kill him in revenge. Iron Head is so furious that he identifies himself as someone from Sharp Foundry and taunts the thugs to fight him. The master is angry when he hears of Iron Head's reckless behaviour so he punishes him. Iron Head holds a grudge against Ding-on for telling their master about the incident. He becomes even more unhappy when their master announces his decision to make Ding-on his successor.