mandarinism

English

Etymology

From mandarin +‎ -ism.

Noun

mandarinism (countable and uncountable, plural mandarinisms)

1. A government of mandarins; character or spirit of the mandarins.
   • 1853, Francis Lieber, On Civil Liberty and Self-government:

     It seems to me that it is these very governments of centralized mandarinism that play at providence, in which they closely resemble the communists, as indeed all absolutism contains a strong element of communism.