August 19, 2025 • 24 mins
The author of this captivating narrative possesses a unique perspective shaped by her remarkable lineage. As the daughter of Lord Yu Keng, a prominent figure in the Manchu White Banner Corps and a progressive Chinese official, she brings unparalleled insights to her experiences. Serving as First Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress Dowager, she had the rare opportunity to observe and understand the complexities of the woman who ruled China for decades. This intimate chronicle, inspired by the encouragement of friends, illuminates the extraordinary personality of the Empress and the rich customs of her court, offering readers a fresh lens on this pivotal moment in history.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eleven of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by J. C. Guan.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'olin, chapter eleven.
Our costumes. The next day, we got up earlier than
usual and dressed ourselves in our new gowns. I could
(00:24):
not believe my own eyes and asked several times whether
that was myself or not. I found that I looked
all right, although I hadn't been wearing this sort of
costume for so long. They seemed to think that we
would look awkward. Our own eunuchs were delighted to see
us dressed that way. The young Empress came in while
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passing our rooms on her way to the Empress Dowager's place,
and waited for us to go with her. When we
arrived at the waiting room, a lot of people came
in and looked at us and talked so much about
us that it made me feel rather shy. Every one
told us that we looked much better that way than
in foreign clothes, except the Emperor kuang Hu. He said
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to me, I think your Parisian gowns are far prettier
than this, I smiled and said nothing. He shook his
head at me and went into Her Majesty's bedroom. Lilian
Ying came and saw us and was very much excited
and told me to go and see her Majesty at once.
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I told him that every one was looking at us
as if we were curios. He said, you don't know
how nice you look now, and I wish that you
would not wear foreign clothes at all. Her Majesty laughed
so loud when she saw us that it made me uncomfortable,
for I was afraid we looked unnatural to her, She said,
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I cannot believe you are the same girls. Just look
at yourselves in this looking glass. She pointed to a
large mirror in her room. See how you have changed.
I feel that you belong to me now. I must
have some more gowns made for you. Then Lilia Ying
said that the twenty fourth would be the first day
of the summer. On that day, every one would begin
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to wear jade hairpins instead of gold, and we had none.
Her Majesty said to Lie, I am very glad you
told me that I must give them each a jade hairpin.
After having Akkhen to change into Manchu clothes. Lee went
away and came back with a box of hairpins of
pure green jade. Her majesty took a beautiful one and
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handed it to my mother and told her that that
pin had been worn by three empresses. She took two
very nice ones and gave one to me and one
to my sister. She told us that these two were
a pair, and that the other Empress Dowager, the East
Empress Dowager, used to wear one, and that the other
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was worn by herself when she was young. I felt
ashamed that her majesty had given us so many presents
and I had done nothing for her in any way. However,
we thanked her most sincerely and showed our appreciation. She said,
I look upon you as my own people, and the
gowns I have made for you are the very best.
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I have also decided to let you wear the full
court dress, the same as one of the princesses. You
are my court lady, so you are equally ranked. Here.
Lie stood there behind her and made a sign to
us to koto to her. I cannot remember how many
times I kotoed that day. The head dress was very
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heavy and I was not quite used to it. I
was afraid it might fall off. Her Majesty also said
that she would make our rank known to the court
on her seventieth birthday. I will explain this on every
decade from the time of her birth. Her Majesty used
to give special favors to any one she liked, or
(04:03):
to any one who had done something for her and
had been useful to her. She could promote any one
at any time, but on these occasions it was something special.
The young Empress congratulated us and said that her Majesty
was looking for a young prince to marry me. She
was also very fond of teasing. I wrote to my
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father about all the favors that had been given to me.
He wrote me he hoped that I deserved them all,
and that I must do all I could to be
useful and loyal to her Majesty. As long as she lived.
I was very happy. Life was perfectly lovely at the palace.
Her Majesty was always nice and kind. I noted the
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difference in the way she had treated us, since, as
she said, we had become man to once more. One day,
her Majesty asked me, while we were sailing on the
lake in the moonlight if I wanted to go to
Europe any more. It was a superb night, and several
boats were sailing behind us. In one boat, several eunuchs
were playing a kind of sweet music on the flute
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and an instrument very much like the mandolin called ryuetin
small harp like the shape of the moon. With her
Majesty singing very softly to herself, I told her I
was satisfied to be with her and did not wish
to go anywhere at all. She said that I must
learn to sing poetry, and that she would teach me
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every day. I told her that my father had made
me study all kinds of poetry, and I had composed
some myself. She looked surprised and said, why didn't you
tell me that before I love poems, you must read
to me sometimes. I have many books here containing poems
of different dynasties. I told her that my knowledge of
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Chinese literature was very limited, and I dared not let
her see how little I knew. I had only studied
eight years. Her Majesty told me that the young emperors
and herself were the only ones who were familiar with
Chinese literature at the court. She told me that she
tried to teach the court ladies to read and write
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some time ago, but having found them so lazy, she
gave them up. My father told me to be very
careful not to show them what I could do until
I was asked, so I kept it to myself. After
they found this out, some of the court ladies were
very disagreeable to me, and this went on day after day.
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Except for this unpleasantness, the fourth moon passed very agreeably.
The first day of the fifth moon was a busy
day for us all as from the first to the
fifth of the fifth moon was the festival of five
Poisonous Insects, which I will explain later, also called the
dragon boat festival. All the viceroys, governors and high officials,
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beside the imperial family, court ladies and eunuchs all offer
her Majesty beautiful presents. I never saw such a lot
of things as came into the palace during this festival.
Each person who sent in presents must accompany them with
a sheet of yellow paper, and at the right lower
corner the sender's name must be written and also the
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word kuetin meaning to present their gifts kneeling also to
write what the presents were. The eunuchs took big yellow
trays to bring them in. During these five days, every
one was busy, especially the eunuchs. I could not count
just how many people sent presents to her Majesty. The
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presents were of every kind, such as things for the household,
silks and jewelry of all kinds and description. A large
part of the present were foreign goods of the ordinary kind.
I also saw lovely carved thrones and embroideries. Her Majesty
ordered them to be put away, and the foreign things
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to be kept in her palace, for those were new
to her. The third day of the fifth moon was
the day for just the people of the palace to
make presents. It was a most beautiful sight to see.
We were busy all night making preparations and had to
go and help the young Empress. The next morning we
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placed our presence in the big courtyard in these big
yellow trays. The young Empress had her trays in the
first row. The presents from the Young Empress to the
Empress dowager were made by her own hands. There were
ten pairs of shoes, silk embroidered handkerchiefs, little bags for
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betteled nuts, and bags for tobacco, all exquisitely done. The
secondary wife of the Emperor guang Hiu presented about the
same to Her Majesty. The court lady's presence were all different,
as we could ask permission to go out shopping before
the feast. We could not go out together, for one
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or two of us must be there at all times,
and it was very exciting to tell each other what
we had bought. We ourselves did not ask permission to
go out of the palace, for we had our presents ready.
Long before everyone seemed to be talking about presents, whether
Her Majesty would like them or not. My mother, my
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sister and myself had written to Paris to get some
lovely French brocades, one set of furniture French Empire style.
We had learned Her Majesty's taste already during our short
stay there, so including those presents, we also gave her fans, perfumes, soaps,
and some other French novelties. Her Majesty always looked over
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everything and noticed some of the presents were of very
poor quality, and wanted to know the sander's name. The
eunuchs and servant girls also made her good and new,
useful presents. Her Majesty would select the articles she liked
the best and ordered the rest to be put away,
and she might never see them again. I must say
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that Her Majesty liked and admired some foreign things very much.
She especially loved the French fancy brocades, for she was
making new gowns almost every day. She was also pleased
with soaps and powder that would beautify the skin. She
always thanked us in a very nice way and said
how very thoughtful we were in selecting beautiful articles for her.
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Her Majesty would also say something nice to the eunuchs
and girls, and that made every one feel pleased. The
fourth day of the fifth moon was the day that
Her Majesty gave presents to us, all the different princes,
high officials, servant girls and eunuchs. Her memory was something extraordinary,
for she could remember every one of the presents that
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had been given to her the day before, and the
names of the givers. Also, that was a busy day
for us. Her Majesty gave people presents according to the
way they gave her. We had yellow sheets of paper
and wrote out the names of those to whom she
wished to give. That day, her Majesty was very angry
with one of the wives of a certain prince because
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her presents were the poorest. Her Majesty told me to
keep that tray in her room and said she would
go over them and see what they were. I knew
she was not pleased, for she had a tell tale face.
She told us to measure the silks and ribbons in
that tray and leave it in the hall. The ribbons
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were all of different lengths, all too short to trim
a gown, and the dress materials were not of good quality.
Her Majesty said to me, now you look for yourself.
Are these good presents? I know very well all these
things were given to them by other people, and they,
of course would select the best for themselves and give
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me what was left. They know they are obliged to
send me something. I am surprised to see how careless
they are. Probably they thought, as I received so many presents,
I would not notice they are mistaken, For I noticed
the poorest the first. In fact, I can remember everything.
I can see those who gave me things in order
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to please me, and those who gave because they were
obliged to, I will return them the same way. She
gave the court ladies each a beautiful embroidered gown and
a few hundred tails, the same to the young Empress
and the secondary wife. The presents which she gave us
were a little different, consisting of two embroidered gowns, several
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simple ones, jackets and sleeveless jackets, shoes, and flowers for
the men who had dress. She said that we had
not so many gowns, and instead of giving us the money,
she had things made for us. Besides that, she gave
me a pair of very pretty ear rings, but none
to my sister, for she noticed that I had a
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pair of ordinary gold ear rings, while my sister had
a pair set with pearls and jade. Her Majesty said
to my mother, Utai Tai, I can say you love
one daughter better than the other. Wronging had such pretty
ear rings, and poor Dwelling has none. Before my mother
could answer her, she had turned to me while I
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was standing at the back of her chair. I will
have a nice pair made for you. You are mine now.
My mother told her that I did not like to
wear heavy ear rings. Her Majesty laughed and said, never mind.
She is mine now, and I will give her everything
she needs. You have nothing to do with her. The
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ear rings she gave me were very heavy. Her Majesty
said that if I would wear them every day, I
would get used to them. And so it proved that
after some time I thought nothing of it. Now about
this feast, it is also called the dragon boat feast.
The fifth of the fifth moon, at noon was the
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most poisonous hour. For the poisonous insects and reptiles such
as frogs, lizards, snakes, hide themselves in the mud for
that hour they are paralyzed. Some medical men search for
them at that hour and placed them in jars, and
when they are dried, sometimes used them as medicine. Her
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Majesty told me this, so that day I went all
over everywhere and dug into the ground, but found nothing.
The usual custom was that at noon her Majesty took
a small cup filled with spirits of wine and added
a kind of yellow powder, something like sulfur. She took
a small brush and dipped it into the cup, and
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made a few spots of this yellow paint under our
nostrils and ears. This was to prevent any insects from
crawling on us during the coming summer. The reason why
it was also called the dragon boat festival was because
at the time of the Chou dynasty, the country was
divided into several parts. Each place had a ruler. The
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Emperor Cho had a prime minister named Chiu Yuan, who
advised him to make alliance with the other six countries,
but the emperor refused, and Chiu Yuan thought that the
country would be taken by others in the near future.
He could not influence the emperor, so he made up
his mind to commit suicide and jumped into the river,
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taking a large piece of stone with him. This happened
on the fifth day of the fifth moon, so the
year afterwards, the emperor got into a dragon boat to
worship his soul and threw rice cakes called chungs into
the river on that day. The people have celebrated this
feast ever since. At the palace, the theater played first
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this history, which was very interesting, and also played the
insects trying to hide themselves before the most poisonous hour arrived.
On that day, we all wore tiger's shoes, the front
part of which was made of a tiger's head, with
little tigers made of yellow silk to wear on the
head dress. These tigers were only for the children to
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wear and signified that they would be as strong as
a tiger, but Her Majesty wanted us to wear them. Also,
the wives of the Manchu officials came to the court,
and when they saw us, they laughed at us. We
told them it was by Her Majesty's orders. A register
recording the birth days of all the court ladies was
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kept by the head eunuch, and a few days before
my own birthday came round the tenth day of the
fifth moon, he informed me that the custom of the
court was to make a present to Her Majesty, and
said that the present should take the form of fruit cakes,
et cetera. So I ordered eight boxes of different kinds.
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Early in the morning, I put on full court dress
and made myself look as nice as possible, and went
to wish Her Majesty good morning. When she had finished
the dressing, the eunuchs brought in the presents, and kneeling,
I presented them to Her Majesty, bowing to the ground
nine times. She thanked me and wished me a happy birthday.
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She then made me a present of a pair of
sandal wood bracelets beautifully carved, also a few rolls of
brocade silk. She also informed me that she had ordered
some macaroni in honor of my birthday. This macaroni is
called Changsho Mien, the long life macaroni. This was the custom.
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I again bowed and thanked her for her kindness and thoughtfulness.
After bowing to the young Empress and receiving in return
two pairs of shoes and several embroidered neckties, I returned
to my room, where I've found presents from all the
court ladies. Altogether, I had a very happy birthday. I
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can never forget the fifteenth day of the fifth Moon
as long as I live, for that was a bad
day for every one. As usual, we went to Her
Majesty's bedroom quite early that morning. She could not get
up and complained that her back ached so much. We
wrapped her back in turns, and finally she got up,
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though a little late. She was not satisfied. The Emperor
came in and knelt down to wish her good morning,
but she scarcely took any notice of him. I noticed
that when the Emperor saw that her Majesty was not well.
He said very little to her. The eunuch, who dressed
her hair every morning was ill and had ordered another
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one to help her. Her Majesty told us to watch
him very closely to say that he did not pull
her hair off. She could not bear to see even
one or two hairs fall out. This eunuch was not
used to trickery. For instance, in case the hair was
falling off, he could not hide it like the other
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one did. This poor man did not know what to
do with any that came out. He was frightened, and
Her Majesty, seeing him through the mirror, asked him whether
he had pulled her hair out. He said that he had.
This made her furious, and she told him to replace it.
I almost laughed, but the eunuch was very much frightened
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and started to cry. Her Majesty ordered him to leave
the room and said she would punish him. Later. We
helped her to fix up her hair. I must say
it was not an easy job, for she had very
long hair and it was difficult to come. She went
to the morning audience as usual, and after that she
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told the head eunuch what had happened. This lee was
indeed a bad and cruel man, and said, why not
beat him to death? Immediately? She orderedly to take this
man to his own quarters to receive punishment. Then Her
Majesty said the food was bad and ordered the cooks
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to be punished also. They told me that whenever Her
Majesty was angry, everything went wrong, so I was not
surprised that so many things happened that day. Her Majesty
said that we all looked too vain with our hair
to low down at the back of the head. This
Manchu headdress is placed right in the center of one's head,
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and the back part is called the swallow's tail and
must reach the bottom of one's collar. We had our
hair done up the same way every day, and she
had previously never said a word about it. She looked
at us and said, now I am going to the
audience and don't need you all here. Go back to
your rooms and fix your hair all over again. If
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I ever see you all like that again, I am
going to cut your hair off. I was never more
surprised in my life when I heard her speak so
sharply to us. I don't know whether I was spoken
to or not, But I thought it well to be wise,
and I answered I would. We were all ready to go,
and Her Majesty stood there watching us. When we were
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about five or six feet away, we heard her scolding
twinshow the girl, who was neither a court lady nor
a servant. Her Majesty said she was pretending she was
all right, and her Majesty ordered her to go. Also,
when we were all walking towards our own place, some
of them laughed at twnshow, which made her angry. When
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Her Majesty was angry with any one, she would say
that we were all doing something on purpose to make
her angry. I must say that every one of us
was cared and wondered who would have dared to do that.
On the contrary, we tried our best to please her
in every way, but that day she was furious all day,
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and I tried to stay away from her. I noticed
some of the eunuchs went to her to ask questions
concerning important matters, but she would not look at them,
but kept on reading her book. To tell the truth,
I felt miserable that day. At the beginning, I thought
all the eunuchs were faithful servants, but seeing them every day,
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I got to know them. It did not do them
any harm to be punished once in a while. The
young Empress told me to go in and wait on
her Majesty as usual. She said that probably if I
would suggest playing dice with her, she might forget her troubles.
At first, I did not want to go for I
was afraid that she might say something to me. But
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seeing that the poor young Empress spoke to me so nicely,
I told her I would try. When I entered Her
Majesty's sitting room, I found her reading a book. She
looked at me and said, come over here. I would
like to tell you something. You know, these people at
the palace are no good and I don't like them
at all. I don't want them to poison your ears
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by telling you how wicked I am. Don't talk to them.
You must not fix your hair to low down at
the back of your head. I was not angry with
you this morning. I know you are different. Don't let
them influence you. I want you to be on my
side and do as I tell you. Her Majesty spoke
very kindly to me, and her face changed also, not
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at all the same face. She had that morning. Of course,
I promised her that I would be only too happy
to do all I could to please her. She spoke
to me just like a good mother would speak to
a dear child. I changed my opinion and thought that perhaps,
after all, she was right. But I had often heard
from the officials that one cannot be good to a eunuch,
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as he would do all he could to injure you
without any reason whatsoever. I noticed that day they all
seemed to be more careful in doing their work. I
was told that when once her Majesty got angry, she
would never finish. On the contrary, she talked to me
very nicely, just as if there had been no troubles
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at all. She was not difficult to wait upon. Only
one had to watch her moods. I thought how fascinating
she was, and I had already forgotten that she had
been angry. She seemed to have guessed what I was thinking,
and said, I can make people hate me worse than poison,
and can also make them love me. I have that power.
(24:39):
I thought she was right there and of Chapter eleven
read by J. C Iguan, Montreal, January two thousand nine.
Chapter eleven of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by J. C. Guan.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'olin, chapter eleven.
Our costumes. The next day, we got up earlier than
usual and dressed ourselves in our new gowns. I could
(00:24):
not believe my own eyes and asked several times whether
that was myself or not. I found that I looked
all right, although I hadn't been wearing this sort of
costume for so long. They seemed to think that we
would look awkward. Our own eunuchs were delighted to see
us dressed that way. The young Empress came in while
(00:45):
passing our rooms on her way to the Empress Dowager's place,
and waited for us to go with her. When we
arrived at the waiting room, a lot of people came
in and looked at us and talked so much about
us that it made me feel rather shy. Every one
told us that we looked much better that way than
in foreign clothes, except the Emperor kuang Hu. He said
(01:09):
to me, I think your Parisian gowns are far prettier
than this, I smiled and said nothing. He shook his
head at me and went into Her Majesty's bedroom. Lilian
Ying came and saw us and was very much excited
and told me to go and see her Majesty at once.
(01:30):
I told him that every one was looking at us
as if we were curios. He said, you don't know
how nice you look now, and I wish that you
would not wear foreign clothes at all. Her Majesty laughed
so loud when she saw us that it made me uncomfortable,
for I was afraid we looked unnatural to her, She said,
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I cannot believe you are the same girls. Just look
at yourselves in this looking glass. She pointed to a
large mirror in her room. See how you have changed.
I feel that you belong to me now. I must
have some more gowns made for you. Then Lilia Ying
said that the twenty fourth would be the first day
of the summer. On that day, every one would begin
(02:14):
to wear jade hairpins instead of gold, and we had none.
Her Majesty said to Lie, I am very glad you
told me that I must give them each a jade hairpin.
After having Akkhen to change into Manchu clothes. Lee went
away and came back with a box of hairpins of
pure green jade. Her majesty took a beautiful one and
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handed it to my mother and told her that that
pin had been worn by three empresses. She took two
very nice ones and gave one to me and one
to my sister. She told us that these two were
a pair, and that the other Empress Dowager, the East
Empress Dowager, used to wear one, and that the other
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was worn by herself when she was young. I felt
ashamed that her majesty had given us so many presents
and I had done nothing for her in any way. However,
we thanked her most sincerely and showed our appreciation. She said,
I look upon you as my own people, and the
gowns I have made for you are the very best.
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I have also decided to let you wear the full
court dress, the same as one of the princesses. You
are my court lady, so you are equally ranked. Here.
Lie stood there behind her and made a sign to
us to koto to her. I cannot remember how many
times I kotoed that day. The head dress was very
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heavy and I was not quite used to it. I
was afraid it might fall off. Her Majesty also said
that she would make our rank known to the court
on her seventieth birthday. I will explain this on every
decade from the time of her birth. Her Majesty used
to give special favors to any one she liked, or
(04:03):
to any one who had done something for her and
had been useful to her. She could promote any one
at any time, but on these occasions it was something special.
The young Empress congratulated us and said that her Majesty
was looking for a young prince to marry me. She
was also very fond of teasing. I wrote to my
(04:24):
father about all the favors that had been given to me.
He wrote me he hoped that I deserved them all,
and that I must do all I could to be
useful and loyal to her Majesty. As long as she lived.
I was very happy. Life was perfectly lovely at the palace.
Her Majesty was always nice and kind. I noted the
(04:46):
difference in the way she had treated us, since, as
she said, we had become man to once more. One day,
her Majesty asked me, while we were sailing on the
lake in the moonlight if I wanted to go to
Europe any more. It was a superb night, and several
boats were sailing behind us. In one boat, several eunuchs
were playing a kind of sweet music on the flute
(05:08):
and an instrument very much like the mandolin called ryuetin
small harp like the shape of the moon. With her
Majesty singing very softly to herself, I told her I
was satisfied to be with her and did not wish
to go anywhere at all. She said that I must
learn to sing poetry, and that she would teach me
(05:30):
every day. I told her that my father had made
me study all kinds of poetry, and I had composed
some myself. She looked surprised and said, why didn't you
tell me that before I love poems, you must read
to me sometimes. I have many books here containing poems
of different dynasties. I told her that my knowledge of
(05:53):
Chinese literature was very limited, and I dared not let
her see how little I knew. I had only studied
eight years. Her Majesty told me that the young emperors
and herself were the only ones who were familiar with
Chinese literature at the court. She told me that she
tried to teach the court ladies to read and write
(06:15):
some time ago, but having found them so lazy, she
gave them up. My father told me to be very
careful not to show them what I could do until
I was asked, so I kept it to myself. After
they found this out, some of the court ladies were
very disagreeable to me, and this went on day after day.
(06:37):
Except for this unpleasantness, the fourth moon passed very agreeably.
The first day of the fifth moon was a busy
day for us all as from the first to the
fifth of the fifth moon was the festival of five
Poisonous Insects, which I will explain later, also called the
dragon boat festival. All the viceroys, governors and high officials,
(07:00):
beside the imperial family, court ladies and eunuchs all offer
her Majesty beautiful presents. I never saw such a lot
of things as came into the palace during this festival.
Each person who sent in presents must accompany them with
a sheet of yellow paper, and at the right lower
corner the sender's name must be written and also the
(07:22):
word kuetin meaning to present their gifts kneeling also to
write what the presents were. The eunuchs took big yellow
trays to bring them in. During these five days, every
one was busy, especially the eunuchs. I could not count
just how many people sent presents to her Majesty. The
(07:43):
presents were of every kind, such as things for the household,
silks and jewelry of all kinds and description. A large
part of the present were foreign goods of the ordinary kind.
I also saw lovely carved thrones and embroideries. Her Majesty
ordered them to be put away, and the foreign things
(08:04):
to be kept in her palace, for those were new
to her. The third day of the fifth moon was
the day for just the people of the palace to
make presents. It was a most beautiful sight to see.
We were busy all night making preparations and had to
go and help the young Empress. The next morning we
(08:25):
placed our presence in the big courtyard in these big
yellow trays. The young Empress had her trays in the
first row. The presents from the Young Empress to the
Empress dowager were made by her own hands. There were
ten pairs of shoes, silk embroidered handkerchiefs, little bags for
(08:45):
betteled nuts, and bags for tobacco, all exquisitely done. The
secondary wife of the Emperor guang Hiu presented about the
same to Her Majesty. The court lady's presence were all different,
as we could ask permission to go out shopping before
the feast. We could not go out together, for one
(09:05):
or two of us must be there at all times,
and it was very exciting to tell each other what
we had bought. We ourselves did not ask permission to
go out of the palace, for we had our presents ready.
Long before everyone seemed to be talking about presents, whether
Her Majesty would like them or not. My mother, my
(09:26):
sister and myself had written to Paris to get some
lovely French brocades, one set of furniture French Empire style.
We had learned Her Majesty's taste already during our short
stay there, so including those presents, we also gave her fans, perfumes, soaps,
and some other French novelties. Her Majesty always looked over
(09:49):
everything and noticed some of the presents were of very
poor quality, and wanted to know the sander's name. The
eunuchs and servant girls also made her good and new,
useful presents. Her Majesty would select the articles she liked
the best and ordered the rest to be put away,
and she might never see them again. I must say
(10:11):
that Her Majesty liked and admired some foreign things very much.
She especially loved the French fancy brocades, for she was
making new gowns almost every day. She was also pleased
with soaps and powder that would beautify the skin. She
always thanked us in a very nice way and said
how very thoughtful we were in selecting beautiful articles for her.
(10:33):
Her Majesty would also say something nice to the eunuchs
and girls, and that made every one feel pleased. The
fourth day of the fifth moon was the day that
Her Majesty gave presents to us, all the different princes,
high officials, servant girls and eunuchs. Her memory was something extraordinary,
for she could remember every one of the presents that
(10:55):
had been given to her the day before, and the
names of the givers. Also, that was a busy day
for us. Her Majesty gave people presents according to the
way they gave her. We had yellow sheets of paper
and wrote out the names of those to whom she
wished to give. That day, her Majesty was very angry
with one of the wives of a certain prince because
(11:18):
her presents were the poorest. Her Majesty told me to
keep that tray in her room and said she would
go over them and see what they were. I knew
she was not pleased, for she had a tell tale face.
She told us to measure the silks and ribbons in
that tray and leave it in the hall. The ribbons
(11:39):
were all of different lengths, all too short to trim
a gown, and the dress materials were not of good quality.
Her Majesty said to me, now you look for yourself.
Are these good presents? I know very well all these
things were given to them by other people, and they,
of course would select the best for themselves and give
(12:00):
me what was left. They know they are obliged to
send me something. I am surprised to see how careless
they are. Probably they thought, as I received so many presents,
I would not notice they are mistaken, For I noticed
the poorest the first. In fact, I can remember everything.
I can see those who gave me things in order
(12:22):
to please me, and those who gave because they were
obliged to, I will return them the same way. She
gave the court ladies each a beautiful embroidered gown and
a few hundred tails, the same to the young Empress
and the secondary wife. The presents which she gave us
were a little different, consisting of two embroidered gowns, several
(12:44):
simple ones, jackets and sleeveless jackets, shoes, and flowers for
the men who had dress. She said that we had
not so many gowns, and instead of giving us the money,
she had things made for us. Besides that, she gave
me a pair of very pretty ear rings, but none
to my sister, for she noticed that I had a
(13:06):
pair of ordinary gold ear rings, while my sister had
a pair set with pearls and jade. Her Majesty said
to my mother, Utai Tai, I can say you love
one daughter better than the other. Wronging had such pretty
ear rings, and poor Dwelling has none. Before my mother
could answer her, she had turned to me while I
(13:26):
was standing at the back of her chair. I will
have a nice pair made for you. You are mine now.
My mother told her that I did not like to
wear heavy ear rings. Her Majesty laughed and said, never mind.
She is mine now, and I will give her everything
she needs. You have nothing to do with her. The
(13:47):
ear rings she gave me were very heavy. Her Majesty
said that if I would wear them every day, I
would get used to them. And so it proved that
after some time I thought nothing of it. Now about
this feast, it is also called the dragon boat feast.
The fifth of the fifth moon, at noon was the
(14:07):
most poisonous hour. For the poisonous insects and reptiles such
as frogs, lizards, snakes, hide themselves in the mud for
that hour they are paralyzed. Some medical men search for
them at that hour and placed them in jars, and
when they are dried, sometimes used them as medicine. Her
(14:29):
Majesty told me this, so that day I went all
over everywhere and dug into the ground, but found nothing.
The usual custom was that at noon her Majesty took
a small cup filled with spirits of wine and added
a kind of yellow powder, something like sulfur. She took
a small brush and dipped it into the cup, and
(14:51):
made a few spots of this yellow paint under our
nostrils and ears. This was to prevent any insects from
crawling on us during the coming summer. The reason why
it was also called the dragon boat festival was because
at the time of the Chou dynasty, the country was
divided into several parts. Each place had a ruler. The
(15:14):
Emperor Cho had a prime minister named Chiu Yuan, who
advised him to make alliance with the other six countries,
but the emperor refused, and Chiu Yuan thought that the
country would be taken by others in the near future.
He could not influence the emperor, so he made up
his mind to commit suicide and jumped into the river,
(15:36):
taking a large piece of stone with him. This happened
on the fifth day of the fifth moon, so the
year afterwards, the emperor got into a dragon boat to
worship his soul and threw rice cakes called chungs into
the river on that day. The people have celebrated this
feast ever since. At the palace, the theater played first
(15:59):
this history, which was very interesting, and also played the
insects trying to hide themselves before the most poisonous hour arrived.
On that day, we all wore tiger's shoes, the front
part of which was made of a tiger's head, with
little tigers made of yellow silk to wear on the
head dress. These tigers were only for the children to
(16:21):
wear and signified that they would be as strong as
a tiger, but Her Majesty wanted us to wear them. Also,
the wives of the Manchu officials came to the court,
and when they saw us, they laughed at us. We
told them it was by Her Majesty's orders. A register
recording the birth days of all the court ladies was
(16:42):
kept by the head eunuch, and a few days before
my own birthday came round the tenth day of the
fifth moon, he informed me that the custom of the
court was to make a present to Her Majesty, and
said that the present should take the form of fruit cakes,
et cetera. So I ordered eight boxes of different kinds.
(17:03):
Early in the morning, I put on full court dress
and made myself look as nice as possible, and went
to wish Her Majesty good morning. When she had finished
the dressing, the eunuchs brought in the presents, and kneeling,
I presented them to Her Majesty, bowing to the ground
nine times. She thanked me and wished me a happy birthday.
(17:25):
She then made me a present of a pair of
sandal wood bracelets beautifully carved, also a few rolls of
brocade silk. She also informed me that she had ordered
some macaroni in honor of my birthday. This macaroni is
called Changsho Mien, the long life macaroni. This was the custom.
(17:46):
I again bowed and thanked her for her kindness and thoughtfulness.
After bowing to the young Empress and receiving in return
two pairs of shoes and several embroidered neckties, I returned
to my room, where I've found presents from all the
court ladies. Altogether, I had a very happy birthday. I
(18:06):
can never forget the fifteenth day of the fifth Moon
as long as I live, for that was a bad
day for every one. As usual, we went to Her
Majesty's bedroom quite early that morning. She could not get
up and complained that her back ached so much. We
wrapped her back in turns, and finally she got up,
(18:28):
though a little late. She was not satisfied. The Emperor
came in and knelt down to wish her good morning,
but she scarcely took any notice of him. I noticed
that when the Emperor saw that her Majesty was not well.
He said very little to her. The eunuch, who dressed
her hair every morning was ill and had ordered another
(18:49):
one to help her. Her Majesty told us to watch
him very closely to say that he did not pull
her hair off. She could not bear to see even
one or two hairs fall out. This eunuch was not
used to trickery. For instance, in case the hair was
falling off, he could not hide it like the other
(19:10):
one did. This poor man did not know what to
do with any that came out. He was frightened, and
Her Majesty, seeing him through the mirror, asked him whether
he had pulled her hair out. He said that he had.
This made her furious, and she told him to replace it.
I almost laughed, but the eunuch was very much frightened
(19:33):
and started to cry. Her Majesty ordered him to leave
the room and said she would punish him. Later. We
helped her to fix up her hair. I must say
it was not an easy job, for she had very
long hair and it was difficult to come. She went
to the morning audience as usual, and after that she
(19:54):
told the head eunuch what had happened. This lee was
indeed a bad and cruel man, and said, why not
beat him to death? Immediately? She orderedly to take this
man to his own quarters to receive punishment. Then Her
Majesty said the food was bad and ordered the cooks
(20:14):
to be punished also. They told me that whenever Her
Majesty was angry, everything went wrong, so I was not
surprised that so many things happened that day. Her Majesty
said that we all looked too vain with our hair
to low down at the back of the head. This
Manchu headdress is placed right in the center of one's head,
(20:35):
and the back part is called the swallow's tail and
must reach the bottom of one's collar. We had our
hair done up the same way every day, and she
had previously never said a word about it. She looked
at us and said, now I am going to the
audience and don't need you all here. Go back to
your rooms and fix your hair all over again. If
(20:57):
I ever see you all like that again, I am
going to cut your hair off. I was never more
surprised in my life when I heard her speak so
sharply to us. I don't know whether I was spoken
to or not, But I thought it well to be wise,
and I answered I would. We were all ready to go,
and Her Majesty stood there watching us. When we were
(21:19):
about five or six feet away, we heard her scolding
twinshow the girl, who was neither a court lady nor
a servant. Her Majesty said she was pretending she was
all right, and her Majesty ordered her to go. Also,
when we were all walking towards our own place, some
of them laughed at twnshow, which made her angry. When
(21:41):
Her Majesty was angry with any one, she would say
that we were all doing something on purpose to make
her angry. I must say that every one of us
was cared and wondered who would have dared to do that.
On the contrary, we tried our best to please her
in every way, but that day she was furious all day,
(22:02):
and I tried to stay away from her. I noticed
some of the eunuchs went to her to ask questions
concerning important matters, but she would not look at them,
but kept on reading her book. To tell the truth,
I felt miserable that day. At the beginning, I thought
all the eunuchs were faithful servants, but seeing them every day,
(22:24):
I got to know them. It did not do them
any harm to be punished once in a while. The
young Empress told me to go in and wait on
her Majesty as usual. She said that probably if I
would suggest playing dice with her, she might forget her troubles.
At first, I did not want to go for I
was afraid that she might say something to me. But
(22:46):
seeing that the poor young Empress spoke to me so nicely,
I told her I would try. When I entered Her
Majesty's sitting room, I found her reading a book. She
looked at me and said, come over here. I would
like to tell you something. You know, these people at
the palace are no good and I don't like them
at all. I don't want them to poison your ears
(23:09):
by telling you how wicked I am. Don't talk to them.
You must not fix your hair to low down at
the back of your head. I was not angry with
you this morning. I know you are different. Don't let
them influence you. I want you to be on my
side and do as I tell you. Her Majesty spoke
very kindly to me, and her face changed also, not
(23:31):
at all the same face. She had that morning. Of course,
I promised her that I would be only too happy
to do all I could to please her. She spoke
to me just like a good mother would speak to
a dear child. I changed my opinion and thought that perhaps,
after all, she was right. But I had often heard
from the officials that one cannot be good to a eunuch,
(23:55):
as he would do all he could to injure you
without any reason whatsoever. I noticed that day they all
seemed to be more careful in doing their work. I
was told that when once her Majesty got angry, she
would never finish. On the contrary, she talked to me
very nicely, just as if there had been no troubles
(24:16):
at all. She was not difficult to wait upon. Only
one had to watch her moods. I thought how fascinating
she was, and I had already forgotten that she had
been angry. She seemed to have guessed what I was thinking,
and said, I can make people hate me worse than poison,
and can also make them love me. I have that power.
(24:39):
I thought she was right there and of Chapter eleven
read by J. C Iguan, Montreal, January two thousand nine.
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