August 19, 2025 • 26 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):
Part a of chapter thirteen of Two Years in the
Forbidden City. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Recording by J. C. I. Guan Two Years in the
Forbidden City by Princess d'arling, Chapter thirteen, The Empress's Portrait,
Part A. After staying a little while at the temple,
(00:21):
we returned to the palace, and the ladies said good
bye and took chairs to the palace gate, where their
own chairs were waiting for them. I then went to
report to Her Majesty in the usual way what had
been said by the visitors, whether they had expressed themselves
as being pleased with the reception they had received. Her
(00:42):
Majesty said, I like missus Evans. I think she is
a very good woman. It seems to me that her
manners are quite different from those of the other American
ladies whom I have met. I like to meet people
who are polite. Then, referring to the subject of the portrait,
(01:03):
her Majesty said, I wonder why missus Conjure has this idea. Now,
please explain to me what painting a portrait really is.
When I explained that it would be necessary for her
to sit for several hours, each day. She was excited
and afraid she would never have the patience to see
it through. She asked me what she must do during
(01:25):
the sitting. So I explained that she would simply have
to pose for the portrait, sitting in one position all
the time. She said, I shall be an old woman
by the time the portrait is finished. I told her
that I had had my own portrait painted during my
stay in Paris by the same artist Missus Conjure had
(01:46):
proposed should paint her own portrait, Missus Carle. She immediately
told me to fetch the portrait of myself so that
she could examine it and see what it was like.
So I gave the order right way to a eunuch
who was standing by, to go to my house and
bring it. Her majesty said, I do not understand why
(02:09):
I must sit for the portrait. Couldn't some one else
do it for me? I explained to her that as
it was her own portrait and not that of somebody
else they wished to paint, it would be necessary for
her to sit herself. She then inquired whether it would
be necessary for her to wear the same dress at
(02:29):
each sitting, also the same jewels and ornaments. I replied
that it would be necessary to do so on each occasion.
Her Majesty then explained that in China it was only
necessary for an artist to see his subject once, after
which he could start right away and finish the portrait
(02:50):
in a very short time, and thought that a really
first class foreign artist should be able to do the same.
Of course, I explained the difference between foreign portrait painting
and Chinese and told her that when she had seen it,
she would see the difference and understand the reason for
so many sittings. She said, I wonder what kind of
(03:14):
a person this lady artist is. Does she speak Chinese?
I said that I knew miss Carle very well and
that she was a very nice lady, but that she
didn't speak Chinese. She said, if her brother has been
in the custom service for so long, how is it
that she doesn't speak Chinese. Also, I told her that
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Miss Carle had been away from China for a long time,
that in fact, she had only been in China for
a very short time altogether, most of her work being
in Europe and America. Her Majesty said, I am glad
she doesn't understand Chinese. The only objection about disported painting
is that I have to have a foreigner at the
(03:59):
palace all the time, with my own people gossiping, They
might tell her things which I don't want any one
to know. I told her that would be impossible, as
miss Carle did not understand Chinese at all. Neither did
any of the people at court understand English, with the
exception of ourselves, my mother, sister and myself. Her Majesty answered,
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you must not rely too much on that, as after
spending a short time at the court, they will soon
learn to understand each other. Continuing, she said, by the way,
how long will it take before this portrait is finished?
I told her that it depended entirely upon how often
(04:44):
she sat and how long each time. I didn't like
to tell her exactly how long it would take, as
I was afraid she might consider it too much bother
so I said that when the artist arrived, I would
tell her to get along and finish the portrait as
quickly as possible. Her Majesty said, I don't say how
(05:07):
I can very well refuse missus Conger's request. Of course,
I told her, as you know that I would have
to consult with my ministers, just to give me time
to think the matter over. If you know all about
this artists lady and think she is quite all right
to come here to the palace, of course she may come,
and I will tell Prince Ching to reply to missus
(05:29):
conjure to that effect. First of all, we must talk
over what we are going to do, for to have
a foreign lady staying in the palace is out of
the question altogether. As a rule, I always spend this
summer at my summer palace, and it is so far
from the city that I don't think she will be
able to go to and from the palace every day
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on account of the distance. Now, where can we put her?
Some one will have to watch her all the time?
This is such a difficult matter that I hardly know
what to decide upon. How would you like to look
after her? Do you think you could manage it in
such a way that no one at the palace will
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have a chance to talk with her during the daytime?
But who is going to stay and watch her during
the night. Her Majesty walked up and down the room,
thinking it over for quite a while. Finally she smiled
and said, I have it. We can treat her as
a prisoner without her knowing it. But it will all
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depend on your mother, your sister, and yourself to act
for me in this matter. Each of you will have
to play your part very carefully, and mine also. I
will give orders to have the palace garden of Prince John,
the Emperor kuon Shou's father, fixed up for Miss Carle
during her stay here. This palace garden is quite close
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to Her Majesty's own palace, about ten minutes to drive.
It is not in the palace ground, but is quite
a separate palace outside the summer palace. Continuing, her Majesty said,
now you will have to come with her every morning
and return to stay with her every night. I think
this is the safest way out of the difficulty, but
(07:19):
be careful with regard to all correspondents which she may
either receive or send away. The only thing about it
is that it will give you a lot of extra work.
But you know how particular I am over things of
this kind, and it will save a lot of trouble
in the end. There is another thing you will have
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to be very careful about, and that is to watch
that Miss carl has no chance to talk with the Emperor.
The reason why I say this is because, as you know,
the Emperor is of a shy disposition and might say
something which would offend her. I will appoint four extra
eunuchs to be in attendance during the settings for the portrait,
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so that they will be on hand in case anything
is wanted. Her Majesty then said, I noticed that Missus
Condre was watching you when you pulled my sleeve. I
wonder what she thought of it. You needn't care anyway.
Let her think anything she likes. I understood what you meant,
if Missus Conjure didn't, and that is all that is necessary.
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I told her that perhaps Missus Conjure thought I wanted
to advise her to refuse this request, but her Majesty said,
what does that matter. If it hadn't been that you
knew the artist yourself, I would not have consented. In
any case, it is not the painting of the portrait
that I mind, but it might give rise to serious results.
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The next morning I received a letter from Missus Conjure
begging me not to prejudice her majesty against Miss Carle
in any way. I translated this to her Majesty, and
it made her furious. She said, no one has any
right to write to you in such a way. How
dare she suggest that you would say anything against miss Carle?
(09:10):
Didn't I tell you she was watching you when you
pulled my sleeve when you replied to that letter. Tell
her whatever you like, but answer in the same way
she writes herself. Or better still, you write and inform
her that it is not customary for any court lady
to try and influence her majesty in this country, and that,
in addition, you are not so mean as to say
(09:32):
anything against anybody. If you don't like to say that,
just say that, as Miss Carle is a personal friend
of yours, you certainly would never think of saying anything
against her. Either of her replied to missus Conjo's letter
in the ordinary way, making it as formal as possible.
Her Majesty then talked of nothing but the portrait during
(09:54):
the whole of that afternoon. By and by, she said,
I hope that missus Conjure would not send a missionary
lady with Miss Carle to keep her company during her
stay at the palace. If she does, I will certainly
refuse to sit the next morning, the Eunuch arrived with
my portrait, and every one at the court had a
(10:16):
good look at it before I took it to show
her Majesty. Some of them were of the opinion that
it was very much like me, while others thought the
painting a very poor one. When I informed her Majesty
of the arrival of the portrait, she ordered that it
should be brought into her bedroom immediately. She scrutinized it
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very carefully for a while, even touching the painting in
her curiosity. Finally she burst out laughing and said, what
a funny painting this is. It looks as though it
had been painted with oil. Of course it was an
oil painting. Such rough work I never saw in all
(10:59):
my life. The picture itself is marvelously like you, and
I do not hesitate to say that none of our
Chinese painters could get the expression which appears in this picture.
What a funny dress you are wearing in this picture?
Why are your arms and neck all bare? I have
heard that foreign ladies wear their dresses without sleeves and
(11:21):
without collars, but I had no idea that it was
so bad and ugly as the dress you are wearing here.
I cannot imagine how you could do it. I should
have thought you would have been ashamed to expose yourself
in that matter. Don't wear any more such dresses, please.
It has quite shocked me. What a funny kind of
civilization is this? To be sure, is this dress only
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one on certain occasions? Or is it one any time,
even when gentlemen are present. I explained to her that
it was the usual evening dress for ladies and was
worn at dinners, balls, receptions excess. Her majesty laughed and exclaimed,
this is getting worse and worse. Everything seems to go
(12:07):
backwards in foreign countries. Here we don't even expose our
wrists when in the company of gentlemen, But foreigners seem
to have quite different ideas on the subject. The Emperor
is always talking about reform. But if this is a sample,
we had much better remain as we are. Tell me,
have you yet changed your opinion with regard to foreign customs?
(12:31):
Don't you think that our own customs are much nicer?
Of course I was obliged to say yes, Seeing that
herself was so prejudiced. She again examined the portrait and said,
why is it that one side of your face is
painted white and the other black. This is not natural.
(12:52):
Your face is not black. Half of your neck is
painted black too. How is it? I explained that it
was simply the shading and was painted exactly as the
artist saw me from the position in which she was sitting.
Her Majesty then inquired, do you think that this artist's
(13:12):
lady will paint my picture to look black? Also, it
is going to America, and I don't want the people
over there to imagine that half of my face is
white and have black I didn't like to tell her
the truth that her portrait would, in all probability be
painted the same as mine, so I promised her Majesty
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that I would tell the artist exactly how she wished
to be painted. She then asked me if I knew
when the artist proposed commencing the portrait. I told her
that the artist was still in Shanghai, but that missus
Conjure had already written to her to come up to
Beijing to make the necessary preparations. One week later, I
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received a letter from Miss carl informing me that she
proposed coming up to at once and that she would
be delighted if her Majesty would allow her to paint
this portrait. I translated the letter to Her Majesty, who said,
I am very glad that you know this lady personally.
It will make it much easier for me. You know,
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there may be some things which I may want to
tell Miss Carle, but which I don't want Missus Conjure
to know. I mean that there might be certain things
which I shall have to say to miss Carle, which
if Missus condrere heard of them, would give her the
impression that I was very difficult to please. You understand
what I mean. As this lady is a friend of yours,
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you will of course be able to tell her things
in such a manner as not to offend her. And
I may tell you again that if it were not
that she is a personal friend of your own, I
would not have her here at all, as it is
quite contrary to our accustom. On the third day of
the second fifth moon, Prince Ching informed Her Majesty that
(15:00):
the artist had arrived at Pating and was staying with
Missus Conjure, and wished to know her Majesty's pleasure in
regard to commencing the portrait. Now I must explain that
the Chinese year varies as to the number of moons
it contains. For example, one year contains the ordinary twelve
months or moons, The following year may contain thirteen moons,
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then the two years following that may contain twelve moons only,
and thirteen moons the next year, and so on. At
the time of the proposed visit of the artist, the
Chinese year contained thirteen moons, there being only two fifths
moons in that year. When Prince Ching asked Her majesty
to name the day on which Miss Kyle should commence
(15:47):
her work, she replied, I will give her my answer
to morrow. I must first consult my book, as I
don't want to start this portrait on any unlucky day.
So the next day, after her usual morning audience, her
Majesty consulted this book for quite a time. Finally she
said to me, according to my book, the next lucky
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day will not occur for another ten days or so,
and handed me the book to look myself. Eventually, she
picked out the twentieth day of the second fifth moon
as the most lucky day for beginning the work. Next day,
she had to consult the book again in order to
fix the exact hour, finally fixing it on seven o'clock
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in the evening. I was very much wearied when she
told me that as by that time it would be
quite dark. So I explained to her majesty as nicely
as I could, that it would be impossible for Miss
Carl to work at that hour of the day. Her
Majesty replied, well, we have electric lights here, surely that
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would be sufficient to light for her. Then I had
to explain that it would be possible to get such
good results by means of artificial light as if it
were painted during the daytime. You see, I was anxious
to get her to change the hour, as I was
sure that Miss Krle would refuse to paint by means
of electric light. Her Majesty replied, what a bother. I
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can't paint pictures myself in any kind of light, and
she ought to be able to do the same. After
much discussion, it was finally settled that ten o'clock on
the morning of the twentieth day of the second fifty
moon should be the time for Miss Carl to commence
to paint this portrait. And I can assure you that
I felt very much relieved when it was all settled
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when the Eunuch brought in my portrait. He also brought
in several photographs which I had taken during my stay
in Paris, but I decided not to show them to
Her Majesty in case she should decide to have a
photograph taken instead of having this portrait painted, as it
would be much quicker and save her the trouble of
sitting each day. However, as Her Majesty was passing on
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the verandah in front of my bedroom the next morning,
she stepped into my room just to have a look around, and,
as she put it, to see whether I kept everything
clean and in good order. This was the first time
she had visited me in my own room, and I
was naturally very much embarrassed, as she very rarely visited
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the rooms of her court ladies. I could not keep
her standing, and I could not ask her to sit
down in any of my own chairs, as it is
the Chinese custom that the Emperor and Empress should only
sit down in their own special chairs, which are usually
carried by an attendant wherever they go. EI therefore was
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on the point of giving an order for her own
stool to be brought in. When her Majesty stopped me
and said that she would sit on one of the
chairs in the room and so bring me good luck.
So she sat down in an easy chair. A eunuch
brought in her tea, which I handed to her myself
instead of letting the eunuch wait upon her. This, of course,
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was court etiquette, and was also a sign of respect.
After she had finished her tea, she got up and
went around the room examining everything, opening up all my
bureau drawers and boxes in order to see whether I
kept my things in proper order. Happening to glance into
one corner of the room, she exclaimed, what are those
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pictures on the table over there? And walked across to
examine them. As soon as she picked them up, she exclaimed,
in much surprise, why they are all photographs of yourself
and are very much better than the picture you had painted.
They are more like you. Why didn't you show me
them to me before? I hardly knew what to answer,
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And when she saw that I was very much embarrassed
by her question, she immediate started talking about something else.
She often acted in this manner when she saw that
any of us were not quite prepared for any of
her questions, but she would be sure to reopen the
subject at some future time when we were expected to
give a direct answer. After examining the photographs for some time,
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which by the way, were all taken in European dress,
her Majesty said, now, these are good photographs, much better
than the portrait you had painted. Still, I have given
my promise, and I suppose I shall have to keep it. However,
if I do have my photograph taken, it will not
interfere at all with the painting of the portrait. The
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only trouble is I cannot ask an ordinary professional photographer
to the palace. It would hardly be the thing. My
mother thereupon exclaimed to Her Majesty that if she desired
to have her photograph taken, one of my brothers, who
had studied photography for some concern do time, would be
able to do all that was necessary. I would like
(21:05):
to explain that I had two brothers at court at
that time who held appointment under the Empress Dowager. One
was in charge of all the electrical installation at the
Summer Palace, and the other her private steam launch. It
was the custom for all the sons of the Manchu
officials to hold certain physicians at the court for two
(21:27):
or three years. They were perfectly free to walk about
the grounds of the palace and saw Her Majesty daily.
Her Majesty was always very kind to these young men
and chatted with them in quite a moderly way. These
young fellows had to come to the palace each morning
very early, but as no man was allowed to stay
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all night in the palace, they of course had to
leave when they had finished their duties for the day.
When Her Majesty heard what my mother said, she was
very much surprised and ask why she had never been
told that my brother was learned in photography. My mother
replied that she had no idea that Her Majesty wished
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to have a photograph taken, and had not dared to
suggest such a thing herself. Her Majesty laughed and said,
you may suggest anything you like, as I want to
try anything that is new to me, especially as outsiders
can know nothing about it. She gave orders to sense
for my brother at once. On his arrival, Her Majesty
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said to him, I hear that you are a photographer.
I am going to give you something to do. My
brother was kneeling, as was the custom of the court,
whilst Her Majesty was addressing him. Everybody, with the exception
of the court ladies, had to kneel when she was
speaking to them. Even the Emperor himself was no exception
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to this rule. Of course, the court ladies, being constantly in attendants,
were allowed not to kneel, as Her Majesty was talking
to us all the time, and it was her orders
that we should not do so, as it would be
wasting a lot of time. Her Majesty asked my brother
when he would be able to come and take her
(23:15):
photograph and what kind of weather was necessary. My brother
said that he would go back to Beaijing that night
to fetch his camera, and that he could take the
photograph at any time she desired, as the weather would
not affect the work. So Her Majesty decided to have
her photograph taken the next morning. She said, I want
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to have one taken first of all in my chair
when going to the audience, and you can take some
others afterwards. She also asked my brother how long she
would have to sit, and was surprised to learn that
only a few seconds would suffice. Next, she inquired how
long it would be before it was finished, so that
(23:57):
she could see it. My brother answered that if it
were taken in the morning, it could be finished late
in the same afternoon. Her Majesty said that was delightful,
and expressed a wish to watch him do the work.
She told my brother that he might select any room
in the palace to work in, and ordered a eunuch
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to make the necessary preparations. The next day was a
beautiful day, and at eight o'clock my brother was waiting
in the courtyard with several cameras. Her Majesty went to
the courtyard and examined each of them. She said, how
funny it is that you can take a person's picture
with a thing like that. After the method of taking
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the photograph had been fully explained to her, she commanded
one of the eunuchs to stand in front of the
camera so that she might look through the focussing glass
to see what it was like. Her Majesty exclaimed, why
is it your head is upside down? Are you standing
on your head or feet? So he explained, when the
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photo was taken, it would not look that way. She
was delighted with the result of her observations and said
that it was marvelous. Finally, she told me to go
and stand there, as she wanted to have a look
at me through this glass. Also, she then exchanged places
with me and desired that I should look through the
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glass and see if I could make out what she
was doing. She waved her hand in front of the camera,
and on my telling her of it, she was pleased.
She then entered her chair and ordered the bearers to proceed.
My brother took another photograph of her Majesty in the
procession as she passed the camera. After she had passed
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the camera, she turned and asked my brother, did you
take a picture, And, on my brother answering that he had,
her Majesty said, why didn't you tell me I was
looking too serious? Next time, when you are going to
take one, let me know so that I may try
and look pleasant. I knew that her Majesty was very
(26:08):
much pleased. While we were at the back of the
screen during the audience, I noticed that she seemed anxious
to get it over in order to have some more
photographs taken. It only took about twenty minutes to get
that particular audience over which was very rare and of
part A of Chapter thirteen, read by J. C. I. Guan, Montreal,
(26:32):
January two thousand nine,
Part a of chapter thirteen of Two Years in the
Forbidden City. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Recording by J. C. I. Guan Two Years in the
Forbidden City by Princess d'arling, Chapter thirteen, The Empress's Portrait,
Part A. After staying a little while at the temple,
(00:21):
we returned to the palace, and the ladies said good
bye and took chairs to the palace gate, where their
own chairs were waiting for them. I then went to
report to Her Majesty in the usual way what had
been said by the visitors, whether they had expressed themselves
as being pleased with the reception they had received. Her
(00:42):
Majesty said, I like missus Evans. I think she is
a very good woman. It seems to me that her
manners are quite different from those of the other American
ladies whom I have met. I like to meet people
who are polite. Then, referring to the subject of the portrait,
(01:03):
her Majesty said, I wonder why missus Conjure has this idea. Now,
please explain to me what painting a portrait really is.
When I explained that it would be necessary for her
to sit for several hours, each day. She was excited
and afraid she would never have the patience to see
it through. She asked me what she must do during
(01:25):
the sitting. So I explained that she would simply have
to pose for the portrait, sitting in one position all
the time. She said, I shall be an old woman
by the time the portrait is finished. I told her
that I had had my own portrait painted during my
stay in Paris by the same artist Missus Conjure had
(01:46):
proposed should paint her own portrait, Missus Carle. She immediately
told me to fetch the portrait of myself so that
she could examine it and see what it was like.
So I gave the order right way to a eunuch
who was standing by, to go to my house and
bring it. Her majesty said, I do not understand why
(02:09):
I must sit for the portrait. Couldn't some one else
do it for me? I explained to her that as
it was her own portrait and not that of somebody
else they wished to paint, it would be necessary for
her to sit herself. She then inquired whether it would
be necessary for her to wear the same dress at
(02:29):
each sitting, also the same jewels and ornaments. I replied
that it would be necessary to do so on each occasion.
Her Majesty then explained that in China it was only
necessary for an artist to see his subject once, after
which he could start right away and finish the portrait
(02:50):
in a very short time, and thought that a really
first class foreign artist should be able to do the same.
Of course, I explained the difference between foreign portrait painting
and Chinese and told her that when she had seen it,
she would see the difference and understand the reason for
so many sittings. She said, I wonder what kind of
(03:14):
a person this lady artist is. Does she speak Chinese?
I said that I knew miss Carle very well and
that she was a very nice lady, but that she
didn't speak Chinese. She said, if her brother has been
in the custom service for so long, how is it
that she doesn't speak Chinese. Also, I told her that
(03:37):
Miss Carle had been away from China for a long time,
that in fact, she had only been in China for
a very short time altogether, most of her work being
in Europe and America. Her Majesty said, I am glad
she doesn't understand Chinese. The only objection about disported painting
is that I have to have a foreigner at the
(03:59):
palace all the time, with my own people gossiping, They
might tell her things which I don't want any one
to know. I told her that would be impossible, as
miss Carle did not understand Chinese at all. Neither did
any of the people at court understand English, with the
exception of ourselves, my mother, sister and myself. Her Majesty answered,
(04:24):
you must not rely too much on that, as after
spending a short time at the court, they will soon
learn to understand each other. Continuing, she said, by the way,
how long will it take before this portrait is finished?
I told her that it depended entirely upon how often
(04:44):
she sat and how long each time. I didn't like
to tell her exactly how long it would take, as
I was afraid she might consider it too much bother
so I said that when the artist arrived, I would
tell her to get along and finish the portrait as
quickly as possible. Her Majesty said, I don't say how
(05:07):
I can very well refuse missus Conger's request. Of course,
I told her, as you know that I would have
to consult with my ministers, just to give me time
to think the matter over. If you know all about
this artists lady and think she is quite all right
to come here to the palace, of course she may come,
and I will tell Prince Ching to reply to missus
(05:29):
conjure to that effect. First of all, we must talk
over what we are going to do, for to have
a foreign lady staying in the palace is out of
the question altogether. As a rule, I always spend this
summer at my summer palace, and it is so far
from the city that I don't think she will be
able to go to and from the palace every day
(05:52):
on account of the distance. Now, where can we put her?
Some one will have to watch her all the time?
This is such a difficult matter that I hardly know
what to decide upon. How would you like to look
after her? Do you think you could manage it in
such a way that no one at the palace will
(06:12):
have a chance to talk with her during the daytime?
But who is going to stay and watch her during
the night. Her Majesty walked up and down the room,
thinking it over for quite a while. Finally she smiled
and said, I have it. We can treat her as
a prisoner without her knowing it. But it will all
(06:33):
depend on your mother, your sister, and yourself to act
for me in this matter. Each of you will have
to play your part very carefully, and mine also. I
will give orders to have the palace garden of Prince John,
the Emperor kuon Shou's father, fixed up for Miss Carle
during her stay here. This palace garden is quite close
(06:56):
to Her Majesty's own palace, about ten minutes to drive.
It is not in the palace ground, but is quite
a separate palace outside the summer palace. Continuing, her Majesty said,
now you will have to come with her every morning
and return to stay with her every night. I think
this is the safest way out of the difficulty, but
(07:19):
be careful with regard to all correspondents which she may
either receive or send away. The only thing about it
is that it will give you a lot of extra work.
But you know how particular I am over things of
this kind, and it will save a lot of trouble
in the end. There is another thing you will have
(07:39):
to be very careful about, and that is to watch
that Miss carl has no chance to talk with the Emperor.
The reason why I say this is because, as you know,
the Emperor is of a shy disposition and might say
something which would offend her. I will appoint four extra
eunuchs to be in attendance during the settings for the portrait,
(08:02):
so that they will be on hand in case anything
is wanted. Her Majesty then said, I noticed that Missus
Condre was watching you when you pulled my sleeve. I
wonder what she thought of it. You needn't care anyway.
Let her think anything she likes. I understood what you meant,
if Missus Conjure didn't, and that is all that is necessary.
(08:26):
I told her that perhaps Missus Conjure thought I wanted
to advise her to refuse this request, but her Majesty said,
what does that matter. If it hadn't been that you
knew the artist yourself, I would not have consented. In
any case, it is not the painting of the portrait
that I mind, but it might give rise to serious results.
(08:49):
The next morning I received a letter from Missus Conjure
begging me not to prejudice her majesty against Miss Carle
in any way. I translated this to her Majesty, and
it made her furious. She said, no one has any
right to write to you in such a way. How
dare she suggest that you would say anything against miss Carle?
(09:10):
Didn't I tell you she was watching you when you
pulled my sleeve when you replied to that letter. Tell
her whatever you like, but answer in the same way
she writes herself. Or better still, you write and inform
her that it is not customary for any court lady
to try and influence her majesty in this country, and that,
in addition, you are not so mean as to say
(09:32):
anything against anybody. If you don't like to say that,
just say that, as Miss Carle is a personal friend
of yours, you certainly would never think of saying anything
against her. Either of her replied to missus Conjo's letter
in the ordinary way, making it as formal as possible.
Her Majesty then talked of nothing but the portrait during
(09:54):
the whole of that afternoon. By and by, she said,
I hope that missus Conjure would not send a missionary
lady with Miss Carle to keep her company during her
stay at the palace. If she does, I will certainly
refuse to sit the next morning, the Eunuch arrived with
my portrait, and every one at the court had a
(10:16):
good look at it before I took it to show
her Majesty. Some of them were of the opinion that
it was very much like me, while others thought the
painting a very poor one. When I informed her Majesty
of the arrival of the portrait, she ordered that it
should be brought into her bedroom immediately. She scrutinized it
(10:39):
very carefully for a while, even touching the painting in
her curiosity. Finally she burst out laughing and said, what
a funny painting this is. It looks as though it
had been painted with oil. Of course it was an
oil painting. Such rough work I never saw in all
(10:59):
my life. The picture itself is marvelously like you, and
I do not hesitate to say that none of our
Chinese painters could get the expression which appears in this picture.
What a funny dress you are wearing in this picture?
Why are your arms and neck all bare? I have
heard that foreign ladies wear their dresses without sleeves and
(11:21):
without collars, but I had no idea that it was
so bad and ugly as the dress you are wearing here.
I cannot imagine how you could do it. I should
have thought you would have been ashamed to expose yourself
in that matter. Don't wear any more such dresses, please.
It has quite shocked me. What a funny kind of
civilization is this? To be sure, is this dress only
(11:45):
one on certain occasions? Or is it one any time,
even when gentlemen are present. I explained to her that
it was the usual evening dress for ladies and was
worn at dinners, balls, receptions excess. Her majesty laughed and exclaimed,
this is getting worse and worse. Everything seems to go
(12:07):
backwards in foreign countries. Here we don't even expose our
wrists when in the company of gentlemen, But foreigners seem
to have quite different ideas on the subject. The Emperor
is always talking about reform. But if this is a sample,
we had much better remain as we are. Tell me,
have you yet changed your opinion with regard to foreign customs?
(12:31):
Don't you think that our own customs are much nicer?
Of course I was obliged to say yes, Seeing that
herself was so prejudiced. She again examined the portrait and said,
why is it that one side of your face is
painted white and the other black. This is not natural.
(12:52):
Your face is not black. Half of your neck is
painted black too. How is it? I explained that it
was simply the shading and was painted exactly as the
artist saw me from the position in which she was sitting.
Her Majesty then inquired, do you think that this artist's
(13:12):
lady will paint my picture to look black? Also, it
is going to America, and I don't want the people
over there to imagine that half of my face is
white and have black I didn't like to tell her
the truth that her portrait would, in all probability be
painted the same as mine, so I promised her Majesty
(13:33):
that I would tell the artist exactly how she wished
to be painted. She then asked me if I knew
when the artist proposed commencing the portrait. I told her
that the artist was still in Shanghai, but that missus
Conjure had already written to her to come up to
Beijing to make the necessary preparations. One week later, I
(13:55):
received a letter from Miss carl informing me that she
proposed coming up to at once and that she would
be delighted if her Majesty would allow her to paint
this portrait. I translated the letter to Her Majesty, who said,
I am very glad that you know this lady personally.
It will make it much easier for me. You know,
(14:17):
there may be some things which I may want to
tell Miss Carle, but which I don't want Missus Conjure
to know. I mean that there might be certain things
which I shall have to say to miss Carle, which
if Missus condrere heard of them, would give her the
impression that I was very difficult to please. You understand
what I mean. As this lady is a friend of yours,
(14:39):
you will of course be able to tell her things
in such a manner as not to offend her. And
I may tell you again that if it were not
that she is a personal friend of your own, I
would not have her here at all, as it is
quite contrary to our accustom. On the third day of
the second fifth moon, Prince Ching informed Her Majesty that
(15:00):
the artist had arrived at Pating and was staying with
Missus Conjure, and wished to know her Majesty's pleasure in
regard to commencing the portrait. Now I must explain that
the Chinese year varies as to the number of moons
it contains. For example, one year contains the ordinary twelve
months or moons, The following year may contain thirteen moons,
(15:25):
then the two years following that may contain twelve moons only,
and thirteen moons the next year, and so on. At
the time of the proposed visit of the artist, the
Chinese year contained thirteen moons, there being only two fifths
moons in that year. When Prince Ching asked Her majesty
to name the day on which Miss Kyle should commence
(15:47):
her work, she replied, I will give her my answer
to morrow. I must first consult my book, as I
don't want to start this portrait on any unlucky day.
So the next day, after her usual morning audience, her
Majesty consulted this book for quite a time. Finally she
said to me, according to my book, the next lucky
(16:09):
day will not occur for another ten days or so,
and handed me the book to look myself. Eventually, she
picked out the twentieth day of the second fifth moon
as the most lucky day for beginning the work. Next day,
she had to consult the book again in order to
fix the exact hour, finally fixing it on seven o'clock
(16:32):
in the evening. I was very much wearied when she
told me that as by that time it would be
quite dark. So I explained to her majesty as nicely
as I could, that it would be impossible for Miss
Carl to work at that hour of the day. Her
Majesty replied, well, we have electric lights here, surely that
(16:54):
would be sufficient to light for her. Then I had
to explain that it would be possible to get such
good results by means of artificial light as if it
were painted during the daytime. You see, I was anxious
to get her to change the hour, as I was
sure that Miss Krle would refuse to paint by means
of electric light. Her Majesty replied, what a bother. I
(17:18):
can't paint pictures myself in any kind of light, and
she ought to be able to do the same. After
much discussion, it was finally settled that ten o'clock on
the morning of the twentieth day of the second fifty
moon should be the time for Miss Carl to commence
to paint this portrait. And I can assure you that
I felt very much relieved when it was all settled
(17:42):
when the Eunuch brought in my portrait. He also brought
in several photographs which I had taken during my stay
in Paris, but I decided not to show them to
Her Majesty in case she should decide to have a
photograph taken instead of having this portrait painted, as it
would be much quicker and save her the trouble of
sitting each day. However, as Her Majesty was passing on
(18:06):
the verandah in front of my bedroom the next morning,
she stepped into my room just to have a look around, and,
as she put it, to see whether I kept everything
clean and in good order. This was the first time
she had visited me in my own room, and I
was naturally very much embarrassed, as she very rarely visited
(18:26):
the rooms of her court ladies. I could not keep
her standing, and I could not ask her to sit
down in any of my own chairs, as it is
the Chinese custom that the Emperor and Empress should only
sit down in their own special chairs, which are usually
carried by an attendant wherever they go. EI therefore was
(18:47):
on the point of giving an order for her own
stool to be brought in. When her Majesty stopped me
and said that she would sit on one of the
chairs in the room and so bring me good luck.
So she sat down in an easy chair. A eunuch
brought in her tea, which I handed to her myself
instead of letting the eunuch wait upon her. This, of course,
(19:10):
was court etiquette, and was also a sign of respect.
After she had finished her tea, she got up and
went around the room examining everything, opening up all my
bureau drawers and boxes in order to see whether I
kept my things in proper order. Happening to glance into
one corner of the room, she exclaimed, what are those
(19:33):
pictures on the table over there? And walked across to
examine them. As soon as she picked them up, she exclaimed,
in much surprise, why they are all photographs of yourself
and are very much better than the picture you had painted.
They are more like you. Why didn't you show me
them to me before? I hardly knew what to answer,
(19:55):
And when she saw that I was very much embarrassed
by her question, she immediate started talking about something else.
She often acted in this manner when she saw that
any of us were not quite prepared for any of
her questions, but she would be sure to reopen the
subject at some future time when we were expected to
give a direct answer. After examining the photographs for some time,
(20:20):
which by the way, were all taken in European dress,
her Majesty said, now, these are good photographs, much better
than the portrait you had painted. Still, I have given
my promise, and I suppose I shall have to keep it. However,
if I do have my photograph taken, it will not
interfere at all with the painting of the portrait. The
(20:42):
only trouble is I cannot ask an ordinary professional photographer
to the palace. It would hardly be the thing. My
mother thereupon exclaimed to Her Majesty that if she desired
to have her photograph taken, one of my brothers, who
had studied photography for some concern do time, would be
able to do all that was necessary. I would like
(21:05):
to explain that I had two brothers at court at
that time who held appointment under the Empress Dowager. One
was in charge of all the electrical installation at the
Summer Palace, and the other her private steam launch. It
was the custom for all the sons of the Manchu
officials to hold certain physicians at the court for two
(21:27):
or three years. They were perfectly free to walk about
the grounds of the palace and saw Her Majesty daily.
Her Majesty was always very kind to these young men
and chatted with them in quite a moderly way. These
young fellows had to come to the palace each morning
very early, but as no man was allowed to stay
(21:48):
all night in the palace, they of course had to
leave when they had finished their duties for the day.
When Her Majesty heard what my mother said, she was
very much surprised and ask why she had never been
told that my brother was learned in photography. My mother
replied that she had no idea that Her Majesty wished
(22:10):
to have a photograph taken, and had not dared to
suggest such a thing herself. Her Majesty laughed and said,
you may suggest anything you like, as I want to
try anything that is new to me, especially as outsiders
can know nothing about it. She gave orders to sense
for my brother at once. On his arrival, Her Majesty
(22:33):
said to him, I hear that you are a photographer.
I am going to give you something to do. My
brother was kneeling, as was the custom of the court,
whilst Her Majesty was addressing him. Everybody, with the exception
of the court ladies, had to kneel when she was
speaking to them. Even the Emperor himself was no exception
(22:55):
to this rule. Of course, the court ladies, being constantly in attendants,
were allowed not to kneel, as Her Majesty was talking
to us all the time, and it was her orders
that we should not do so, as it would be
wasting a lot of time. Her Majesty asked my brother
when he would be able to come and take her
(23:15):
photograph and what kind of weather was necessary. My brother
said that he would go back to Beaijing that night
to fetch his camera, and that he could take the
photograph at any time she desired, as the weather would
not affect the work. So Her Majesty decided to have
her photograph taken the next morning. She said, I want
(23:37):
to have one taken first of all in my chair
when going to the audience, and you can take some
others afterwards. She also asked my brother how long she
would have to sit, and was surprised to learn that
only a few seconds would suffice. Next, she inquired how
long it would be before it was finished, so that
(23:57):
she could see it. My brother answered that if it
were taken in the morning, it could be finished late
in the same afternoon. Her Majesty said that was delightful,
and expressed a wish to watch him do the work.
She told my brother that he might select any room
in the palace to work in, and ordered a eunuch
(24:17):
to make the necessary preparations. The next day was a
beautiful day, and at eight o'clock my brother was waiting
in the courtyard with several cameras. Her Majesty went to
the courtyard and examined each of them. She said, how
funny it is that you can take a person's picture
with a thing like that. After the method of taking
(24:41):
the photograph had been fully explained to her, she commanded
one of the eunuchs to stand in front of the
camera so that she might look through the focussing glass
to see what it was like. Her Majesty exclaimed, why
is it your head is upside down? Are you standing
on your head or feet? So he explained, when the
(25:01):
photo was taken, it would not look that way. She
was delighted with the result of her observations and said
that it was marvelous. Finally, she told me to go
and stand there, as she wanted to have a look
at me through this glass. Also, she then exchanged places
with me and desired that I should look through the
(25:23):
glass and see if I could make out what she
was doing. She waved her hand in front of the camera,
and on my telling her of it, she was pleased.
She then entered her chair and ordered the bearers to proceed.
My brother took another photograph of her Majesty in the
procession as she passed the camera. After she had passed
(25:46):
the camera, she turned and asked my brother, did you
take a picture, And, on my brother answering that he had,
her Majesty said, why didn't you tell me I was
looking too serious? Next time, when you are going to
take one, let me know so that I may try
and look pleasant. I knew that her Majesty was very
(26:08):
much pleased. While we were at the back of the
screen during the audience, I noticed that she seemed anxious
to get it over in order to have some more
photographs taken. It only took about twenty minutes to get
that particular audience over which was very rare and of
part A of Chapter thirteen, read by J. C. I. Guan, Montreal,
(26:32):
January two thousand nine,
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