August 19, 2025 • 29 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 (00:01):
Part B of chapter thirteen of Two Years in the
Forbidden City. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'liing, chapter thirteen,
The Enttress's Portrait, Part B. After the people had gone,
we came from behind the screen, and her Majesty said,
(00:25):
let us go and have some more pictures taken while
the weather is fine. So she walked the courtyard of
the audience hall, where my brother had a camera ready
and had another photograph taken. She said that she would
like to have some taken, sitting on her throne, exactly
as though she were holding an audience. It took us
(00:46):
only a few minutes to have everything prepared in the courtyard.
The screen was placed behind the throne, and her footstool
was also placed ready for her, and she ordered one
of the court ladies to go and bring several gowns
for her to select from. At the same time, I
went and brought some of her favorite jewelry. She ordered
(01:08):
the two gowns which she had worn at the audiences
when she received Admiral Evans and Missus Evans to be
brought in, and also the same jewels as she had
worn on these two respective occasions. She had two photographs
taken in these costumes, one in each dress. Next, she
wanted one taken in a plain gown without any embroidery.
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She then ordered my brother to go and finish the pictures,
which had already been taken, as she was anxious to
see what they were like. She said to my brother,
you wait a minute. I want to go with you
and see how you work on them. Of course, I
had not considered necessary to explain to her Majesty the
(01:53):
process of developing the pictures, the dark room, et cetera.
So I explained to her as well as I could
the whole thing. Her Majesty replied, it doesn't matter. I
want to go and see the room, no matter what
kind of room it is. So we all adjourned to
the dark room in order to see my brother work
on the photographs. We placed each chair so that her
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Majesty could sit down. She said to my brother, you
must forget that I am here and go along with
your work, just as usual. She watched for a while
and was very pleased when she saw that the plates
were developing so quickly. My brother held up the plate
to the red light to enable her to see more distinctly.
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Her Majesty said, it is not very clear. I can
say that it is myself all right, but why is
it that my face and hands are dark. We explained
to her that when the picture was printed on paper,
these dark spots would show white and the white parts
would be dark. She said, well, one is never too
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to learn. This is something really new to me. I
am not sorry that I suggested having my photograph taken,
and only hope that I shall like the portrait painting
as well. She said to my brother, don't finish these
photographs until after I have had my afternoon rest. I
want to see you do it. When she got up
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at about half past three, it did not take her
long to dress herself, as was her usual custom, and
she went immediately to where my brother had the papers
and everything prepared. He then showed her Majesty how the
printing was done. There was plenty of light as it
was summer time, and as it was only four o'clock
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in the afternoon, the sun was still high. Her Majesty
watched for two hours while my brother was printing, and
was delighted to see each picture come out quite plainly.
She held the first one in her hands so long
while examining the others, that when she came to look
at it again, she found that it had turned quite black.
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She could not understand this at all and exclaimed, why
has this gone black? Is it bad luck? We explained
to her that it must be washed after printing, otherwise
a strong light could cause the picture to fade, as
this one had done. She said, how very interesting, and
what a lot of work there is. After the printing
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process had been finished, my brother placed the pictures in
a chemical bath as usual, finally washing them in clean water.
This caused her Majesty even more surprise when she saw
how clear the pictures came out, and caused her to exclaim,
how extraordinary. Everything is quite true to life. When they
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were finally completed, she took the whole of them to
her own room and sat down on her little throne
and gazed at them for a long time. She even
took mirrors in order to compare her reflection with the
photographs just taken. All this time, my brother was standing
in the courtyard awaiting her Majesty's further commands. Suddenly she
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recollected this fact and said, why I had forgotten all
about your brother. The poor fellow must be still standing
waiting to know what I want next. You go and
tell him, no, I had better go and speak to
him myself. He has worked so hard all the day
that I want to say something to make him feel happy.
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She ordered my brother to print ten copies of each
of the photographs and to leave all his cameras at
the palace in order that he could proceed with the
work the next day. The following ten days it rained continually,
which made Her Majesty very impatient, as it was impossible
to take any more photographs until the weather improved. Her
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Majesty wanted to have some taken in the throne room,
but this room was too dark, the upper windows being
pasted over with thick paper, only the lower windows allowing
the light to enter. My brother tried several times but
failed to get a good picture. During this rainy period,
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the court was moved to the Sea Palace as the
Emperor was to sacrifice at the Temple of Earth. This
was a yearly ceremony and was carried out on similar
lines to all other annual ceremonies. On account of the rain,
her Majesty ordered that boats should be brought alongside the
west shore of the Summer Palace. On entering the boats,
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her Majesty, accompanied by the Court, proceeded to the western
gate of the city, and on arrival at the last bridge, disembarked.
Chairs were awaiting us, and we rowed to the gate
of the Sea Palace. There we again entered the boat
and proceeded across the lake a distance about the mile.
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While crossing the lake, her Majesty noticed a lot of
lotus plants which were in full bloom. She said, we
are going to stay at least three days here. I
hope the weather will be fine, as I should like
to have some photographs taken in the open boats on
the lake. I also have another good idea, and that
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is I want to have one taken as Kwan yin
Goddess of Mercy. The two chief Eunuchs will be dressed
as attendants. The necessary gowns were made some time ago,
and I occasionally put them on whenever I have been
angry or worried over anything. By dressing up as the
Goddess of Mercy, it helps me to calm myself and
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so play the part I represent. I can assure you
that it does help me a great deal, as it
makes me remember that I am looked upon as being
all merciful. By having a photograph taken of myself dressed
in this costume, I shall not be able to see
myself as I ought to be at all times. When
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we arrived at the private palace, the rain ceased. We
walked to her bedroom, although the ground was still in
bad condition. One of Her Majesty's peculiarities was a desire
to go out in the rain and walk about. She
would not even use an umbrella unless it was raining
very heavily. The eunuchs always carried out umbrellas, but if
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Her Majesty did not use her umbrella, of course we
could not very well use ours. The same thing applied
in everything. If Her Majesty wanted to walk, we had
to walk also, and if she decided to ride in
her chair, we had to get into our own chairs
and riders well. The only exception to this rule was
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when Her Majesty, being tired of walking, ordered her stool
to rest on. We were not allowed to sit in
her present, but had to stand at all time. Her
Majesty liked the sea better than her Palace in the
Forbidden City. It was far prettier and had the effect
of making her good tempered. Her Majesty ordered us to
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retire early that day, as we were all very tired
after the trip, and said that in the event of
its being fine, the next day she would have the
proposed photographs taken. However, much to Her Majesty's disappointment, it
rained incessantly for the next three days, so it was
decided to stay a few days longer. On the last
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day of our stay, it cleared up sufficiently to enable
the photographs to be taken, after which we all returned
to the Summer Palace. The day after our arrival at
the Summer Palace, Her Majesty said that we had better
prepare everything for the audience to receive the lady artist,
Miss Carle. She told the chief eunuch to issue orders
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to all the other eunuchs not to speak to Miss Carle,
but simply be light as occasion required. We court ladies
received similar orders, also that we were not to address
Her Majesty while Miss Krle was present. The Emperor received
several instructions. Her Majesty gave orders to have the gardens
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of Prince Strong's Palace ready. She then said to us,
I trust you three to look after this lady artist.
I have already given orders for food to be supplied
by the wai Wu pool. The only thing that I
have been worried about is that I have no foreign
food here for Miss Karl. She ordered us to have
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our stove taken over to Prince Strong's palace in case
Miss Kyle desired something cooked. She said, I know it
will be very hard for you to take her to
the palace each morning and return with her at night,
besides having to watch her all day long, but I
know you do not mind. You are all doing this
for me. After a while, she smiled and said, how
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selfish of me. I order you to bring all your
things to this place, But what is your father going
to do? The best thing will be to ask your
father to come and live in the same place the
country air might benefit him. We kowtowed and thanked her majesty,
as this was a special favor, no official nor any
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one else having been allowed to live in Prince Stung's
palace previously. We all were very pleased. I could now
see my father every day. Hitherto we had only been
able to see him about once a month, and then
only by asking special leave. The next day, her Majesty
sent us to Prince King's Palace to make all necessary
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unparrangements for Miss Call's stay. This palace of Prince Jung's
was a magnificent place. All the smaller dwellings were quite
separate from each other, not in one large building as
was the custom. There was a small lake in the
grounds and love little paths to walk along, exactly like
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the Empress Dowager's Summer Palace, but of course on a
much smaller scale. We selected one of these small dwellings
or summer houses for the use of Miss Carl during
her stay, and had it fitted up nicely to make
her as comfortable as possible. We ourselves were to occupy
the next house to Miss Carl in order that we
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might always be on hand and at the same time
keep a good eye on her. We returned to the
Summer Palace the same evening and told her Majesty just
how everything had been arranged. She said, I want you
all to be very careful not to let this lady
know that you are watching her. She seemed very anxious
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about this repeating these instructions for several days prior to
Miss Carl's arrival. I felt very much relieved when the
day before the audience arrived and everything was finally fixed
to Her Majesty's satisfaction. She ordered us to retire early
that evening, as she wanted to rest and look well
the next morning. When morning came, we hurried over everything,
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even the usual morning audience, so that we could be
ready when Miss Carl arrived. While I was standing behind
the screen as usual, a eunuch came and told me
that missus Conjure, the artist and another lady had arrived
and that they were now in the waiting room. By
that time, the audience was about finished. The chief eunuch
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came in and told Her Majesty that the foreign ladies
had arrived and were waiting in another room. Her Majesty
said to us, I think I will go to the
courtyard and meet them there. Of course, at all private audiences,
her Majesty received the people in the throne room, but
as Miss Carle was more of a guest, she did
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not think it necessary to go through the usual formal reception.
While we were descending the steps, we saw the ladies.
Entering the gate of the courtyard, I pointed out Miss
Carle to her Majesty and noticed that she eyed Miss
Carle very keenly. When we arrived in the courtyard, missus
conjur came forward and greeted her Majesty and then presented
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Miss Carle. Her Majesty's first impression of Miss Carle was
a good one, as Miss Carle was smiling very pleasantly,
and Her Majesty, who always liked to see a pleasant smile,
exclaimed to me in an undertone, she seems to be
a very pleasant person, to which I replied that I
was very glad she thought so, as I was very
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anxious about the impression Miss Carle would make on her Majesty.
Her Majesty watched Miss Carle and myself as we greeted
each other, and I could see that she was satisfied.
She told me afterwards that she had noticed Miss Carle
appeared very glad to see me again, and said we
will handle her pretty easily, I think. Her Majesty then
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went to her own private palace and we all followed.
On our arrival, Miss carl told me that she had
brought her own canvas This was a piece about six
feet by four feet. I had told Miss Carle a
little previously that her Majesty refused to sit for a
very small portrait, and that she would like a life
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size one. When her Majesty saw the canvas, she appeared
to be very much disappointed, as, in her opinion, even
that was not large enough. We placed the tables ready
for Miss Carle, and her Majesty asked her to choose
the position in which she wished to paint. I knew
that Miss Krle would have great difficulty in choosing a
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good position on account of the windows being built so
low there being very little light except low down near
the ground. However, Miss Carle finally placed the canvas near
the door of the room. Her Majesty told missus Conjure
and the rest to sit down for a while, as
she wanted to change into another gown. I followed her
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into her bedroom. The first question her Majesty asked was
how old I thought Miss Carle was, as she herself
could not guess her age, her hair being extremely light,
in fact almost white. I could hardly refrain from laughing
outright on hearing this, and told her Majesty that Miss
Carle's hair was naturally of a light color. Her Majesty
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said that she had often seen ladies with golden hair,
but never one with white hair, excepting old ladies. She said,
I think that she is very nice, however, and hope
she will paint a good portrait. Turning to one of
the court ladies, she ordered her to fetch a yellow gown,
as although as she put it, she did not like yellow,
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she thought it would be the best color for a portrait.
She selects one from a number, which the court lady brought,
embroidered all over with purple wisteria. Her shoes and handkerchiefs matched.
She also wore a blue silk scarf embroidered with the
character's show long life. Each character had a pearl in
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the center. She wore a pair of jade bracelets and
also jade nail protectors. In addition, she wore jade butterflies
and a tassel on one side of her head dress,
and as usual, fresh flowers on the other side. Her
Majesty certainly did look beautiful on that occasion. By the
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time she came out from her room, Miss Carle had
everything prepared. When she saw how her Majesty was dressed.
She exclaimed, how beautiful her Majesty looks in this dress,
which remark I interpreted to her Majesty, and it pleased
her very much. She seated herself in her throne, ready
to pose for the picture. She just sat down in
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an ordinary easy position, placing one hand on a cushion.
Miss Carle exclaimed, this is an excellent physician, as it
is so natural, Please do not move. I told her
Majesty what Miss Carle said, and she asked me whether
she looked all right or not. If not, she would
change her position. I assured her that she looked very
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grand in that position. However, she asked the opinion of
the Young Empress and some of the court ladies, who
all agreed that she could not look better. I could
see that they never looked at her Majesty at all.
They were too much interested in what Miss carl was doing.
When Miss Carle commenced to make the rough sketch of
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her Majesty, every one watched with open mouth, as they
had never seen anything done so easily and so naturally.
The young Empress whispered to me, although I don't know
anything about portrait painting, still I can say that she
is a good artist. She has never seen any of
our clothes and head dresses, and she has copied them exactly.
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Just imagine one of our Chinese artists trying to paint
the foreign lady. What a mess you would make of it.
After this sketch was finished, her Majesty was delighted and
thought it was wonderful for Miss Carle to have made
it so quickly and so accurately. I explained that this
was a rough sketch and that when Miss Carle commenced painting,
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she would soon see the difference. Her Majesty told me
to ask Miss Carle whether she was tired and would
like to rest, also to tell her that she was
very busy all the day and would only be able
to give her a few minutes sitting each day. We
then took Miss Carle to luncheon together with missus Conjure,
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and after luncheon, we accompanied her Majesty to the theater.
After missus conjer had departed, I took Miss Carle to
my room to As soon as we arrived there, her
Majesty sent a eunuch to call me to her bedroom.
Her Majesty said, I don't want this lady to paint
during my afternoon rest. She can rest at the same time.
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As soon as I am up, you can bring her
here to paint. I am glad that it looks like
turning out better than I had anticipated. I therefore told
Miss Carl her Majesty's wishes in this respect, and that
she could paint for a little while if she chose
to after her Majesty had had her rest. Miss Carl
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was so interested in her Majesty she told me she
didn't want to rest at all, but that she would
like to go on with the painting right away. Of course,
I did not like to tell her anything the first day,
as it might upset her, and did not say that
this was a command from her Majesty. After a lot
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of maneuvering, I got her to give up the idea
of continuing straight off without offending her. I took her
out on the verandah as the eunuch was preparing the
table for her Majesty's dinner in the room we were
then occupying. The young gampress kept Miss Carl busy talking,
I acting as interpreter. Soon one of the eunuchs came
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and informed us that Her Majesty had finished dinner and
would we please come and take hours. On entering the room,
I was very much surprised to see that cheers had
been placed there, as this had never been done previously. Everybody,
with the exception of Her Majesty taking their meals standing.
The Young Empress was also very much surprised and asked
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me whether I knew anything about it. I said that
perhaps it was an account of Miss Karl being there.
The young Gampress told me to go over and ask
her Majesty as she was afraid to sit down without
receiving orders to do so. Her Majesty whispered to me,
I don't want Miss Carle to think we are barbarians
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and treat the Young Empress and the court ladies in
that manner. Of course, she does not understand our court
etiquette and might form a wrong impression. So you can
all sit down without coming over to thank me, but
be natural, as though you were accustomed to sitting down
to dinner every day. After Her Majesty had washed her hands,
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she came over to our table. Of course, we all
stood up. Her Majesty told me to ask Miss Carle
whether she liked the food, and was pleased when Miss
Carle answered that she liked the food better than her
own kind. That relieved her Majesty. After dinner was over,
I told Miss Carle to say good bye to her Majesty.
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We curtsied to her, also to the young Empress, and
said good night to the court ladies. We then took
Miss Carle to the Palace of Prince John. It took
us about ten minutes. Right in the carts. We showed
Miss Carle her bedroom and were pleased to leave her
and get to our own rooms for a good night's rest.
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The next morning, we took Miss Kyle to the palace
and arrived there during the morning audience. Of course, Miss Kayle,
being a foreigner, could not enter the throne room, so
we sat down on the back verandah of the audience
hall and waited until it was over. This, of course,
prevented my being in attendance each morning as usual, and
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was a great disappointment to me, as I was unable
to keep in touch with what was taking place. Moreover,
during the time I had been at court, my one
object had been to endeavor to interest her Majesty in
Western customs and civilization. I believed that to a great extent,
Her Majesty was becoming interested in these things, and would
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refer the subjects of our conversation to her ministers for
their opinions. For instance, I had shown her photographs taken
of a naval review at which I was present in France.
Her Majesty seemed to be impressed and said that she
would certainly like to be able to make a similar
display in China. This matter she consulted with her ministers,
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but they gave the usual evasive answer viz. There is
plenty of time for that. From this you will see
that Her Majesty was not able to introduce reforms entirely alone,
even though she might desire to do so, but had
to consult the ministers, who would always agree with Her Majesty,
but would suggest that the matter be put off for
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a time. My experience while at the Palace was that
everybody seemed to be afraid to suggest anything new, for
fear they might get themselves into trouble. When Her Majesty
came out from the audience hall, Miss Carl went up
to her and kissed Her Majesty's hand, which caused her
great surprise. Although she did not show it at the time. Afterwards, however,
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when we were alone, she asked me why Miss Carle
had done this, As it was not a Chinese custom.
She naturally thought that it must be a foreign custom,
and therefore said nothing about it. Her Majesty then proceeded
on foot to her own palace to change her dress
for the portrait. It was a beautiful morning, and when
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she had posed for about ten minutes, she told me
that she felt too tired to proceed and asked if
it would be all right to ask Miss Carle to
postpone it. I explained that, as Miss Carle was going
to be at the palace for some time, the postponement
of one day's sitting would not make much difference at
that time. Although I knew that Miss Carle would naturally
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be disappointed, still I had to humor her Majesty as
much as possible, otherwise she might have thrown up the
whole thing. Miss Carle said that if her magic they
wished to go rest, she would be working painting the
screen and throne, and her Majesty could pose again later
on if she felt like it. This pleased her Majesty,
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and she said that she would try to sit again.
After taking her afternoon's rest. Her Majesty ordered me to
give Miss Carle her lunch in my own room at
twelve o'clock each day, my mother, my sister, and myself
keeping her company. Dinner at the palace was usually taken
about six o'clock, and it was arranged that Miss Carle
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should take dinner with the young emperors and the court
ladies at that hour after her Majesty had finished dining.
Her Majesty also ordered that champagne or any other wine
which Miss Carle preferred, should be served, as she said
she knew it was the custom for all foreign ladies
to take wine with their meals. Where she got hold
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of this idea, nobody knew. I was sure that her
Majesty had been misinformed by somebody, but it would have
been bad policy to have tried to tell her difference
at the moment. She disliked very much to be told
that she was wrong in any of these things, and
it could only be done by waiting and casually introducing
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the subject at some other time. After Miss Carle had
gone to rest during the afternoon, her Majesty sent for
me and asked the usual question viz. What had Miss
Krle been saying, et cetera, et cetera. She seemed particularly
anxious to know what Miss Carle thought of her, and
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when I told her that Miss Carle had said that
she was very beautiful and quite young looking, she said, oh, well,
of course Miss Carle would say that to you. However,
on my assuring her that Miss Carle had given this
opinion without being asked for, she showed very plainly that
she was not at all displeased with the compliment. Suddenly,
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her Majesty said, I have been thinking that if Miss
carl can paint the screen and the throne, surely she
ought to be able to paint my clothes and jewels
without it being necessary for me to pose all the time.
I told her that would be quite impossible, as nobody
could hold the things for Miss Carle to get the
proper effect. To my surprise, she answered, well, that is
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easily gotten over you wear them in my place. I
hardly knew what to say, but thought I would get
out of the difficulty by telling her that perhaps Miss
Carle would not like such an arrangement. Her Majesty, however,
could see no possible objection on Miss Carle's part as
she herself could pose when the time came for painting
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her face. So I put the matter as nicely as
possible to Miss Carle, and it was finally arranged that
I should dress in Her Majesty's robes and jewels whenever
Her Majesty felt too tired to do the posing herself.
In this manner, the portrait of the Empress Dowager was painted,
and with the exception of just a few hours, to
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enable Miss carl to get her Majesty's facial expression, I
had to sit for two hours each morning and for
another two hours each afternoon until the portrait was finished.
End of Part B of Chapter thirteen, read by J. C. Guan, Montreal,
(29:30):
January two thousand nine,
Part B of chapter thirteen of Two Years in the
Forbidden City. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'liing, chapter thirteen,
The Enttress's Portrait, Part B. After the people had gone,
we came from behind the screen, and her Majesty said,
(00:25):
let us go and have some more pictures taken while
the weather is fine. So she walked the courtyard of
the audience hall, where my brother had a camera ready
and had another photograph taken. She said that she would
like to have some taken, sitting on her throne, exactly
as though she were holding an audience. It took us
(00:46):
only a few minutes to have everything prepared in the courtyard.
The screen was placed behind the throne, and her footstool
was also placed ready for her, and she ordered one
of the court ladies to go and bring several gowns
for her to select from. At the same time, I
went and brought some of her favorite jewelry. She ordered
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the two gowns which she had worn at the audiences
when she received Admiral Evans and Missus Evans to be
brought in, and also the same jewels as she had
worn on these two respective occasions. She had two photographs
taken in these costumes, one in each dress. Next, she
wanted one taken in a plain gown without any embroidery.
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She then ordered my brother to go and finish the pictures,
which had already been taken, as she was anxious to
see what they were like. She said to my brother,
you wait a minute. I want to go with you
and see how you work on them. Of course, I
had not considered necessary to explain to her Majesty the
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process of developing the pictures, the dark room, et cetera.
So I explained to her as well as I could
the whole thing. Her Majesty replied, it doesn't matter. I
want to go and see the room, no matter what
kind of room it is. So we all adjourned to
the dark room in order to see my brother work
on the photographs. We placed each chair so that her
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Majesty could sit down. She said to my brother, you
must forget that I am here and go along with
your work, just as usual. She watched for a while
and was very pleased when she saw that the plates
were developing so quickly. My brother held up the plate
to the red light to enable her to see more distinctly.
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Her Majesty said, it is not very clear. I can
say that it is myself all right, but why is
it that my face and hands are dark. We explained
to her that when the picture was printed on paper,
these dark spots would show white and the white parts
would be dark. She said, well, one is never too
(03:00):
to learn. This is something really new to me. I
am not sorry that I suggested having my photograph taken,
and only hope that I shall like the portrait painting
as well. She said to my brother, don't finish these
photographs until after I have had my afternoon rest. I
want to see you do it. When she got up
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at about half past three, it did not take her
long to dress herself, as was her usual custom, and
she went immediately to where my brother had the papers
and everything prepared. He then showed her Majesty how the
printing was done. There was plenty of light as it
was summer time, and as it was only four o'clock
(03:42):
in the afternoon, the sun was still high. Her Majesty
watched for two hours while my brother was printing, and
was delighted to see each picture come out quite plainly.
She held the first one in her hands so long
while examining the others, that when she came to look
at it again, she found that it had turned quite black.
(04:04):
She could not understand this at all and exclaimed, why
has this gone black? Is it bad luck? We explained
to her that it must be washed after printing, otherwise
a strong light could cause the picture to fade, as
this one had done. She said, how very interesting, and
what a lot of work there is. After the printing
(04:28):
process had been finished, my brother placed the pictures in
a chemical bath as usual, finally washing them in clean water.
This caused her Majesty even more surprise when she saw
how clear the pictures came out, and caused her to exclaim,
how extraordinary. Everything is quite true to life. When they
(04:49):
were finally completed, she took the whole of them to
her own room and sat down on her little throne
and gazed at them for a long time. She even
took mirrors in order to compare her reflection with the
photographs just taken. All this time, my brother was standing
in the courtyard awaiting her Majesty's further commands. Suddenly she
(05:13):
recollected this fact and said, why I had forgotten all
about your brother. The poor fellow must be still standing
waiting to know what I want next. You go and
tell him, no, I had better go and speak to
him myself. He has worked so hard all the day
that I want to say something to make him feel happy.
(05:34):
She ordered my brother to print ten copies of each
of the photographs and to leave all his cameras at
the palace in order that he could proceed with the
work the next day. The following ten days it rained continually,
which made Her Majesty very impatient, as it was impossible
to take any more photographs until the weather improved. Her
(05:57):
Majesty wanted to have some taken in the throne room,
but this room was too dark, the upper windows being
pasted over with thick paper, only the lower windows allowing
the light to enter. My brother tried several times but
failed to get a good picture. During this rainy period,
(06:17):
the court was moved to the Sea Palace as the
Emperor was to sacrifice at the Temple of Earth. This
was a yearly ceremony and was carried out on similar
lines to all other annual ceremonies. On account of the rain,
her Majesty ordered that boats should be brought alongside the
west shore of the Summer Palace. On entering the boats,
(06:40):
her Majesty, accompanied by the Court, proceeded to the western
gate of the city, and on arrival at the last bridge, disembarked.
Chairs were awaiting us, and we rowed to the gate
of the Sea Palace. There we again entered the boat
and proceeded across the lake a distance about the mile.
(07:01):
While crossing the lake, her Majesty noticed a lot of
lotus plants which were in full bloom. She said, we
are going to stay at least three days here. I
hope the weather will be fine, as I should like
to have some photographs taken in the open boats on
the lake. I also have another good idea, and that
(07:21):
is I want to have one taken as Kwan yin
Goddess of Mercy. The two chief Eunuchs will be dressed
as attendants. The necessary gowns were made some time ago,
and I occasionally put them on whenever I have been
angry or worried over anything. By dressing up as the
Goddess of Mercy, it helps me to calm myself and
(07:44):
so play the part I represent. I can assure you
that it does help me a great deal, as it
makes me remember that I am looked upon as being
all merciful. By having a photograph taken of myself dressed
in this costume, I shall not be able to see
myself as I ought to be at all times. When
(08:05):
we arrived at the private palace, the rain ceased. We
walked to her bedroom, although the ground was still in
bad condition. One of Her Majesty's peculiarities was a desire
to go out in the rain and walk about. She
would not even use an umbrella unless it was raining
very heavily. The eunuchs always carried out umbrellas, but if
(08:27):
Her Majesty did not use her umbrella, of course we
could not very well use ours. The same thing applied
in everything. If Her Majesty wanted to walk, we had
to walk also, and if she decided to ride in
her chair, we had to get into our own chairs
and riders well. The only exception to this rule was
(08:48):
when Her Majesty, being tired of walking, ordered her stool
to rest on. We were not allowed to sit in
her present, but had to stand at all time. Her
Majesty liked the sea better than her Palace in the
Forbidden City. It was far prettier and had the effect
of making her good tempered. Her Majesty ordered us to
(09:10):
retire early that day, as we were all very tired
after the trip, and said that in the event of
its being fine, the next day she would have the
proposed photographs taken. However, much to Her Majesty's disappointment, it
rained incessantly for the next three days, so it was
decided to stay a few days longer. On the last
(09:32):
day of our stay, it cleared up sufficiently to enable
the photographs to be taken, after which we all returned
to the Summer Palace. The day after our arrival at
the Summer Palace, Her Majesty said that we had better
prepare everything for the audience to receive the lady artist,
Miss Carle. She told the chief eunuch to issue orders
(09:55):
to all the other eunuchs not to speak to Miss Carle,
but simply be light as occasion required. We court ladies
received similar orders, also that we were not to address
Her Majesty while Miss Krle was present. The Emperor received
several instructions. Her Majesty gave orders to have the gardens
(10:16):
of Prince Strong's Palace ready. She then said to us,
I trust you three to look after this lady artist.
I have already given orders for food to be supplied
by the wai Wu pool. The only thing that I
have been worried about is that I have no foreign
food here for Miss Karl. She ordered us to have
(10:37):
our stove taken over to Prince Strong's palace in case
Miss Kyle desired something cooked. She said, I know it
will be very hard for you to take her to
the palace each morning and return with her at night,
besides having to watch her all day long, but I
know you do not mind. You are all doing this
for me. After a while, she smiled and said, how
(11:00):
selfish of me. I order you to bring all your
things to this place, But what is your father going
to do? The best thing will be to ask your
father to come and live in the same place the
country air might benefit him. We kowtowed and thanked her majesty,
as this was a special favor, no official nor any
(11:21):
one else having been allowed to live in Prince Stung's
palace previously. We all were very pleased. I could now
see my father every day. Hitherto we had only been
able to see him about once a month, and then
only by asking special leave. The next day, her Majesty
sent us to Prince King's Palace to make all necessary
(11:43):
unparrangements for Miss Call's stay. This palace of Prince Jung's
was a magnificent place. All the smaller dwellings were quite
separate from each other, not in one large building as
was the custom. There was a small lake in the
grounds and love little paths to walk along, exactly like
(12:03):
the Empress Dowager's Summer Palace, but of course on a
much smaller scale. We selected one of these small dwellings
or summer houses for the use of Miss Carl during
her stay, and had it fitted up nicely to make
her as comfortable as possible. We ourselves were to occupy
the next house to Miss Carl in order that we
(12:26):
might always be on hand and at the same time
keep a good eye on her. We returned to the
Summer Palace the same evening and told her Majesty just
how everything had been arranged. She said, I want you
all to be very careful not to let this lady
know that you are watching her. She seemed very anxious
(12:46):
about this repeating these instructions for several days prior to
Miss Carl's arrival. I felt very much relieved when the
day before the audience arrived and everything was finally fixed
to Her Majesty's satisfaction. She ordered us to retire early
that evening, as she wanted to rest and look well
the next morning. When morning came, we hurried over everything,
(13:11):
even the usual morning audience, so that we could be
ready when Miss Carl arrived. While I was standing behind
the screen as usual, a eunuch came and told me
that missus Conjure, the artist and another lady had arrived
and that they were now in the waiting room. By
that time, the audience was about finished. The chief eunuch
(13:34):
came in and told Her Majesty that the foreign ladies
had arrived and were waiting in another room. Her Majesty
said to us, I think I will go to the
courtyard and meet them there. Of course, at all private audiences,
her Majesty received the people in the throne room, but
as Miss Carle was more of a guest, she did
(13:56):
not think it necessary to go through the usual formal reception.
While we were descending the steps, we saw the ladies.
Entering the gate of the courtyard, I pointed out Miss
Carle to her Majesty and noticed that she eyed Miss
Carle very keenly. When we arrived in the courtyard, missus
conjur came forward and greeted her Majesty and then presented
(14:18):
Miss Carle. Her Majesty's first impression of Miss Carle was
a good one, as Miss Carle was smiling very pleasantly,
and Her Majesty, who always liked to see a pleasant smile,
exclaimed to me in an undertone, she seems to be
a very pleasant person, to which I replied that I
was very glad she thought so, as I was very
(14:39):
anxious about the impression Miss Carle would make on her Majesty.
Her Majesty watched Miss Carle and myself as we greeted
each other, and I could see that she was satisfied.
She told me afterwards that she had noticed Miss Carle
appeared very glad to see me again, and said we
will handle her pretty easily, I think. Her Majesty then
(15:03):
went to her own private palace and we all followed.
On our arrival, Miss carl told me that she had
brought her own canvas This was a piece about six
feet by four feet. I had told Miss Carle a
little previously that her Majesty refused to sit for a
very small portrait, and that she would like a life
(15:23):
size one. When her Majesty saw the canvas, she appeared
to be very much disappointed, as, in her opinion, even
that was not large enough. We placed the tables ready
for Miss Carle, and her Majesty asked her to choose
the position in which she wished to paint. I knew
that Miss Krle would have great difficulty in choosing a
(15:46):
good position on account of the windows being built so
low there being very little light except low down near
the ground. However, Miss Carle finally placed the canvas near
the door of the room. Her Majesty told missus Conjure
and the rest to sit down for a while, as
she wanted to change into another gown. I followed her
(16:09):
into her bedroom. The first question her Majesty asked was
how old I thought Miss Carle was, as she herself
could not guess her age, her hair being extremely light,
in fact almost white. I could hardly refrain from laughing
outright on hearing this, and told her Majesty that Miss
Carle's hair was naturally of a light color. Her Majesty
(16:31):
said that she had often seen ladies with golden hair,
but never one with white hair, excepting old ladies. She said,
I think that she is very nice, however, and hope
she will paint a good portrait. Turning to one of
the court ladies, she ordered her to fetch a yellow gown,
as although as she put it, she did not like yellow,
(16:55):
she thought it would be the best color for a portrait.
She selects one from a number, which the court lady brought,
embroidered all over with purple wisteria. Her shoes and handkerchiefs matched.
She also wore a blue silk scarf embroidered with the
character's show long life. Each character had a pearl in
(17:17):
the center. She wore a pair of jade bracelets and
also jade nail protectors. In addition, she wore jade butterflies
and a tassel on one side of her head dress,
and as usual, fresh flowers on the other side. Her
Majesty certainly did look beautiful on that occasion. By the
(17:37):
time she came out from her room, Miss Carle had
everything prepared. When she saw how her Majesty was dressed.
She exclaimed, how beautiful her Majesty looks in this dress,
which remark I interpreted to her Majesty, and it pleased
her very much. She seated herself in her throne, ready
to pose for the picture. She just sat down in
(18:00):
an ordinary easy position, placing one hand on a cushion.
Miss Carle exclaimed, this is an excellent physician, as it
is so natural, Please do not move. I told her
Majesty what Miss Carle said, and she asked me whether
she looked all right or not. If not, she would
change her position. I assured her that she looked very
(18:23):
grand in that position. However, she asked the opinion of
the Young Empress and some of the court ladies, who
all agreed that she could not look better. I could
see that they never looked at her Majesty at all.
They were too much interested in what Miss carl was doing.
When Miss Carle commenced to make the rough sketch of
(18:44):
her Majesty, every one watched with open mouth, as they
had never seen anything done so easily and so naturally.
The young Empress whispered to me, although I don't know
anything about portrait painting, still I can say that she
is a good artist. She has never seen any of
our clothes and head dresses, and she has copied them exactly.
(19:07):
Just imagine one of our Chinese artists trying to paint
the foreign lady. What a mess you would make of it.
After this sketch was finished, her Majesty was delighted and
thought it was wonderful for Miss Carle to have made
it so quickly and so accurately. I explained that this
was a rough sketch and that when Miss Carle commenced painting,
(19:30):
she would soon see the difference. Her Majesty told me
to ask Miss Carle whether she was tired and would
like to rest, also to tell her that she was
very busy all the day and would only be able
to give her a few minutes sitting each day. We
then took Miss Carle to luncheon together with missus Conjure,
(19:51):
and after luncheon, we accompanied her Majesty to the theater.
After missus conjer had departed, I took Miss Carle to
my room to As soon as we arrived there, her
Majesty sent a eunuch to call me to her bedroom.
Her Majesty said, I don't want this lady to paint
during my afternoon rest. She can rest at the same time.
(20:15):
As soon as I am up, you can bring her
here to paint. I am glad that it looks like
turning out better than I had anticipated. I therefore told
Miss Carl her Majesty's wishes in this respect, and that
she could paint for a little while if she chose
to after her Majesty had had her rest. Miss Carl
(20:35):
was so interested in her Majesty she told me she
didn't want to rest at all, but that she would
like to go on with the painting right away. Of course,
I did not like to tell her anything the first day,
as it might upset her, and did not say that
this was a command from her Majesty. After a lot
(20:55):
of maneuvering, I got her to give up the idea
of continuing straight off without offending her. I took her
out on the verandah as the eunuch was preparing the
table for her Majesty's dinner in the room we were
then occupying. The young gampress kept Miss Carl busy talking,
I acting as interpreter. Soon one of the eunuchs came
(21:17):
and informed us that Her Majesty had finished dinner and
would we please come and take hours. On entering the room,
I was very much surprised to see that cheers had
been placed there, as this had never been done previously. Everybody,
with the exception of Her Majesty taking their meals standing.
The Young Empress was also very much surprised and asked
(21:40):
me whether I knew anything about it. I said that
perhaps it was an account of Miss Karl being there.
The young Gampress told me to go over and ask
her Majesty as she was afraid to sit down without
receiving orders to do so. Her Majesty whispered to me,
I don't want Miss Carle to think we are barbarians
(22:03):
and treat the Young Empress and the court ladies in
that manner. Of course, she does not understand our court
etiquette and might form a wrong impression. So you can
all sit down without coming over to thank me, but
be natural, as though you were accustomed to sitting down
to dinner every day. After Her Majesty had washed her hands,
(22:24):
she came over to our table. Of course, we all
stood up. Her Majesty told me to ask Miss Carle
whether she liked the food, and was pleased when Miss
Carle answered that she liked the food better than her
own kind. That relieved her Majesty. After dinner was over,
I told Miss Carle to say good bye to her Majesty.
(22:45):
We curtsied to her, also to the young Empress, and
said good night to the court ladies. We then took
Miss Carle to the Palace of Prince John. It took
us about ten minutes. Right in the carts. We showed
Miss Carle her bedroom and were pleased to leave her
and get to our own rooms for a good night's rest.
(23:05):
The next morning, we took Miss Kyle to the palace
and arrived there during the morning audience. Of course, Miss Kayle,
being a foreigner, could not enter the throne room, so
we sat down on the back verandah of the audience
hall and waited until it was over. This, of course,
prevented my being in attendance each morning as usual, and
(23:28):
was a great disappointment to me, as I was unable
to keep in touch with what was taking place. Moreover,
during the time I had been at court, my one
object had been to endeavor to interest her Majesty in
Western customs and civilization. I believed that to a great extent,
Her Majesty was becoming interested in these things, and would
(23:51):
refer the subjects of our conversation to her ministers for
their opinions. For instance, I had shown her photographs taken
of a naval review at which I was present in France.
Her Majesty seemed to be impressed and said that she
would certainly like to be able to make a similar
display in China. This matter she consulted with her ministers,
(24:15):
but they gave the usual evasive answer viz. There is
plenty of time for that. From this you will see
that Her Majesty was not able to introduce reforms entirely alone,
even though she might desire to do so, but had
to consult the ministers, who would always agree with Her Majesty,
but would suggest that the matter be put off for
(24:38):
a time. My experience while at the Palace was that
everybody seemed to be afraid to suggest anything new, for
fear they might get themselves into trouble. When Her Majesty
came out from the audience hall, Miss Carl went up
to her and kissed Her Majesty's hand, which caused her
great surprise. Although she did not show it at the time. Afterwards, however,
(25:03):
when we were alone, she asked me why Miss Carle
had done this, As it was not a Chinese custom.
She naturally thought that it must be a foreign custom,
and therefore said nothing about it. Her Majesty then proceeded
on foot to her own palace to change her dress
for the portrait. It was a beautiful morning, and when
(25:25):
she had posed for about ten minutes, she told me
that she felt too tired to proceed and asked if
it would be all right to ask Miss Carle to
postpone it. I explained that, as Miss Carle was going
to be at the palace for some time, the postponement
of one day's sitting would not make much difference at
that time. Although I knew that Miss Carle would naturally
(25:48):
be disappointed, still I had to humor her Majesty as
much as possible, otherwise she might have thrown up the
whole thing. Miss Carle said that if her magic they
wished to go rest, she would be working painting the
screen and throne, and her Majesty could pose again later
on if she felt like it. This pleased her Majesty,
(26:10):
and she said that she would try to sit again.
After taking her afternoon's rest. Her Majesty ordered me to
give Miss Carle her lunch in my own room at
twelve o'clock each day, my mother, my sister, and myself
keeping her company. Dinner at the palace was usually taken
about six o'clock, and it was arranged that Miss Carle
(26:32):
should take dinner with the young emperors and the court
ladies at that hour after her Majesty had finished dining.
Her Majesty also ordered that champagne or any other wine
which Miss Carle preferred, should be served, as she said
she knew it was the custom for all foreign ladies
to take wine with their meals. Where she got hold
(26:55):
of this idea, nobody knew. I was sure that her
Majesty had been misinformed by somebody, but it would have
been bad policy to have tried to tell her difference
at the moment. She disliked very much to be told
that she was wrong in any of these things, and
it could only be done by waiting and casually introducing
(27:16):
the subject at some other time. After Miss Carle had
gone to rest during the afternoon, her Majesty sent for
me and asked the usual question viz. What had Miss
Krle been saying, et cetera, et cetera. She seemed particularly
anxious to know what Miss Carle thought of her, and
(27:36):
when I told her that Miss Carle had said that
she was very beautiful and quite young looking, she said, oh, well,
of course Miss Carle would say that to you. However,
on my assuring her that Miss Carle had given this
opinion without being asked for, she showed very plainly that
she was not at all displeased with the compliment. Suddenly,
(28:01):
her Majesty said, I have been thinking that if Miss
carl can paint the screen and the throne, surely she
ought to be able to paint my clothes and jewels
without it being necessary for me to pose all the time.
I told her that would be quite impossible, as nobody
could hold the things for Miss Carle to get the
proper effect. To my surprise, she answered, well, that is
(28:25):
easily gotten over you wear them in my place. I
hardly knew what to say, but thought I would get
out of the difficulty by telling her that perhaps Miss
Carle would not like such an arrangement. Her Majesty, however,
could see no possible objection on Miss Carle's part as
she herself could pose when the time came for painting
(28:48):
her face. So I put the matter as nicely as
possible to Miss Carle, and it was finally arranged that
I should dress in Her Majesty's robes and jewels whenever
Her Majesty felt too tired to do the posing herself.
In this manner, the portrait of the Empress Dowager was painted,
and with the exception of just a few hours, to
(29:09):
enable Miss carl to get her Majesty's facial expression, I
had to sit for two hours each morning and for
another two hours each afternoon until the portrait was finished.
End of Part B of Chapter thirteen, read by J. C. Guan, Montreal,
(29:30):
January two thousand nine,
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