August 19, 2025 • 43 mins
The author of this captivating narrative possesses a unique perspective shaped by her remarkable lineage. As the daughter of Lord Yu Keng, a prominent figure in the Manchu White Banner Corps and a progressive Chinese official, she brings unparalleled insights to her experiences. Serving as First Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress Dowager, she had the rare opportunity to observe and understand the complexities of the woman who ruled China for decades. This intimate chronicle, inspired by the encouragement of friends, illuminates the extraordinary personality of the Empress and the rich customs of her court, offering readers a fresh lens on this pivotal moment in history.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter fourteen of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by J.
C Iguan. Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'eling,
Chapter fourteen, the Emperor's birthday. My father's four months leave
having expired, he was received in audience by their Majesties
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on the first day of the sixth moon. He was
much improved in health, but his rheumatism was still very troublesome.
This was particularly noticeable when climbing the steps to the
audience hall, and Her Majesty ordered two of the eunuchs
to assist him. First, he thanked Her Majesty for her
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kindness towards my sister and myself, and, as was the custom,
took off his hat and knelt down, bowing his head
until it struck the ground. This ceremony was always gone
through by any official who had received special favors from
their Majesties. He then replaced his hat on his head
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and remained kneeling before the thurne. Her Majesty then questioned
him about his life in Paris from time to time,
complimenting him on his work. Seeing that remaining in this
kneeling position appeared to be making him tired. Her Majesty
ordered one of the eunuchs to bring a cushion for
him to use, which was another great honor, as this
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cushion was only used by the President of the Grand's Council.
Her Majesty told him that as he was now getting
to be a very old man, she did not intend
sending him away from China again, as she wanted to
keep my sister and myself at the court, which she
could not do if she sent him to some foreign country,
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as he would want to take his daughters with him.
She said she was pleased that although we had been
away from China for such a long time, we were
well acquainted with the Manchu customs. My father replied that
it had been his care that we should be brought
up according to the customs of our own country. Her
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Majesty then asked the Emperor if he had anything to say,
and he replied by asking my father if he spoke French,
and thought it very strange on learning that he did not.
My father explained that he had never had the time
to study it, besides which he considered himself too old
to learn a foreign language. The emperor next asked what
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was the feeling in France towards China. My father replied
that they were very friendly at that time, but that
immediately after the boxer trouble, the post of minister had
been a very embarrassing one. Her Majesty said that it
had been an unfortunate affair, but she was glad that
everything was now settled satisfactorily. She told my father that
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he was to get well again as quickly as possible,
and the audience came to an end. Afterwards. Her Majesty
said that my father was looking very old since his
return from France, and that he would have to be
careful and take things easy until he got stronger again.
She was pleased that he had shown appreciation of her
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interest in my sister and myself. Preparations were now commenced
for celebrating the birthday of His Majesty, the Emperor quang Chu,
which was to take place on the twenty eighth of
that month. The actual date of the Emperor's birthday was
the twenty sixth of the sixth moon, but this day
being the anniversary of the death of a previous Emperor
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of China, we were unable to hold any festivities, and
so it was always celebrated on the twenty eighth day. Instead,
the official celebration lasted for seven days, three days before
and four days after the actual date. During that time,
the whole of the court dressed in a face robes,
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and no business of any kind whatever was attended to. This.
Being the emperor's thirty second birthday, and as the full
celebrations only took place every tenth year, i e. On
his twentieth birthday, his thirtieth birthday, and so on, the
festivities were not carried out on a very grand scale. However,
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it was quite sufficient to interfere with old business, and
the usual morning audiences did not take place during these
seven days. The Empress Dowager herself was the only person
who did not dress especially during these celebrations and who
did not take any active part in the festivities. Another
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reason why the celebrations were not carried out on a
very large scale was the fact that the Empress Dowager,
being alive, she took precedence according to the Manchu custom,
over the Emperor himself. In fact, she was the actual
ruler of the country, the emperor being second. The emperor
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was quite aware of this fact, and when the Empress
commanded that preparations be commenced for the celebrations, the Emperor
would always suggest that it was not at all necessary
to celebrate the occasion unless it happened to be a
tenth year, and would very reluctantly agree to the festivities
taking place. Of course, this was more out of politeness
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on the part of the Emperor and to conform to
the recognized etiquette. But the nation recognized this birthday and
naturally celebrated according to the usual custom during this period. Therefore,
the painting of the portrait was postponed. When the morning
of the twenty fifth arrived, the Emperor dressed himself in
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his official robe, yellow gown embroidered with gold dragons and
coat of a reddish black color. Of course, being the Emperor,
in place of the usual button on the hat, he
or a large pearl. I might mention that the Emperor
was the only person who could wear this particular pearl
in place of a button. He came as usual to
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wish her Majesty Jichang, and then proceeded to the temple
to worship before the ancestral tablets. After this ceremony, was over,
he returned to the Empress dowager and kowtowed to her.
All the Chinese adopted this roar of kotowing to their
parents on their own birthdays as a sign of reverence
and respect. The Emperor next proceeded to the audience hall,
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where all the ministers were assembled and received their salutations
and congratulations. This ceremony often caused amusement, for to see
several hundred people all bobbing their hands up and down,
especially when they did not all manage to do it together,
was a very funny sight. Even the Emperor himself had
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to laugh. It was such an extraordinary spectacle. The musical
instruments which were used during the ceremony deserve a little description.
The principal instrument is made of hard wood and has
a flat bottom about three feet in diameter, with a
dome shaped top raised about three feet from the ground.
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The inside is quite hollow. A long pole made of
the same material is used as a drumstick, and an
official specially appointed beats with all his might on the drum.
The noise can be better imagined than described. This is
used as a signal to announce when the Emperor takes
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his seat upon the throne. In addition to the above,
a full sized model of a tiger, also made of
similar hard wood and having twenty four skills on its back,
is brought into the courtyard. In this case, they did
not beat the instrument, but scraped along its back over
the scales, which emitted a noise similar to the litting
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ofs simultaneously of innumerable crackers. The noise was kept up
during the whole of the ceremony, and what with the
drum and this tiger instrument, it was sufficient to deafen one.
During the ceremony, an official crier used to call out
the different orders, such as when to kneel, bow, stand up, koto,
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et cetera, et cetera, but with the noise it was
quite impossible to hear a single word of what he uttered.
Another instrument was composed of a frame made of wood
about eight feet high by three feet broad. Across the
sprame were three wooden bars, from which was suspended twelve
bells made out of pure gold. When these were struck
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with a wooden stick, the sound was not at all
unlike the dulcimer, only of course, very much louder. This
was placed on the right side of the audience hall.
On the left side, a similar instrument was placed, with
the exception that the bells were carved out of white jade.
The music which could be brought out of the instrument
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was very sweet. When the ceremony of receiving the ministers
was concluded, the Emperor proceeded to his private palace where
the Young Empress, his wife, the secondary Wife, and all
the court ladies were gathered, and after kowtowing, all of
the court ladies present, led by the Young Empress, knelt
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before him and presented him with a jui. This is
a kind of scepterure. Some are made out of pure jade,
while others are made out of wood inlaid with jade.
This rui is a symbol of good luck and was
supposed to bring happiness and prosperity to the person to
whom it was presented. The ceremony was gone through to
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the accompaniment of music played on string instrument, which was
very sweet. Next, the eunuchs were receive by the Emperor,
and they similarly congratulated him, but without the accompaniment of music.
After the eunuchs came the servants, girls and the whole
of the ceremony was over, the Emperor next proceeded to
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Her Majesty's palace, where he knelt before Her Majesty and
thanked her for the celebration which had been given in
his honor, after which Her Majesty, accompanied by the whole court,
went to the theater to see the play. On arrival
at the theater, we were all presented by Her Majesty
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with sweetmeats, this being the custom on these occasions, and
after a little while Her Majesty retired for her afternoon rest.
Thus the celebration ended. Two days after the celebration, the
seventh moon commenced. The seventh day of the seventh moon
was the occasion of another important anniversary. The two stars
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Niu Lang capricorn and Juniorra are supposed to be the
patrons of agriculture and weaving, and, according to a tradition,
were at one time man and wife. As the result
of a quarrel. However, they were doomed to live apart,
being separated from each other by the Milky Way, But
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on the seventh day of the seventh moon of each year,
they are allowed to see each other, and the magpies
are supposed to build a bridge to enable them to meet.
The ceremony is rather peculiar. Several basins full of water
were placed so that the sun's rays would fall upon them.
Her Majesty then took several tiny needles and dropped one
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into each basin. These floated on the water, casting a
shadow across the bottom of the basins. These shadows took
different forms according to the position of the needle, and
if the shadow took certain prescribed forms, the person throwing
in the needle was supposed to be the very lucky
and clever, while if they represented certain other forms, they
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were despised by the gods as being ignorant. In addition,
her Majesty burnt incense and offered up prayers to the
two gods referred to. This was always a sad moon
for her Majesty, it being the anniversary of the death
of her husband, the Emperorsianfung, who died on the seventeenth
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of that month. The fifteenth of the seventh moon each
year is the day of the festival for the dead,
and early in the morning the court moved to the
Sea Palace in order to sacrifice. The Chinese hold that
when a person dies, his soul still remains on the earth,
and on these anniversaries they burn imitation money, the belief
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being that the soul of the departed one will benefit
to the extent of the amount of money so represented.
On the anniversary above referred to, her Majesty sent for
hundreds of Buddhist priests to pray for those unfortunate people
who had died without leaving any one who could sacrifice
for them. On the evening of this day, her Majesty
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and all her court ladies set out in open boats
on the lake where imitation lotus flowers were arranged as lanterns,
with a candle placed in the center, which formed a
sort of floating light. The idea being to give light
to the spirits of those who had departed during the year,
as to enable them to come and receive the blessings
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which had been prepared for them. Her Majesty ordered us
to light the candles and place the flowers on the
water ourselves, as she said it would be appreciated by
the spirits of the dead. Some of the eunuchs had
told her Majesty that they had actually seen some of
these spirits, which assertion was thoroughly believed. Although she had
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never seen them herself. She accounted for this by the
fact that she was of too high rank and the
spirits were afraid of her. But she ordered all the
rest of us to keep a sharp look out and
tell her if we saw anything. Of course, we didn't
see anything, but many of the court ladies were so
frightened that they closed their eyes for fear they might
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see something supernatural. Her Majesty was devoted to the late
Amperusian Fung, and she was very sad and morose during
this period. We all had to be very careful, indeed,
not to upset her in any way, as she would
find fault on the slightest provocation. She hardly had a
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word to say to any of us, and cried almost incessantly.
I could hardly understand the reason for such grief, seeing
that the Emperor had died so many years previously. None
of the court ladies were allowed to dress in light
colored gowns. During the whole of the seventh moon, we
all dressed either in dark blue or pale blue, while
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Her Majesty herself dressed in black every day without exception.
Even her handkerchiefs were black. The theaters, which were usually
opened on the first and fifteenth of each month, were
closed during the seventh moon. There was no music, and
everything was conducted in the most solemn manner. In fact,
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the whole court was in deep mourning. On the morning
of the seventeenth day of the seventh moon, her Majesty
visited the late Emperor's tablet and knelt there crying for
quite a while. In order to show respect for the
late Emperor, none of us were allowed to eat meat
for three days. This being my first year at the palace,
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it appeared to me very strange after the customary gaiety
and noise. Of course, I felt very sorry for her Majesty,
as I could say, as it was a genuine display
of grief and was not in any way put on.
As I was her favorite at that time, she kept
me close to her side during this sad period. The
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young Empress said to me one day, her Majesty is
very much attached to you, and I think you had
better stay with her for the time being. This I did,
and was so miserable myself that when her Majesty commenced crying,
I would cry also. When she saw that I was crying,
her Majesty would immediately stop and ask me not to cry.
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She would tell me that I was too young to cry,
and that in any case, I did not know what
real sorrow was as yet. During the conversation we had
at that time, she would tell me quite a lot
about herself. On one occasion, she said, you know, I
have had a very hard life ever since I was
a young girl. I was not a bit happy one
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with my parents, as I was not the favorite. My
sisters had everything they wanted, while I was to a
great extent ignored altogether. When I first came to the court,
a lot of the people were jealous of me because
I was considered to be a beautiful woman at that time.
I must save myself that I was a clever one,
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for I thought my own battles and won them too.
When I arrived at the court, the late Emperor became
very much attached to me and would hardly glance at
any of the other ladies. Fortunately, I was lucky in
giving birth to a son, as it made me the
emperor's undisputed favorite. But after that I had very bad luck.
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During the last year of his reign, the Emperor was
seized with his sudden illness in addition to this, the
foreign soldiers burnt down the palace at Yamingian, so we
fled to ju Hua. Of course, everybody knows what took place.
At that time, I was still a young woman with
a dying husband and a young son. The East Empress
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Dowager's nephew was a bad man who coveted the throne,
which he had no right to in any event, as
he was not of royal blood. I would not wish
any one to experience what I myself passed through at
that time. When the Emperor was in the dying condition,
being practically unconscious of what was taking place around him,
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I took my son to his bed side and asked
him what was going to be done about his successor
to the throne. He made no reply to this, but
as has always been the case in emergencies, I was
equal to the occasion, and I said to him, here
is your son. On hearing which he immediately opened his
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eyes and said, of course he will succeed to the throne.
I naturally felt relieved when this was settled once and
for all. These words were practically the last he spoke,
for he died immediately afterwards. Although it is now so
many years ago. I can see him now in that
dying condition, just as though it all happened only yesterday.
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I thought that I could be happy with my son
as the Emperor Tonju, but unfortunately he died before he
was twenty years of age. Since that time I have
been a changed woman, as all happiness was over as
far as I was concerned when he died. I had
also quite a lot of trouble with the East Empress Dowager,
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and found it very difficult to keep on good terms
with her. However, she died five years after the death
of my son. In addition to all this, when the
Emperor guang Hu was brought to me as the baby
three years old, he was a very sickly child and
could hardly walk. He was so thin and weak his
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parents seemed to be afraid of giving him anything to eat.
You know, his father was Prince John and his mother
was my sister, so of course he was almost the
same as my own son. In fact, I adopted him
as such. Even now after all my trouble on his account,
he is not in perfect health. As you know, I
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have had plenty of other troubles beside these, but it
is useless to mention them. Now I am disappointed with everything,
as nothing has turned out as I had expected. With
this remark, her Majesty commenced, crying afresh. Continuing, she said,
people seem to think that, just because I am the
Empress Dowager, that I am bound to be happy. But
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what I have just told you is not all I
have gone through much more than that. If ever anything
went wrong, I was always the one who was blamed.
The censors even dare to impeach me once in a while. However,
I am philosopher enough to take things for what they
are worse, otherwise I would have been in my own
grave long long ago. Just imagine how small minded these
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people are. Amongst other things, the objected to my transferring
my court to the summer palace during the hot weather,
although I could do no harm by being there. Even
in the short time you have spent at court, you
can see that I am unable to decide anything alone,
while whenever they want anything, to consult with each other
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and then present their petition to me, which unless it
is something of a very serious nature, I never think
of refusing. After the time set apart for morning had expired,
we all went back to the summer palace, where Miss
Carl recommenced her work on her Majesty's portrait. Her Majesty
apparently soon got tired of this portrait painting. For one day,
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she asked me when I thought it would be finished.
She was afraid that it would not be finished by
the time the court weather came on when we always
removed the court to the forbidden City, and she said
it would be a lot of trouble and inconvenience to
have to continue the portrait there. I told her Majesty
that it could easily be arranged and that she need
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not worry herself. After I had been posing in Her
Majesty's place for several days, her Majesty asked me whether
Miss Carl had said anything about it, and if she did,
I was to inform her that it was a command
from Her Majesty and that I did not make any
further suggestion in that respect. So we had no further
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trouble with Miss Carl after that. I had, however, quite
a lot of trouble with the eunuchs, who, in spite
of Her Majesty's instructions, were anything but polite to Miss Carl.
Of course, Miss Carl herself did not know this. I
tried to make them behave better by threatening to tell
Her Majesty about them, which had a good effect for
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a while, but they were soon as bad as ever.
At the commencement of the eighth moon, her Majesty always
attended to the transplanting of her chrysentimums, which was one
of her favorite flowers. So each day she would take
with her to the west side of the lake, and,
assisted by us, would cut the tops of the young
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plants and set them in flower pots. I was very
much surprised at this, as there were no roots, only
the stems of the flowers, but her Majesty assured me
that they would soon grow into very pretty plants. Every
day we went over to water these flowers until they
began to bud. In case it rained heavily, her Majesty
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would order some of the eunuchs to go over and
cover up these cresentiment plants with mats so that they
would not be broken. It was characteristic of her Majesty
that no matter what other business she had to attend to,
her flowers had her first consideration, and she would, if necessary,
even go without her usual rest in order to superintend
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them personally. She also spent quite a time in looking
after her orchard, where she had planted apple trees, pear trees,
et cetera. Another thing which I began to notice was
that when the spring and summer days had passed, she
got quite irritable and sad, while in the winter she
was simply unbearable. She loathed cold weather. One night, during
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the eighth moon, her Majesty was taken slightly ill and
complained of suffering from severe headaches. This was the only
time I ever saw Her Majesty actually sick. She however,
got up as usual in the morning and held audience,
but was unable to take her luncheon and very soon
had to retire to her bed. Several doctors were summoned,
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each of whom took her pulse. This was quite a
ceremony in itself. The doctors knelt at the bedside, and
Her Majesty stretched forth her arm, resting her hand upon
a small pillow which was provided for that purpose. After this,
each doctor wrote out his prescription, all of which were
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different from each other. We handed them to Her Majesty,
who chose the one which she thought was the nicest
to take and too attendant, and the doctor himself had
to take a doze in her presence before she would
touch it. Then she would take it all right. During
this time, it rained a great deal and was very hot.
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The climate at this time of the year is very damp,
which causes the flies to make their appearance in millions.
If there was one thing more than another that Her
Majesty detested, it was these flies. During the actual summer,
they were not so troublesome as at this particular time.
Of course, every precaution was taken to keep them away,
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a eunuch being posted at each door, provided with a
sort of switch made of horsehair fastened at the end
of a bamboo pole. We were never troubled by mosquitoes, however.
In fact, I never saw a mosquito curtain in the
palace during the whole of my stay there. These flies
were an abomination, and in spite of all that could
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be done, a few would find their way into the rooms.
Whenever they alighted on her Majesty she would scream, while
if by any chance one were to alight on her food,
she would order the whole lot to be thrown away.
This would spoil her appetite for the whole day and
put her into a terrible temper as well. Whenever she
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saw one anywhere near her, she would order whoever happened
to be present to go and catch it. I myself
often received this order, but I detested them almost as
much as her Majesty did. They were so dirty and
stuck to one's hands whenever they touched them. After her illness,
her Majesty was indisposed more or less for quite a
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long time, and doctors were constantly in attendance. She took
so many different kinds of medicine that instead of getting better,
she got worse and eventually contracted a fever. Her Majesty
was very much afraid of fevers of any kind, and
we had to stay with her all night and all day,
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and had to take our meals whenever we could get
away from her bedside for a few minutes. Another peculiarity
was her Majesty's aversion for any kind of perfume near
her when she was sick, while when she was feeling
well she was simply smothered in it. The same applied
to fresh flowers, in spite of her love for them.
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Under ordinary conditions. When she was sick, she could not
bear them anywhere near Her nerves became absolutely unstrung as
she was unable to sleep during the day, and consequently
the time passed very slowly to her. In order to
make the time pass a little less tediously, she gave
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instructions for one of the better educated eunuchs to read
to her during the daytime. This reading generally consisted of
ancient Chinese history, poetry, and all kinds of Chinese lore.
And while the eunuch was reading to her, we had
to stand by her bedside, one of us being told
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of to massage her legs, which seemed to suit her somewhat.
This same program was gone through every day until she
was completely herself again some ten days later. One day,
her Majesty asked me what kind of medicine does a
foreign doctor usually give in case of a fever. I
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have heard that they make you take all kinds of pills.
This must be very dangerous, as you never know what
they are made of. Here in China, all medicines are
made from roots, and I can always find out whether
I am receiving the right medicine, as I have a
book which explains what each different medicine is. For another
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thing I have heard is that foreign doctors generally operate
on you with a knight, while we cure the same
sickness by means of our medicine. Lilianing told me that
one of our little eunuchs had a boil on his wrist,
and some one advised him to go to the hospital.
Of course, they didn't know what they would do, and
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the foreign doctors there opened the boil with a knife,
which frightened the child very much. I was very much
surprised when I heard he was all right again in
a couple of days. Continuing, her majesty said, a year ago,
one of the foreign ladies came to the palace, and,
hearing me cough a lot, gave me some black pills
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and told me to swallow them. I did not like
to offend her, so I took the pills and told
her I would take them by and by. However, I
was afraid to take them and throw them away. Of course,
I answered that I didn't know much about medicines, to
which she replied that she had seen me take foreign
medicines whenever I was not feeling well. She then said
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of course, I know there are people in Beijing who
do take the medicines given them by foreign doctors, and
even some of my own relatives patronize these foreigners. Also.
They try not to let me know, but I do
know for all that in any case, if they choose
to kill themselves by taking these pills, it is none
of my business. That is the reason why when they
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are sick, I never send my own doctors to attend them.
When her Majesty had completely recovered from her illness, she
used to go out on the lake a great deal,
sometimes in an open boat and at other times in
a steam launch. She always appeared to enjoy this kind
of thing. For some reason or other. She always insisted
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on taking the west side of the lake, which was
very shallow, and invariably the launch would get stuck fast
in the mud, which seemed to afford her Majesty great enjoyment.
She simply loved to feel the launch strike the bottom.
The open boat would then come alongside, and we would
have to get out of the launch and enter the
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boats and proceed to the top of the nearest hill
to watch the efforts of the eunuchs trying to refloat
the launch. It was the characteristic of Her Majesty to
experience a keen sense of enjoyment at the troubles of
other people. The eunuchs knew this quite well, and whenever
opportunity offered, they would do something which they thought would
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amuse Her Majesty. So long as it was nothing of
a serious nature, her Majesty would always overlook it. But
in case it proved serious or was carelessness, she would
always order them to be severely punished. Thus it was
very hard to tell just what to do in order
to please her. Another of Her Majesty's peculiarities was inquisitiveness.
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For example, as I have stated before, it was the
custom for Her Majesty to have sweetmeats brought to her
before every meal, and after she had finished with them,
the remainder were distributed among the court ladies. Whenever it
happened that we were very busy, we did not bother
with the sweetmeats at all, which Her Majesty very soon
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found out. One day, after she had finished dining, she
came and looked through the window to see what we
were doing, and saw some of the eunuchs eating the
sweetmeat which she had given us. She did not say anything,
but simply ordered that the sweetmeat should be brought back again,
making us believe that she wanted some more herself. I
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knew that there was something wrong, as she never ordered
them back before. When she saw what was left of them,
she asked who had been eating so many, as they
were nearly all finished, but she got no reply. We
were all too scared. However, after thinking it over, I
came to the conclusion that it would be best to
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tell her the truth, for I was quite certain that
she knew anyhow So I told her that we had
all been very busy and had forgotten all about the sweetmeats,
and that the eunuchs had come and taken them themselves,
and I added that this was not the first time
they had done so. I was rather glad that she
had given me this opportunity to report the eunuchs for
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her majesty replied that if she intended the eunuchs to
have sweetmeats, she herself would give them some, but thought
it a lack of appreciation on our part not eating
them myselves. After she had been so kind as to
provide them for us, She turned to me and said,
I am glad that you have told me the truth
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as I saw myself what was happening. She gave orders
that the offending eunuchs should each have three months wages
deducted as a punishment, but of course I knew very
well they didn't mind that, as they were making many
times the amount of their salary in other ways. On
my return to the sitting room, one of the court
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ladies said, you should not have told her Majesty about
the eunuchs. They are sure to revenge themselves in some way.
I asked how they could possibly injure me in any way,
as they were only servants, but she told me that
they would find some underhand way in which to get
even with me, this being their general custom. Of course,
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I knew the eunuchs were a bad lot, but could
not say what cause they had to be against me
in any way. I knew they dared not say anything
against me to her Majesty, so I forgot all about
the matter. I found out afterwards that one of the
tricks they used to play on any of the court
ladies who offended them was to try and prejudice her
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Majesty against us. For instance, if her Majesty told one
of the eunuchs that a certain thing should be done.
Instead of telling me what her Majesty wanted, the eunuch
would go off to one of the other ladies and
tell her. In this way, her Majesty would get the
impression that I was too lazy to wait upon her myself,
and of course the other lady would get all the credit.
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Although her Majesty was very kind to me. Also, the
young Empress, it was very hard to get along with
the eunuchs, and it was not good policy to offend
them in any way. They regarded themselves as being exclusively
the servants of her Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and refused
to take instructions from anybody else. Consequently, they were often
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very rude to the other ladies of the court, not
even accepting the young Empress. Everything proceeded as usual until
the eighth moon, when the Emperor was to sacrifice at
the Temple of the Sun. On this occasion, the Emperor
wore a red robe. About this time, Missus Conjure asked
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for a private audience, as she wanted to see her
Majesty and at the same time see how the portrait
was progressing. Her Majesty replied that she would receive her
and gave orders accordingly. At this private audience, Missus Conjure
brought into the court two of her relatives to be
presented to Her Majesty besides Miss Campbell and a missionary lady.
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As it was a private audience, the guests were conducted
to Her Majesty's private palace. They were received in the hall,
which was being used as studio for this lady artist.
Although Her Majesty was quite out of patience with the
portrait painting and talked to us a great deal about it,
yet when she saw missus Conjure and the others, she
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was extremely polite and told them that the portrait was
going to be a masterpiece. She was in an unusually
good humor that day and told me to give orders
to the eunuchs to open all the buildings and show
them to her guests. Her Majesty led the way from
one room to another and showed them her curios in
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the different rooms, until she came to rest in one
of the bedrooms, when she ordered chairs to be brought
in for the guests. There were many chairs in this room,
but they were really small thrones of her majesty's, although
they looked like any ordinary chairs. The custom is that
no matter what kind of a chair it may be,
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as soon as she uses it, it is at once
called her throne, and no one is allowed to sit
on it thereafter unless the order is given by her.
During the time the eunuchs were bringing in the chairs
kept purposely for foreigners to use, one of the ladies
of the party made a mistake and sat upon one
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of Her Majesty's thrones. I noticed her at once, and
before I had a chance to warn her, her Majesty
made a sign of annoyance to me. I went to
this lady at once and told her I wanted to
show her something, and naturally she was obliged to get up.
The trouble was this, although Her Majesty felt that no
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one had the right to sit upon her throne, she
expected me to get this lady off the chair, and
at the same time not to tell her the reason why.
While I was busy interpreting for her, she said, in
an undertone, there she is again sitting on my bed.
We had better leave this room. After this, the ladies
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were conducted to the refreshment room, and when they had
partaken of lunch, bade her Majesty good bye, leaving Miss
Carl with us. As usual, we reported to her that
we had seen the guests safely off. She said to me,
that was a funny lady. First she sat upon my
throne and then upon my bed. Perhaps she does not
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know what a throne is when she sees one, and
yet foreigners laugh at us. I am sure that our
manners are far superior to theirs. Another thing, did you
notice that missus Condre landed a parcel to Miss Carl
out in the courtyard when she came in? I replied
that I had noticed her passing something like a parcel,
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but could not tell what the parcel contained. She thereupon
told me to go and ask Miss Carl what it was.
At that time, I had received so many peculiar orders
from her Majesty that I was beginning to get accustomed
to them, and used my own discretion in carrying out
her instructions. Therefore, I did not ask Miss Carl, but
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set about finding out for myself. However, when I began
to look around for the parcel, it had mysteriously disappeared,
and I could not find the thing anywhere. This naturally
worried me, knowing as I did that Her Majesty liked
her instructions carried out quickly. While I was searching, one
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of the eunuchs came in and told me that Her
Majesty wanted to see me, and of course I had
to go to her Before she could say anything to me.
I informed her Majesty that I had not been able
to ask Miss Carl about the parcel as she was asleep,
but would do so immediately after she got up. Her
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Majesty said, I don't want Miss Carle to think I
have told you to ask what the parcel contains, Otherwise
she might think I am suspicious of what is going on,
so you must manage to get the information somehow without
mentioning the matter. You are clever enough to do that much.
Shortly afterwards, while I was walking along with Miss Carle
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to Her Majesty's palace to proceed with the portrait, I
noticed that she was carrying the parcel in question, which
was a great relief to me. I can assure you.
On arrival at the palace, Miss Carl said to me,
you need not trouble to pay at present, as it
is rather dark and I can be painting the throne.
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You can look through this magazine if you like to
pass the time away. So I opened up the parcel,
which proved to contain nothing more than an ordinary American
monthly magazine. After glancing through the book, I made an
excuse to hurry away and inform Her Majesty. However, she
had already gone out for her usual trip on the lake,
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so I took my chair and followed. When I reached
the lake, her Majesty, who had seen me, sent a
small boat, and I was rowed out to the launch.
Before I could get a chance to speak, Her Majesty said,
with a smile, I know all about it. It was
a book, and Miss Carl handed it to you to read.
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I was very much disappointed that I had had my
journey for nothing. I knew that the eunuchs would report
it to Her Majesty at the first opportunity, but I
hardly expected they would have done so already. Her Majesty
was now quite satisfied and simply asked whether Miss Carles
suspected that she had inquired about the matter. As I
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was about to return to Miss Carl, her Majesty called
me and said, there is one thing I want to
tell you, and that is, whenever any foreign ladies are
visiting the palace, always keep close to the Emperor, so
that in the event of their speaking to him, you
can interpret. I answered that so far, whenever any foreigners
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were present, I was present also, and did not think
that anybody had held any conversation with the Emperor whatsoever.
She explained that her reason for mentioning this was that
she wanted me to be just as courteous to the
Emperor as I was to herself, and I was to
place myself entirely at his disposal whenever visitors were present.
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Of course, I knew very well that this was not
the true reason at all, but that she wanted to
take every caution to preclude the possibility of foreigners influencing
the Emperor in matters of reform, et cetera. End of
Chapter fourteen, read by J. C. Guan, Montreal, January two
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thousand nine.
Chapter fourteen of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by J.
C Iguan. Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'eling,
Chapter fourteen, the Emperor's birthday. My father's four months leave
having expired, he was received in audience by their Majesties
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on the first day of the sixth moon. He was
much improved in health, but his rheumatism was still very troublesome.
This was particularly noticeable when climbing the steps to the
audience hall, and Her Majesty ordered two of the eunuchs
to assist him. First, he thanked Her Majesty for her
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kindness towards my sister and myself, and, as was the custom,
took off his hat and knelt down, bowing his head
until it struck the ground. This ceremony was always gone
through by any official who had received special favors from
their Majesties. He then replaced his hat on his head
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and remained kneeling before the thurne. Her Majesty then questioned
him about his life in Paris from time to time,
complimenting him on his work. Seeing that remaining in this
kneeling position appeared to be making him tired. Her Majesty
ordered one of the eunuchs to bring a cushion for
him to use, which was another great honor, as this
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cushion was only used by the President of the Grand's Council.
Her Majesty told him that as he was now getting
to be a very old man, she did not intend
sending him away from China again, as she wanted to
keep my sister and myself at the court, which she
could not do if she sent him to some foreign country,
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as he would want to take his daughters with him.
She said she was pleased that although we had been
away from China for such a long time, we were
well acquainted with the Manchu customs. My father replied that
it had been his care that we should be brought
up according to the customs of our own country. Her
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Majesty then asked the Emperor if he had anything to say,
and he replied by asking my father if he spoke French,
and thought it very strange on learning that he did not.
My father explained that he had never had the time
to study it, besides which he considered himself too old
to learn a foreign language. The emperor next asked what
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was the feeling in France towards China. My father replied
that they were very friendly at that time, but that
immediately after the boxer trouble, the post of minister had
been a very embarrassing one. Her Majesty said that it
had been an unfortunate affair, but she was glad that
everything was now settled satisfactorily. She told my father that
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he was to get well again as quickly as possible,
and the audience came to an end. Afterwards. Her Majesty
said that my father was looking very old since his
return from France, and that he would have to be
careful and take things easy until he got stronger again.
She was pleased that he had shown appreciation of her
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interest in my sister and myself. Preparations were now commenced
for celebrating the birthday of His Majesty, the Emperor quang Chu,
which was to take place on the twenty eighth of
that month. The actual date of the Emperor's birthday was
the twenty sixth of the sixth moon, but this day
being the anniversary of the death of a previous Emperor
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of China, we were unable to hold any festivities, and
so it was always celebrated on the twenty eighth day. Instead,
the official celebration lasted for seven days, three days before
and four days after the actual date. During that time,
the whole of the court dressed in a face robes,
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and no business of any kind whatever was attended to. This.
Being the emperor's thirty second birthday, and as the full
celebrations only took place every tenth year, i e. On
his twentieth birthday, his thirtieth birthday, and so on, the
festivities were not carried out on a very grand scale. However,
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it was quite sufficient to interfere with old business, and
the usual morning audiences did not take place during these
seven days. The Empress Dowager herself was the only person
who did not dress especially during these celebrations and who
did not take any active part in the festivities. Another
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reason why the celebrations were not carried out on a
very large scale was the fact that the Empress Dowager,
being alive, she took precedence according to the Manchu custom,
over the Emperor himself. In fact, she was the actual
ruler of the country, the emperor being second. The emperor
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was quite aware of this fact, and when the Empress
commanded that preparations be commenced for the celebrations, the Emperor
would always suggest that it was not at all necessary
to celebrate the occasion unless it happened to be a
tenth year, and would very reluctantly agree to the festivities
taking place. Of course, this was more out of politeness
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on the part of the Emperor and to conform to
the recognized etiquette. But the nation recognized this birthday and
naturally celebrated according to the usual custom during this period. Therefore,
the painting of the portrait was postponed. When the morning
of the twenty fifth arrived, the Emperor dressed himself in
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his official robe, yellow gown embroidered with gold dragons and
coat of a reddish black color. Of course, being the Emperor,
in place of the usual button on the hat, he
or a large pearl. I might mention that the Emperor
was the only person who could wear this particular pearl
in place of a button. He came as usual to
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wish her Majesty Jichang, and then proceeded to the temple
to worship before the ancestral tablets. After this ceremony, was over,
he returned to the Empress dowager and kowtowed to her.
All the Chinese adopted this roar of kotowing to their
parents on their own birthdays as a sign of reverence
and respect. The Emperor next proceeded to the audience hall,
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where all the ministers were assembled and received their salutations
and congratulations. This ceremony often caused amusement, for to see
several hundred people all bobbing their hands up and down,
especially when they did not all manage to do it together,
was a very funny sight. Even the Emperor himself had
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to laugh. It was such an extraordinary spectacle. The musical
instruments which were used during the ceremony deserve a little description.
The principal instrument is made of hard wood and has
a flat bottom about three feet in diameter, with a
dome shaped top raised about three feet from the ground.
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The inside is quite hollow. A long pole made of
the same material is used as a drumstick, and an
official specially appointed beats with all his might on the drum.
The noise can be better imagined than described. This is
used as a signal to announce when the Emperor takes
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his seat upon the throne. In addition to the above,
a full sized model of a tiger, also made of
similar hard wood and having twenty four skills on its back,
is brought into the courtyard. In this case, they did
not beat the instrument, but scraped along its back over
the scales, which emitted a noise similar to the litting
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ofs simultaneously of innumerable crackers. The noise was kept up
during the whole of the ceremony, and what with the
drum and this tiger instrument, it was sufficient to deafen one.
During the ceremony, an official crier used to call out
the different orders, such as when to kneel, bow, stand up, koto,
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et cetera, et cetera, but with the noise it was
quite impossible to hear a single word of what he uttered.
Another instrument was composed of a frame made of wood
about eight feet high by three feet broad. Across the
sprame were three wooden bars, from which was suspended twelve
bells made out of pure gold. When these were struck
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with a wooden stick, the sound was not at all
unlike the dulcimer, only of course, very much louder. This
was placed on the right side of the audience hall.
On the left side, a similar instrument was placed, with
the exception that the bells were carved out of white jade.
The music which could be brought out of the instrument
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was very sweet. When the ceremony of receiving the ministers
was concluded, the Emperor proceeded to his private palace where
the Young Empress, his wife, the secondary Wife, and all
the court ladies were gathered, and after kowtowing, all of
the court ladies present, led by the Young Empress, knelt
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before him and presented him with a jui. This is
a kind of scepterure. Some are made out of pure jade,
while others are made out of wood inlaid with jade.
This rui is a symbol of good luck and was
supposed to bring happiness and prosperity to the person to
whom it was presented. The ceremony was gone through to
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the accompaniment of music played on string instrument, which was
very sweet. Next, the eunuchs were receive by the Emperor,
and they similarly congratulated him, but without the accompaniment of music.
After the eunuchs came the servants, girls and the whole
of the ceremony was over, the Emperor next proceeded to
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Her Majesty's palace, where he knelt before Her Majesty and
thanked her for the celebration which had been given in
his honor, after which Her Majesty, accompanied by the whole court,
went to the theater to see the play. On arrival
at the theater, we were all presented by Her Majesty
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with sweetmeats, this being the custom on these occasions, and
after a little while Her Majesty retired for her afternoon rest.
Thus the celebration ended. Two days after the celebration, the
seventh moon commenced. The seventh day of the seventh moon
was the occasion of another important anniversary. The two stars
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Niu Lang capricorn and Juniorra are supposed to be the
patrons of agriculture and weaving, and, according to a tradition,
were at one time man and wife. As the result
of a quarrel. However, they were doomed to live apart,
being separated from each other by the Milky Way, But
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on the seventh day of the seventh moon of each year,
they are allowed to see each other, and the magpies
are supposed to build a bridge to enable them to meet.
The ceremony is rather peculiar. Several basins full of water
were placed so that the sun's rays would fall upon them.
Her Majesty then took several tiny needles and dropped one
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into each basin. These floated on the water, casting a
shadow across the bottom of the basins. These shadows took
different forms according to the position of the needle, and
if the shadow took certain prescribed forms, the person throwing
in the needle was supposed to be the very lucky
and clever, while if they represented certain other forms, they
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were despised by the gods as being ignorant. In addition,
her Majesty burnt incense and offered up prayers to the
two gods referred to. This was always a sad moon
for her Majesty, it being the anniversary of the death
of her husband, the Emperorsianfung, who died on the seventeenth
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of that month. The fifteenth of the seventh moon each
year is the day of the festival for the dead,
and early in the morning the court moved to the
Sea Palace in order to sacrifice. The Chinese hold that
when a person dies, his soul still remains on the earth,
and on these anniversaries they burn imitation money, the belief
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being that the soul of the departed one will benefit
to the extent of the amount of money so represented.
On the anniversary above referred to, her Majesty sent for
hundreds of Buddhist priests to pray for those unfortunate people
who had died without leaving any one who could sacrifice
for them. On the evening of this day, her Majesty
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and all her court ladies set out in open boats
on the lake where imitation lotus flowers were arranged as lanterns,
with a candle placed in the center, which formed a
sort of floating light. The idea being to give light
to the spirits of those who had departed during the year,
as to enable them to come and receive the blessings
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which had been prepared for them. Her Majesty ordered us
to light the candles and place the flowers on the
water ourselves, as she said it would be appreciated by
the spirits of the dead. Some of the eunuchs had
told her Majesty that they had actually seen some of
these spirits, which assertion was thoroughly believed. Although she had
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never seen them herself. She accounted for this by the
fact that she was of too high rank and the
spirits were afraid of her. But she ordered all the
rest of us to keep a sharp look out and
tell her if we saw anything. Of course, we didn't
see anything, but many of the court ladies were so
frightened that they closed their eyes for fear they might
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see something supernatural. Her Majesty was devoted to the late
Amperusian Fung, and she was very sad and morose during
this period. We all had to be very careful, indeed,
not to upset her in any way, as she would
find fault on the slightest provocation. She hardly had a
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word to say to any of us, and cried almost incessantly.
I could hardly understand the reason for such grief, seeing
that the Emperor had died so many years previously. None
of the court ladies were allowed to dress in light
colored gowns. During the whole of the seventh moon, we
all dressed either in dark blue or pale blue, while
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Her Majesty herself dressed in black every day without exception.
Even her handkerchiefs were black. The theaters, which were usually
opened on the first and fifteenth of each month, were
closed during the seventh moon. There was no music, and
everything was conducted in the most solemn manner. In fact,
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the whole court was in deep mourning. On the morning
of the seventeenth day of the seventh moon, her Majesty
visited the late Emperor's tablet and knelt there crying for
quite a while. In order to show respect for the
late Emperor, none of us were allowed to eat meat
for three days. This being my first year at the palace,
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it appeared to me very strange after the customary gaiety
and noise. Of course, I felt very sorry for her Majesty,
as I could say, as it was a genuine display
of grief and was not in any way put on.
As I was her favorite at that time, she kept
me close to her side during this sad period. The
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young Empress said to me one day, her Majesty is
very much attached to you, and I think you had
better stay with her for the time being. This I did,
and was so miserable myself that when her Majesty commenced crying,
I would cry also. When she saw that I was crying,
her Majesty would immediately stop and ask me not to cry.
(16:33):
She would tell me that I was too young to cry,
and that in any case, I did not know what
real sorrow was as yet. During the conversation we had
at that time, she would tell me quite a lot
about herself. On one occasion, she said, you know, I
have had a very hard life ever since I was
a young girl. I was not a bit happy one
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with my parents, as I was not the favorite. My
sisters had everything they wanted, while I was to a
great extent ignored altogether. When I first came to the court,
a lot of the people were jealous of me because
I was considered to be a beautiful woman at that time.
I must save myself that I was a clever one,
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for I thought my own battles and won them too.
When I arrived at the court, the late Emperor became
very much attached to me and would hardly glance at
any of the other ladies. Fortunately, I was lucky in
giving birth to a son, as it made me the
emperor's undisputed favorite. But after that I had very bad luck.
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During the last year of his reign, the Emperor was
seized with his sudden illness in addition to this, the
foreign soldiers burnt down the palace at Yamingian, so we
fled to ju Hua. Of course, everybody knows what took place.
At that time, I was still a young woman with
a dying husband and a young son. The East Empress
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Dowager's nephew was a bad man who coveted the throne,
which he had no right to in any event, as
he was not of royal blood. I would not wish
any one to experience what I myself passed through at
that time. When the Emperor was in the dying condition,
being practically unconscious of what was taking place around him,
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I took my son to his bed side and asked
him what was going to be done about his successor
to the throne. He made no reply to this, but
as has always been the case in emergencies, I was
equal to the occasion, and I said to him, here
is your son. On hearing which he immediately opened his
(18:43):
eyes and said, of course he will succeed to the throne.
I naturally felt relieved when this was settled once and
for all. These words were practically the last he spoke,
for he died immediately afterwards. Although it is now so
many years ago. I can see him now in that
dying condition, just as though it all happened only yesterday.
(19:06):
I thought that I could be happy with my son
as the Emperor Tonju, but unfortunately he died before he
was twenty years of age. Since that time I have
been a changed woman, as all happiness was over as
far as I was concerned when he died. I had
also quite a lot of trouble with the East Empress Dowager,
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and found it very difficult to keep on good terms
with her. However, she died five years after the death
of my son. In addition to all this, when the
Emperor guang Hu was brought to me as the baby
three years old, he was a very sickly child and
could hardly walk. He was so thin and weak his
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parents seemed to be afraid of giving him anything to eat.
You know, his father was Prince John and his mother
was my sister, so of course he was almost the
same as my own son. In fact, I adopted him
as such. Even now after all my trouble on his account,
he is not in perfect health. As you know, I
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have had plenty of other troubles beside these, but it
is useless to mention them. Now I am disappointed with everything,
as nothing has turned out as I had expected. With
this remark, her Majesty commenced, crying afresh. Continuing, she said,
people seem to think that, just because I am the
Empress Dowager, that I am bound to be happy. But
(20:33):
what I have just told you is not all I
have gone through much more than that. If ever anything
went wrong, I was always the one who was blamed.
The censors even dare to impeach me once in a while. However,
I am philosopher enough to take things for what they
are worse, otherwise I would have been in my own
grave long long ago. Just imagine how small minded these
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people are. Amongst other things, the objected to my transferring
my court to the summer palace during the hot weather,
although I could do no harm by being there. Even
in the short time you have spent at court, you
can see that I am unable to decide anything alone,
while whenever they want anything, to consult with each other
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and then present their petition to me, which unless it
is something of a very serious nature, I never think
of refusing. After the time set apart for morning had expired,
we all went back to the summer palace, where Miss
Carl recommenced her work on her Majesty's portrait. Her Majesty
apparently soon got tired of this portrait painting. For one day,
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she asked me when I thought it would be finished.
She was afraid that it would not be finished by
the time the court weather came on when we always
removed the court to the forbidden City, and she said
it would be a lot of trouble and inconvenience to
have to continue the portrait there. I told her Majesty
that it could easily be arranged and that she need
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not worry herself. After I had been posing in Her
Majesty's place for several days, her Majesty asked me whether
Miss Carl had said anything about it, and if she did,
I was to inform her that it was a command
from Her Majesty and that I did not make any
further suggestion in that respect. So we had no further
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trouble with Miss Carl after that. I had, however, quite
a lot of trouble with the eunuchs, who, in spite
of Her Majesty's instructions, were anything but polite to Miss Carl.
Of course, Miss Carl herself did not know this. I
tried to make them behave better by threatening to tell
Her Majesty about them, which had a good effect for
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a while, but they were soon as bad as ever.
At the commencement of the eighth moon, her Majesty always
attended to the transplanting of her chrysentimums, which was one
of her favorite flowers. So each day she would take
with her to the west side of the lake, and,
assisted by us, would cut the tops of the young
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plants and set them in flower pots. I was very
much surprised at this, as there were no roots, only
the stems of the flowers, but her Majesty assured me
that they would soon grow into very pretty plants. Every
day we went over to water these flowers until they
began to bud. In case it rained heavily, her Majesty
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would order some of the eunuchs to go over and
cover up these cresentiment plants with mats so that they
would not be broken. It was characteristic of her Majesty
that no matter what other business she had to attend to,
her flowers had her first consideration, and she would, if necessary,
even go without her usual rest in order to superintend
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them personally. She also spent quite a time in looking
after her orchard, where she had planted apple trees, pear trees,
et cetera. Another thing which I began to notice was
that when the spring and summer days had passed, she
got quite irritable and sad, while in the winter she
was simply unbearable. She loathed cold weather. One night, during
(24:16):
the eighth moon, her Majesty was taken slightly ill and
complained of suffering from severe headaches. This was the only
time I ever saw Her Majesty actually sick. She however,
got up as usual in the morning and held audience,
but was unable to take her luncheon and very soon
had to retire to her bed. Several doctors were summoned,
(24:39):
each of whom took her pulse. This was quite a
ceremony in itself. The doctors knelt at the bedside, and
Her Majesty stretched forth her arm, resting her hand upon
a small pillow which was provided for that purpose. After this,
each doctor wrote out his prescription, all of which were
(25:00):
different from each other. We handed them to Her Majesty,
who chose the one which she thought was the nicest
to take and too attendant, and the doctor himself had
to take a doze in her presence before she would
touch it. Then she would take it all right. During
this time, it rained a great deal and was very hot.
(25:23):
The climate at this time of the year is very damp,
which causes the flies to make their appearance in millions.
If there was one thing more than another that Her
Majesty detested, it was these flies. During the actual summer,
they were not so troublesome as at this particular time.
Of course, every precaution was taken to keep them away,
(25:45):
a eunuch being posted at each door, provided with a
sort of switch made of horsehair fastened at the end
of a bamboo pole. We were never troubled by mosquitoes, however.
In fact, I never saw a mosquito curtain in the
palace during the whole of my stay there. These flies
were an abomination, and in spite of all that could
(26:06):
be done, a few would find their way into the rooms.
Whenever they alighted on her Majesty she would scream, while
if by any chance one were to alight on her food,
she would order the whole lot to be thrown away.
This would spoil her appetite for the whole day and
put her into a terrible temper as well. Whenever she
(26:27):
saw one anywhere near her, she would order whoever happened
to be present to go and catch it. I myself
often received this order, but I detested them almost as
much as her Majesty did. They were so dirty and
stuck to one's hands whenever they touched them. After her illness,
her Majesty was indisposed more or less for quite a
(26:50):
long time, and doctors were constantly in attendance. She took
so many different kinds of medicine that instead of getting better,
she got worse and eventually contracted a fever. Her Majesty
was very much afraid of fevers of any kind, and
we had to stay with her all night and all day,
(27:10):
and had to take our meals whenever we could get
away from her bedside for a few minutes. Another peculiarity
was her Majesty's aversion for any kind of perfume near
her when she was sick, while when she was feeling
well she was simply smothered in it. The same applied
to fresh flowers, in spite of her love for them.
(27:33):
Under ordinary conditions. When she was sick, she could not
bear them anywhere near Her nerves became absolutely unstrung as
she was unable to sleep during the day, and consequently
the time passed very slowly to her. In order to
make the time pass a little less tediously, she gave
(27:53):
instructions for one of the better educated eunuchs to read
to her during the daytime. This reading generally consisted of
ancient Chinese history, poetry, and all kinds of Chinese lore.
And while the eunuch was reading to her, we had
to stand by her bedside, one of us being told
(28:13):
of to massage her legs, which seemed to suit her somewhat.
This same program was gone through every day until she
was completely herself again some ten days later. One day,
her Majesty asked me what kind of medicine does a
foreign doctor usually give in case of a fever. I
(28:34):
have heard that they make you take all kinds of pills.
This must be very dangerous, as you never know what
they are made of. Here in China, all medicines are
made from roots, and I can always find out whether
I am receiving the right medicine, as I have a
book which explains what each different medicine is. For another
(28:55):
thing I have heard is that foreign doctors generally operate
on you with a knight, while we cure the same
sickness by means of our medicine. Lilianing told me that
one of our little eunuchs had a boil on his wrist,
and some one advised him to go to the hospital.
Of course, they didn't know what they would do, and
(29:16):
the foreign doctors there opened the boil with a knife,
which frightened the child very much. I was very much
surprised when I heard he was all right again in
a couple of days. Continuing, her majesty said, a year ago,
one of the foreign ladies came to the palace, and,
hearing me cough a lot, gave me some black pills
(29:36):
and told me to swallow them. I did not like
to offend her, so I took the pills and told
her I would take them by and by. However, I
was afraid to take them and throw them away. Of course,
I answered that I didn't know much about medicines, to
which she replied that she had seen me take foreign
medicines whenever I was not feeling well. She then said
(30:00):
of course, I know there are people in Beijing who
do take the medicines given them by foreign doctors, and
even some of my own relatives patronize these foreigners. Also.
They try not to let me know, but I do
know for all that in any case, if they choose
to kill themselves by taking these pills, it is none
of my business. That is the reason why when they
(30:23):
are sick, I never send my own doctors to attend them.
When her Majesty had completely recovered from her illness, she
used to go out on the lake a great deal,
sometimes in an open boat and at other times in
a steam launch. She always appeared to enjoy this kind
of thing. For some reason or other. She always insisted
(30:46):
on taking the west side of the lake, which was
very shallow, and invariably the launch would get stuck fast
in the mud, which seemed to afford her Majesty great enjoyment.
She simply loved to feel the launch strike the bottom.
The open boat would then come alongside, and we would
have to get out of the launch and enter the
(31:06):
boats and proceed to the top of the nearest hill
to watch the efforts of the eunuchs trying to refloat
the launch. It was the characteristic of Her Majesty to
experience a keen sense of enjoyment at the troubles of
other people. The eunuchs knew this quite well, and whenever
opportunity offered, they would do something which they thought would
(31:29):
amuse Her Majesty. So long as it was nothing of
a serious nature, her Majesty would always overlook it. But
in case it proved serious or was carelessness, she would
always order them to be severely punished. Thus it was
very hard to tell just what to do in order
to please her. Another of Her Majesty's peculiarities was inquisitiveness.
(31:55):
For example, as I have stated before, it was the
custom for Her Majesty to have sweetmeats brought to her
before every meal, and after she had finished with them,
the remainder were distributed among the court ladies. Whenever it
happened that we were very busy, we did not bother
with the sweetmeats at all, which Her Majesty very soon
(32:17):
found out. One day, after she had finished dining, she
came and looked through the window to see what we
were doing, and saw some of the eunuchs eating the
sweetmeat which she had given us. She did not say anything,
but simply ordered that the sweetmeat should be brought back again,
making us believe that she wanted some more herself. I
(32:41):
knew that there was something wrong, as she never ordered
them back before. When she saw what was left of them,
she asked who had been eating so many, as they
were nearly all finished, but she got no reply. We
were all too scared. However, after thinking it over, I
came to the conclusion that it would be best to
(33:02):
tell her the truth, for I was quite certain that
she knew anyhow So I told her that we had
all been very busy and had forgotten all about the sweetmeats,
and that the eunuchs had come and taken them themselves,
and I added that this was not the first time
they had done so. I was rather glad that she
had given me this opportunity to report the eunuchs for
(33:26):
her majesty replied that if she intended the eunuchs to
have sweetmeats, she herself would give them some, but thought
it a lack of appreciation on our part not eating
them myselves. After she had been so kind as to
provide them for us, She turned to me and said,
I am glad that you have told me the truth
(33:46):
as I saw myself what was happening. She gave orders
that the offending eunuchs should each have three months wages
deducted as a punishment, but of course I knew very
well they didn't mind that, as they were making many
times the amount of their salary in other ways. On
my return to the sitting room, one of the court
(34:06):
ladies said, you should not have told her Majesty about
the eunuchs. They are sure to revenge themselves in some way.
I asked how they could possibly injure me in any way,
as they were only servants, but she told me that
they would find some underhand way in which to get
even with me, this being their general custom. Of course,
(34:29):
I knew the eunuchs were a bad lot, but could
not say what cause they had to be against me
in any way. I knew they dared not say anything
against me to her Majesty, so I forgot all about
the matter. I found out afterwards that one of the
tricks they used to play on any of the court
ladies who offended them was to try and prejudice her
(34:51):
Majesty against us. For instance, if her Majesty told one
of the eunuchs that a certain thing should be done.
Instead of telling me what her Majesty wanted, the eunuch
would go off to one of the other ladies and
tell her. In this way, her Majesty would get the
impression that I was too lazy to wait upon her myself,
and of course the other lady would get all the credit.
(35:15):
Although her Majesty was very kind to me. Also, the
young Empress, it was very hard to get along with
the eunuchs, and it was not good policy to offend
them in any way. They regarded themselves as being exclusively
the servants of her Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and refused
to take instructions from anybody else. Consequently, they were often
(35:40):
very rude to the other ladies of the court, not
even accepting the young Empress. Everything proceeded as usual until
the eighth moon, when the Emperor was to sacrifice at
the Temple of the Sun. On this occasion, the Emperor
wore a red robe. About this time, Missus Conjure asked
(36:01):
for a private audience, as she wanted to see her
Majesty and at the same time see how the portrait
was progressing. Her Majesty replied that she would receive her
and gave orders accordingly. At this private audience, Missus Conjure
brought into the court two of her relatives to be
presented to Her Majesty besides Miss Campbell and a missionary lady.
(36:25):
As it was a private audience, the guests were conducted
to Her Majesty's private palace. They were received in the hall,
which was being used as studio for this lady artist.
Although Her Majesty was quite out of patience with the
portrait painting and talked to us a great deal about it,
yet when she saw missus Conjure and the others, she
(36:47):
was extremely polite and told them that the portrait was
going to be a masterpiece. She was in an unusually
good humor that day and told me to give orders
to the eunuchs to open all the buildings and show
them to her guests. Her Majesty led the way from
one room to another and showed them her curios in
(37:08):
the different rooms, until she came to rest in one
of the bedrooms, when she ordered chairs to be brought
in for the guests. There were many chairs in this room,
but they were really small thrones of her majesty's, although
they looked like any ordinary chairs. The custom is that
no matter what kind of a chair it may be,
(37:29):
as soon as she uses it, it is at once
called her throne, and no one is allowed to sit
on it thereafter unless the order is given by her.
During the time the eunuchs were bringing in the chairs
kept purposely for foreigners to use, one of the ladies
of the party made a mistake and sat upon one
(37:50):
of Her Majesty's thrones. I noticed her at once, and
before I had a chance to warn her, her Majesty
made a sign of annoyance to me. I went to
this lady at once and told her I wanted to
show her something, and naturally she was obliged to get up.
The trouble was this, although Her Majesty felt that no
(38:12):
one had the right to sit upon her throne, she
expected me to get this lady off the chair, and
at the same time not to tell her the reason why.
While I was busy interpreting for her, she said, in
an undertone, there she is again sitting on my bed.
We had better leave this room. After this, the ladies
(38:33):
were conducted to the refreshment room, and when they had
partaken of lunch, bade her Majesty good bye, leaving Miss
Carl with us. As usual, we reported to her that
we had seen the guests safely off. She said to me,
that was a funny lady. First she sat upon my
throne and then upon my bed. Perhaps she does not
(38:56):
know what a throne is when she sees one, and
yet foreigners laugh at us. I am sure that our
manners are far superior to theirs. Another thing, did you
notice that missus Condre landed a parcel to Miss Carl
out in the courtyard when she came in? I replied
that I had noticed her passing something like a parcel,
(39:16):
but could not tell what the parcel contained. She thereupon
told me to go and ask Miss Carl what it was.
At that time, I had received so many peculiar orders
from her Majesty that I was beginning to get accustomed
to them, and used my own discretion in carrying out
her instructions. Therefore, I did not ask Miss Carl, but
(39:39):
set about finding out for myself. However, when I began
to look around for the parcel, it had mysteriously disappeared,
and I could not find the thing anywhere. This naturally
worried me, knowing as I did that Her Majesty liked
her instructions carried out quickly. While I was searching, one
(39:59):
of the eunuchs came in and told me that Her
Majesty wanted to see me, and of course I had
to go to her Before she could say anything to me.
I informed her Majesty that I had not been able
to ask Miss Carl about the parcel as she was asleep,
but would do so immediately after she got up. Her
(40:21):
Majesty said, I don't want Miss Carle to think I
have told you to ask what the parcel contains, Otherwise
she might think I am suspicious of what is going on,
so you must manage to get the information somehow without
mentioning the matter. You are clever enough to do that much.
Shortly afterwards, while I was walking along with Miss Carle
(40:43):
to Her Majesty's palace to proceed with the portrait, I
noticed that she was carrying the parcel in question, which
was a great relief to me. I can assure you.
On arrival at the palace, Miss Carl said to me,
you need not trouble to pay at present, as it
is rather dark and I can be painting the throne.
(41:04):
You can look through this magazine if you like to
pass the time away. So I opened up the parcel,
which proved to contain nothing more than an ordinary American
monthly magazine. After glancing through the book, I made an
excuse to hurry away and inform Her Majesty. However, she
had already gone out for her usual trip on the lake,
(41:27):
so I took my chair and followed. When I reached
the lake, her Majesty, who had seen me, sent a
small boat, and I was rowed out to the launch.
Before I could get a chance to speak, Her Majesty said,
with a smile, I know all about it. It was
a book, and Miss Carl handed it to you to read.
(41:47):
I was very much disappointed that I had had my
journey for nothing. I knew that the eunuchs would report
it to Her Majesty at the first opportunity, but I
hardly expected they would have done so already. Her Majesty
was now quite satisfied and simply asked whether Miss Carles
suspected that she had inquired about the matter. As I
(42:09):
was about to return to Miss Carl, her Majesty called
me and said, there is one thing I want to
tell you, and that is, whenever any foreign ladies are
visiting the palace, always keep close to the Emperor, so
that in the event of their speaking to him, you
can interpret. I answered that so far, whenever any foreigners
(42:30):
were present, I was present also, and did not think
that anybody had held any conversation with the Emperor whatsoever.
She explained that her reason for mentioning this was that
she wanted me to be just as courteous to the
Emperor as I was to herself, and I was to
place myself entirely at his disposal whenever visitors were present.
(42:53):
Of course, I knew very well that this was not
the true reason at all, but that she wanted to
take every caution to preclude the possibility of foreigners influencing
the Emperor in matters of reform, et cetera. End of
Chapter fourteen, read by J. C. Guan, Montreal, January two
(43:15):
thousand nine.
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