August 19, 2025 • 35 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 sixteen of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by J. C. Guan.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'heling, Chapter sixteen,
the Summer Palace. Just about the end of the ninth moon,
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her Majesty began to tire of doing nothing day after day,
and said, what is the use of waiting until the
first of the month to have the theatrical performance. Let
us have a performance to morrow. So she gave instructions
for the eunuchs to prepare for the play, which should
be staged without the assistance of any outside actors. I
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might here mention that certain of the eunuchs were specially
trained as actors and used to study their parts every day. Indeed,
they were far cleverer than the professionals from outside. Her
Majesty gave the eunuch the list of the place she
wished to be performed, which were for the most part
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dramatized fairy tales, and we had a performance the next day,
after Her Majesty had gone to rest. In the afternoon,
during the theatrical performance, I met the Emperor returning to
his own palace I was surprised to see only one
eunuch in attendance. This was the Emperor's own private eunuch,
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and he trusted him implicitly. He asked me where I
was going, and I told him I was going to
my room to rest a while. He remarked that he
had not seen me for quite a long time, which
made me laugh, as I saw him every morning at
the audience. He said, I don't get as much chance
of chatting with you as formerly since this portrait painting began.
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I am afraid I am not making much progress with
my English, as I have nobody to help me. Now
that your time is occupied with this lady artist. You
appear to enjoy her company very much. All the same,
I suppose it is very monotonous. Has she found out
yet that you are there simply to keep an eye
upon her. I told him that I was very careful
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not to betray myself in any way, and that I
did not think she suspected she was being watched. The
Emperor then said, I understand there is a rumor to
the effect that when this lady has finished her Majesty's portrait,
she is going to paint mine. I should very much
like to know who says so. I told him this
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was the first I had heard about it, so could
not say. I asked him whether he would like to
have his portrait painted, but he only answered, that is
rather a difficult question for me to answer, you know best,
whether I ought to have it painted or not. I
see her majesty having so many photographs taken, and even
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the eunuchs are in the picture. I understood at once
what he meant, so I asked him if he wished
me to take him with my little Kodak. He looked
surprised and asked, can you take pictures too? If it
is not too risky for us, we might try it
some day when we have an opportunity. Don't forget, but
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I think we must be very careful. He then changed
the conversation by saying, well, now that you have time
to talk, I want to ask you a question, and
I expect you to answer me truly. What is the
general opinion amongst the foreigners regarding myself? Do they consider
me a man of character? And do they think me clever?
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I am very anxious to know. Before I could say
anything in answer to this question, he continued, I know
very will that they regard me as nothing more than
a boy and as being of no consequence at all.
Tell me is not this? So I replied that many
foreigners had asked me about him as to what kind
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of man he was, but that they had never expressed
any opinion of their own regarding him, excepting that they
understood he was in the best of health. If any
wrong impression does exist regarding myself and my position at
the court, continued the Emperor, it is owing to the
very conservative customs of the Chinese court, I am not
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expected to others say or do anything on my own initiative. Consequently,
outsiders never hear much about me, and I am regarded
as being nothing more than a figurehead. I know this
is so. Whenever they ask you about me in the future,
just explain to them exactly what my position here is.
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I have plenty of ideas regarding the development of this country,
but you know I am not able to carry them out,
as I am not my own master. I don't think
the Empress Dowager herself has sufficient power to alter the
state of things existing in China at present, and even
if she has, she is not willing to. I am
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afraid it will be a long time before anything can
be done towards reform. The Emperor went on to say
how nice it would be if he were allowed to
travel about from place to place the same as the
European monarchs, but of course such a thing was out
of the question for him. I told him that several
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princesses had expressed a wish to visit the Saint Louis exposition,
and said, I thought it would be a good thing
if that could be arranged, as they would see for
themselves the difference between their own country and customs and
foreign countries and customs. The Emperor expressed doubts as to
this permission being granted, as such a thing had never
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been heard of before. We talked for quite a long time,
mostly about foreign customs, and the Emperor remarked that he
would very much like to visit Europe and see for
himself how things were carried on there. Just then, one
of my eunuchs came and said that Her Majesty was awake,
so I had to hurry off to her room. We
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now arrive at the tenth Moon the first day itnde,
and had eunuchs inquired of her Majesty whether it was
her intention to celebrate her birthday at the Summer Palace
as usual. As previously explained, the Summer Palace was Her
Majesty's favorite place of abode, so she replied in the affirmative,
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and arrangements were accordingly made for the celebration to be
held there as usual. The head Eunuch then brought her
Majesty a list giving the names and ranks of all
the princesses and the names of the wives and daughters
of the Manchu officials, and she selected those whom she
wished to be present at the celebrations on this occasion.
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She selected forty five ladies who were duly informed that
she desired their presence at the palace. I was standing
behind her Majesty's chair all this time, and she turned
and said, Usually I do not ask many people to
my birthday celebrations, but on this occasion I have made
an exception, as I want you to see the way
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they dress and how ignorant they are of court etiquette.
The celebrations commenced on the sixth day of the tenth Moon.
Miss Carl having returned to the American legation in Beijing
for the time being, my mother, my sister, and myself
went back to the palace again. Early on the morning
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of the sixth. The eunuchs decorated the verandahs with different
colored silks and hung lanterns all over the place and
amongst the trees. At about seven o'clock in the morning,
the visitors began to arrive, and I quite agreed with
what Her Majesty had told me about them. The eunuchs
introduced them to all the court ladies, but they seemed
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to have very little to say, appearing very shy. They
were then conducted to the waiting room, but there were
so many of them that we court ladies had to
stand outside on the verandah. Some of them were very
expensively dressed, but their colors were, for the most part
very old fashioned, and their manners very awkward. We watched
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them for quite a while and then went off to
report to Her Majesty. On such occasions as this, her
Majesty was generally in pretty good spirits. She commenced, asking
us a lot of questions. Amongst other things, she asked
whether we had noticed an elderly lady among the visitors
dressed as a bride. She explained that this lady was
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the only man to lady present who was married to
a Chinese official and had been invited because of her
previous connection with the court. Her Majesty said she had
never seen her herself, but understood that she was a
very clever woman. We had not noticed such a person,
and suggested that perhaps she had not yet arrived. Her
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Majesty dressed very quickly, and as soon as she was ready,
she came into the hall where the head Eunuch brought
in the visitors and presented them to her Majesty. We
court ladies were all standing in a row behind the
throne as they came in. Some kowtowed, others courtesied, while
others did not do anything at all. In fact, nobody
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appeared to know what to do with herself. Her Majesty
spoke a few words of welcome and thanked him for
the present they had sent her. I would like to
say here that contrary to the general idea which exists,
her Majesty always expressed her thanks for any present or
service rendered, no matter how insignificant. Her Majesty could see
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plainly that everybody was embarrassed, and ordered the head Eunuch
to show them to their respective rooms and told them
to make themselves at home and go and take a rest.
They hesitated a moment, not knowing whether to go or not,
until Her Majesty said, to us take them and present
them to the Young Empress. When we arrived at the
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palace of the Young Empress, they were duly presented and
were not nearly so shy as before. The Young Empress
informed them that in case they desired to know anything
or to be put right on any point of court etiquette,
the court ladies would be pleased to give them all
necessary information. And she decided that the best way would
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be for each court lady to have charge of so
many of the visitors, as it would not be nice
to have any mistakes occur during the ceremony on the tent.
So we each were allotted so many guests and had
to look after them and instruct them how to act
on the different occasions. During Her Majesty's afternoon rest, I
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paid a visit to the guests I was to take
charge of. Among them was the bride referred to by
Her Majesty. So I went and made myself agreeable to her,
and found her very interesting. She had evidently received a
good education, unlike the majority of Manchu ladies, as I
found she could read and write Chinese exceptionally well. I
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then explained to all of them what they would have
to do and how to address her Majesty should it
be necessary to do so. I don't know whether I
have mentioned it previously, but whenever anybody spoke to her Majesty,
they always addressed her as great ancestor, and when referring
to themselves, instead of the pronound eye, they would say
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your slave. In all Manchu families, a similar rule is observed,
the pronounced you and I being dispensed with, and the
title's mother and father and the sons or daughter's first
name being substituted. Her Majesty was very particular about this
role being strictly observed. For the next four days until
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the day of the ceremony, these visitors passed their time
in learning the court etiquette and going to the theater
every morning. As usual, we waited on her Majesty and
reported anything of interest which had occurred during the previous day.
Then we all preceded her Majesty to the theater, where
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we awaited her arrival. Standing in the courtyard on her
Majesty approaching, we would all kneel down until she had
passed into the building opposite the stage, kneeling in rows,
first the Emperor behind him, the young Empress, next, the
secondary world, then the princesses and court ladies, and last
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of all the visitors. The first two days everything went
off all right. But on the third morning, the Emperor,
from whom we received the signal, suddenly turned and said,
Her Majesty is coming down. We all went on our knees,
the Emperor alone remaining standing and laughing at us. Of course,
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there was no sign of Her Majesty, and everybody joined
in the laugh. He was never so happy as when
he could work off a joke like this. On the
evening of the ninth none of the court ladies went
to bed, as we all had to be up betimes.
On the morning of the tenth, the visitors were told
to proceed by chair to Her Majesty's special audience Hall
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on the top of the hill, where they were to
await our arrival. They arrived at the audience hall at
three o'clock in the morning, and we followed soon afterwards,
arriving there about daybreak by and by her Majesty arrived
and the ceremony commenced. The ceremony in no way differed
from the one previously described in connection with the Emperor's birthday,
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so there is no need to give particulars except one thing.
Very early on the morning of the tenth we had
to bring another present to her, and each of us
brought a hundred birds of various kinds. Each year, on
her birthday, her Majesty did a very peculiar thing. She
would buy ten thousand birds with her own money from
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her private purse and set them free. It was a
very pretty sight to see those huge cages hung in
the courtyard of the audience hall. Her Majesty would select
the most lucky hour and order the eunuchs to carry
the cages and to follow her. The hour selected was
four o'clock in the afternoon. Her Majesty took the whole
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court with her to the top of the hill, where
there was a temple. First, she burnt sandal wood and
offered up prayers to the gods. Then the eunuchs, each
with a cage of birds, knelt in front of her Majesty,
and she opened each cage one after another, and watched
the birds fly away, and prayed to the gods that
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these birds should not be caught again. Her Majesty did
this very seriously, and we asked each other in whispers
which bird we thought was the prettiest and would like
to keep it for ourselves. Among this lot, there were
a few parrots. Some were pink, others were red and green.
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All were chained on stands, and when the eunuchs broke
the chains, the parrots would not move. Her Majesty said,
how funny. Each year a few parrots will not go
away at all, and I have kept them until they died.
Look at them now, they won't go away. By this time,
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the head eunuch arrived, Her Majesty told him what had happened,
and he immediately knelt down and said, your Majesty's great luck.
These parrots understand your Majesty's kindness and would rather stay
here and serve your Majesty. This ceremony is called fung shung.
It is considered a very Meritoro's action and will not
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fail of reward in heaven. One of the court ladies
asked me what I thought of the parrots that would
not fly away, and I told her that it was
really very strange, she said, It is very simple and
not strange at all. These eunuchs, ordered by the head one,
have bought these parrots long ago and trained them during
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her Majesty's afternoon rest. These parrots were brought to the
top of the very same heel every day to accustom
them to the place. The object of this is just
to please and otherwise fall her Majesty, to make her
feel happy and believe that she is so merciful that
even such dumb things would rather stay with her. Continuing,
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she said, the huge joke is this, while her Majesty
is letting the birds free, there are a few eunuchs
waiting at the rear of the hill to capture them,
and seldom again, and so no matter how her Majesty
prays for their freedom, they will be caught at once.
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The celebrations were continued until the thirteenth day. Nobody did
any work, and all was gaiety and enjoyment, the theater
being open every day. Towards the close of the thirteenth day,
the visitors were informed that the celebrations were at an end,
and they made arrangements to leave early the next morning.
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They all bade her Majesty good bye that evening and
departed early the following day. For the next few days
we were all busy preparing for removing to the Sea Palace.
Her Majesty consulted her book and finally selected the twenty
seconds as being the most favorable day for this removal.
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So at six o'clock on the morning of the twenty second,
the whole court left the Summer Palace. It was snowing
very heavily, and the journey was only accomplished with great difficulty.
Of course, we were all in chairs as usual, and
the eunuchs who were not employed as chair bearers, rode horseback.
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Many of the horses fell on the slippery stones, and
one of Her Majesty's chair bearers also slept and brought
Her Majesty to the ground. All of a sudden I
thought something dreadful had happened. Horses galloping and eunuchs howling. Stop. Stop.
I heard some one saying, say, if she is still alive.
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The whole procession stopped and blocked the way. This happened
on the stone road just before entering the western gate.
Finally we saw that Her Majesty's chair was resting on
the ground, So we all alighted and went forward to
see what had happened. A great many people were talking excitedly,
all at the same time, and for a moment I
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was rather frightened. For just about that time we heard
a rumor that some of the revolutionists were going to
take the life of the whole court. And although we
heard that, we did not dare tell her, Majesty, So
I immediately went to her chair and found her sitting
there composedly giving orders to the chief eunuch not to
punish this chair bearer, for he was not to blame
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the stones being wet and very slippery. Lilian Ying said
that would never do, for this chair bearer must have
been careless, and how there he carried the old Buddha
in this careless way. After saying this, he turned his
head to the beaters. These beaters, carrying bamboo sticks, went
everywhere with the court for such occasions as this, and said,
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give him eighty blows on his back. The poor victim,
who was kneeling on the muddy ground, heard the order.
The beaters took him about a hundred yards away from us,
pushed him down and started to do their duty. It
did not take very long to give the eighty blows,
and much to my surprise, this man got up after
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receiving the punishment as if nothing had happened to him.
He looked just as calm as could be. While we
were waiting, a eunuch handed me a cup of tea,
which I presented to Her Majesty and asked her if
she was hurt. She smiled and said it was nothing,
ordering us to proceed on our journey. I must explain
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about this tea. The eunuchs had it prepared all the
time and always carried a little stove along with hot water.
Although this went every time when the court moved, it
was seldom used. As usual, all the court ladies take
a short cut to the palace so as to be
ready to receive Her Majesty when she arrived. After waiting
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in the courtyard for quite a long time, during which
we were nearly frozen, her Majesty arrived and we all
knelt until she had passed, and then followed her into
the palace. Her Majesty also complained of the cord and
ordered that fires should be brought into the hall. These
fires were built in brass portable stoves lined with clay
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and were lighted outside and brought into the hall after
the smoke had passed off somewhat. There were four stoves
in all. All the windows and doors were closed, there
being no ventilation of any description, and very soon I
began to feel sick. However, I went on with my
work getting Her Majesty's things in order, until I must
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have fainted. For the next thing I remembered was waking
up in a strange bed and inquiring where I was.
But on hearing Her Majesty giving orders in the next room,
I knew it was all right. One of the court
ladies brought me a cup of turnip juice, which Her
Majesty said I was to drink. I drank it and
felt much better. I was informed that Her Majesty had
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gone to rest, and so I went off to sleep
again myself. When I awoke, her Majesty was standing by
my bed side. I tried to get up, but found
that I was too weak. So Her Majesty told me
to lie still and keep quiet, and I would soon
be all right again. She said that I had better
have a room close to her bedroom, and gave instructions
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to the eunuchs to remove me there as soon as
it was prepared. Every few minutes her Majesty would send
to inquire how I was progressing and whether I wanted
anything to eat. It was the custom to stand up
whenever receiving a message from Her Majesty, but it was
out of the question for me to do so, although
I tried, with the result that I made myself worse
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than ever. Towards evening, the head Eunuch came to see
me and brought several plates of sweetmeats. He was very
nice and told me that I was very fortunate, as
Her Majesty very rarely bothered herself about any of the
court ladies, and that evidently she had taken a fancy
to me. He sat talking for some time and told
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me to eat some of the sweetmeats. Of course, I
was not able to eat anything at all, let alone sweetmeats,
so I taught him to leave them and I would
eat them later. Before leaving, he said that in case
I wanted anything, I was to let him know. This
visit was a great surprise to me, as usually he
took very little notice of any of us. But I
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was told afterwards that the reason he was so nice
was because her Majesty showed such an interest in me.
The next morning I was able to get up and
resume my duties. I went in to see Her Majesty
and kotoed to her, thanking her for her kindness during
my disposition. Her Majesty said that the head eunuch had
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told her the previous evening that I was much better,
and that she was glad I was up and about again.
She said it was nothing serious, simply that I was
unaccustomed to the fumes from the fires, which had gone
to my head. As the snow had stopped falling, Her
Majesty decided that the next day we would go and
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choose the place for Miss Krl to continue the painting.
I suggested that perhaps it would be better if we
waited until Miss Carle arrived herself, so that she could
choose a suitable place for her work, But Her Majesty
said that would not do at all, because if it
were left to Miss Carle, doubtless she would choose some
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impossible place. Of course, there were many parts of the
palace which were kept quite private, and Miss carl would
not be allowed to go there. So the next day
Her Majesty and myself set out to find a place.
After visiting many different rooms, all of which were too dark,
we finally fixed on a rim on the lake side
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of the palace. Her Majesty said, this is very convenient,
as you can go to and throw either by chair
or by water. I found that it took about three
quarters of an hour by chair to get to the
palace gate, and rather less than that by boat. I
was expecting to return to stay at the palace with
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Her Majesty, but it was finally decided that this would
not do, as it would not be policy to allow
Miss Carle, who was staying at the American legation, to
go in and out of the palace gate alone. So
Her Majesty said it would be better for me to
stay at my father's place in the city and bring
Miss Krle to the palace each morning, returning with her
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in the evening. This was anything but pleasant, but I
had no other alternative than to obey Her Majesty's instructions.
When Miss carl arrived at the palace the next day
and saw the room which had been selected for her
to work in, she was not at all pleased. In
the first place, she said it was too dark, so
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her Majesty ordered the paper windows to be replaced by glass.
This made the room too bright, and Miss Carle asked
for some curtains so as to focus the light on
the picture. When I informed Her Majesty of this request,
she said, well, this is the first time I have
ever changed anything in the palace except to suit myself. First,
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I owe to the windows, and she is not satisfied,
but must have curtains. I think we had better take
the roof off than perhaps she may be suited. However,
we fixed up the curtains to Miss Carle's satisfaction. When
Her Majesty examined the portrait to see how it was progressing,
she said to me, after all the trouble we have
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had over this picture, I am afraid it is not
going to be anything very wonderful. I notice that the
pearls in my cape are painted in different colors. Some
look white, some pink, while others are green. You tell
her about it. I tried to explain to her Majesty
that Miss carl had simply painted the pearls as she
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saw them, according to the different shades of light, but
Her Majesty could not understand that at all, and asked
if I could see anything green about them or pink either.
I again explained that this was simply the tints caused
by the lights falling on the pearls, but she replied
that she could not see any shade except white. However,
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after a while she did not seem to trouble any
further about the matter. Situated in a room near Her
Majesty's bedroom in the Sea Palace was a pagoda about
ten feet in height made of car sandal wood. Dis
contained various images of Buddha, which her Majesty used to
worship every morning. The ceremony consisted of her Majesty burning
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incense before the pagoda, while a court lady was told
of each day to Koto before the images. Her Majesty
told me that this pagoda had been in the palace
for more than a hundred years. Among the different images
was one representing the Goddess of Mercy. This image was
only about five inches in height and was made of
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pure gold. The inside was hollow and contained all the
principal anatomical parts of the human body. Made out of
jade and pearls. This Goddess of Mercy was supposed to
possess wonderful powers, and her Majesty often worshiped before it
when in any trouble, and maintained that on many occasions
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her prayers had been answered. She said, of course, when
I prayed to the image, I pray earnestly, not the
same as you, you girls who simply koto because it is
your duty, and then get away as quickly as possible.
Her Majesty went on to say that she was quite
aware that many of the people in China were discarding
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the religion of their ancestors in favor of Christianity, and
that she was very much grieved that this was so.
Her Majesty was a firm believer in of all Chinese
superstitions connected with the Sea Palace, and during one of
our conversations she told me I was not to be
surprised at anything I saw. She said it was quite
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a common occurrence for a person walking beside you to
suddenly disappear altogether, and explained that they were simply foxes
who took human shape to suit their purpose. They had
probably lived in the Sea Palace for thousands of years
and possessed this power of changing their form at will.
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She said that no doubt the eunuchs would tell me
they were spirits or ghosts, but that was not true.
They were sacred foxes and would harm nobody. As if
to confirm this superstition, one evening a few days later,
my fire having gone out, I sent my eunuch to
see if any of the other court ladies were awake,
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and if so, to try to get me some hot water.
He went out, taking his lantern along with him, but
he returned almost immediately with a face as white as chalk.
On inquiring what was the matter, he replied, I have
seen a ghost of a woman who came up to me,
blew the light out, and disappeared. I told him that
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perhaps it was one of the servant girls, but he
said no. He knew all the women attached to the
palace and he had never seen this one before. He
stuck to it that it was a ghost. I told
him that her Majesty said there were no ghosts, but
that it might be a fox which had taken human shape.
He replied it was not a fox. Majesty calls them
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foxes because she is afraid to call them ghosts. He
went on to tell me that many used previously the
head Eunuch Lilianying, whilst walking in the courtyard back of
Her Majesty's palace, saw a young servant girl sitting on
the edge of the well. He went over to ask
her what she was doing there, but getting closer he
found that there were several other girls there also, and
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on seeing him approach, they all deliberately jumped down the well.
He immediately raised the alarm, and on one of the
attendants coming forward with the lantern, he explained what had occurred.
The attendant showed him that it was impossible for anybody
to jump into the well as it was covered with
a large stone. My eunuch said that a long time
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before this, several girls did actually commit suicide by jumping
down this well, and that what Lilian Ying had seen
were the ghosts of these girls and nothing more. It
is believed by the Chinese that when a person commits suicide,
their spirit remains in the neighborhood until such time as
they can entice somebody else to commit suicide when they
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are free to go to another world. And not before
I told him that I did not believe such things,
and that I would very much like to see for myself.
He replied, you will only want to see at once.
That would be sufficient. Things went along in the usual
way until the first day of the eleventh moon, when
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Her Majesty issued orders to the court that, as the
eleventh moon contained so many anniversaries of death of previous
rulers of China, the usual theatrical performance would be eliminated,
and the court dress would, in addition, be modified to
suit the occasion. On the ninth day, the Emperor was
to go and worship at the Temple of Heaven. So
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as was customary on all these occasions, he confined himself
to his own private apartments for three days before the ninth,
during which time he held no communication whatsoever with anybody
excepting his private eunuchs. Not even the young Empress his wife,
was allowed to see him during these three days. This
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ceremony did not differ very materially from the other sacrifices,
except that pigs were killed and placed on the numerous
altars of the temple, where they remained for a time,
after which they were distributed among the different officials. The
eating of the flesh of these pigs, which had been blessed,
was believed to bring good luck and prosperity, and the
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officials who were presented with them considered themselves greatly favored
by Her Majesty. Another difference was that the Emperor could
not appoint a substitute to officiate for him, but must
attend in person, no matter what the circumstances might be.
The reason for this was that, according to the ancient law,
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the emperor signed the death warrant of every person sentenced
to the death, record of which is kept in the
board of Punishment. At the end of the year. The
name of each person executed is written on a piece
of yellow paper and sent to the Emperor. When the
time for worshiping at the temple arrives, he takes this
yellow paper and burns it in order that the ashes
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may go up to heaven and his ancestors know that
he had been fearless and faithful and has done his
duty according to the law. As this ceremony of worshiping
at the Temple of Heaven was to take place in
the Forbidden City, in spite of Her Majesty's dislike to
the place, she commanded that the whole of the court
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be transferred there, her reason for this being that she
did not wish to be away from the Emperor's side
even for an hour, so we all moved to palace
in the Forbidden City. After the ceremony was over, the
court was to return to the Sea Palace, but as
the thirteenth day was the anniversary of the death of
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the Emperor Kangxi, it was decided that we should remain
in the Forbidden City where the ceremony was to be held.
The Emperor Kangxi rode over the Chinese Empire for sixty
one years, the longest reign of any Chinese ruler up
to the present time, and Her Majesty told us that
he was the most wonderful Emperor China had ever had,
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and that we must respect his memory accordingly. End of
Chapter sixteen, read by J. C. Guan, Montreal, January two
thousand nine.
Chapter sixteen of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by J. C. Guan.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess d'heling, Chapter sixteen,
the Summer Palace. Just about the end of the ninth moon,
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her Majesty began to tire of doing nothing day after day,
and said, what is the use of waiting until the
first of the month to have the theatrical performance. Let
us have a performance to morrow. So she gave instructions
for the eunuchs to prepare for the play, which should
be staged without the assistance of any outside actors. I
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might here mention that certain of the eunuchs were specially
trained as actors and used to study their parts every day. Indeed,
they were far cleverer than the professionals from outside. Her
Majesty gave the eunuch the list of the place she
wished to be performed, which were for the most part
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dramatized fairy tales, and we had a performance the next day,
after Her Majesty had gone to rest. In the afternoon,
during the theatrical performance, I met the Emperor returning to
his own palace I was surprised to see only one
eunuch in attendance. This was the Emperor's own private eunuch,
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and he trusted him implicitly. He asked me where I
was going, and I told him I was going to
my room to rest a while. He remarked that he
had not seen me for quite a long time, which
made me laugh, as I saw him every morning at
the audience. He said, I don't get as much chance
of chatting with you as formerly since this portrait painting began.
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I am afraid I am not making much progress with
my English, as I have nobody to help me. Now
that your time is occupied with this lady artist. You
appear to enjoy her company very much. All the same,
I suppose it is very monotonous. Has she found out
yet that you are there simply to keep an eye
upon her. I told him that I was very careful
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not to betray myself in any way, and that I
did not think she suspected she was being watched. The
Emperor then said, I understand there is a rumor to
the effect that when this lady has finished her Majesty's portrait,
she is going to paint mine. I should very much
like to know who says so. I told him this
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was the first I had heard about it, so could
not say. I asked him whether he would like to
have his portrait painted, but he only answered, that is
rather a difficult question for me to answer, you know best,
whether I ought to have it painted or not. I
see her majesty having so many photographs taken, and even
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the eunuchs are in the picture. I understood at once
what he meant, so I asked him if he wished
me to take him with my little Kodak. He looked
surprised and asked, can you take pictures too? If it
is not too risky for us, we might try it
some day when we have an opportunity. Don't forget, but
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I think we must be very careful. He then changed
the conversation by saying, well, now that you have time
to talk, I want to ask you a question, and
I expect you to answer me truly. What is the
general opinion amongst the foreigners regarding myself? Do they consider
me a man of character? And do they think me clever?
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I am very anxious to know. Before I could say
anything in answer to this question, he continued, I know
very will that they regard me as nothing more than
a boy and as being of no consequence at all.
Tell me is not this? So I replied that many
foreigners had asked me about him as to what kind
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of man he was, but that they had never expressed
any opinion of their own regarding him, excepting that they
understood he was in the best of health. If any
wrong impression does exist regarding myself and my position at
the court, continued the Emperor, it is owing to the
very conservative customs of the Chinese court, I am not
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expected to others say or do anything on my own initiative. Consequently,
outsiders never hear much about me, and I am regarded
as being nothing more than a figurehead. I know this
is so. Whenever they ask you about me in the future,
just explain to them exactly what my position here is.
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I have plenty of ideas regarding the development of this country,
but you know I am not able to carry them out,
as I am not my own master. I don't think
the Empress Dowager herself has sufficient power to alter the
state of things existing in China at present, and even
if she has, she is not willing to. I am
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afraid it will be a long time before anything can
be done towards reform. The Emperor went on to say
how nice it would be if he were allowed to
travel about from place to place the same as the
European monarchs, but of course such a thing was out
of the question for him. I told him that several
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princesses had expressed a wish to visit the Saint Louis exposition,
and said, I thought it would be a good thing
if that could be arranged, as they would see for
themselves the difference between their own country and customs and
foreign countries and customs. The Emperor expressed doubts as to
this permission being granted, as such a thing had never
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been heard of before. We talked for quite a long time,
mostly about foreign customs, and the Emperor remarked that he
would very much like to visit Europe and see for
himself how things were carried on there. Just then, one
of my eunuchs came and said that Her Majesty was awake,
so I had to hurry off to her room. We
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now arrive at the tenth Moon the first day itnde,
and had eunuchs inquired of her Majesty whether it was
her intention to celebrate her birthday at the Summer Palace
as usual. As previously explained, the Summer Palace was Her
Majesty's favorite place of abode, so she replied in the affirmative,
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and arrangements were accordingly made for the celebration to be
held there as usual. The head Eunuch then brought her
Majesty a list giving the names and ranks of all
the princesses and the names of the wives and daughters
of the Manchu officials, and she selected those whom she
wished to be present at the celebrations on this occasion.
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She selected forty five ladies who were duly informed that
she desired their presence at the palace. I was standing
behind her Majesty's chair all this time, and she turned
and said, Usually I do not ask many people to
my birthday celebrations, but on this occasion I have made
an exception, as I want you to see the way
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they dress and how ignorant they are of court etiquette.
The celebrations commenced on the sixth day of the tenth Moon.
Miss Carl having returned to the American legation in Beijing
for the time being, my mother, my sister, and myself
went back to the palace again. Early on the morning
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of the sixth. The eunuchs decorated the verandahs with different
colored silks and hung lanterns all over the place and
amongst the trees. At about seven o'clock in the morning,
the visitors began to arrive, and I quite agreed with
what Her Majesty had told me about them. The eunuchs
introduced them to all the court ladies, but they seemed
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to have very little to say, appearing very shy. They
were then conducted to the waiting room, but there were
so many of them that we court ladies had to
stand outside on the verandah. Some of them were very
expensively dressed, but their colors were, for the most part
very old fashioned, and their manners very awkward. We watched
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them for quite a while and then went off to
report to Her Majesty. On such occasions as this, her
Majesty was generally in pretty good spirits. She commenced, asking
us a lot of questions. Amongst other things, she asked
whether we had noticed an elderly lady among the visitors
dressed as a bride. She explained that this lady was
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the only man to lady present who was married to
a Chinese official and had been invited because of her
previous connection with the court. Her Majesty said she had
never seen her herself, but understood that she was a
very clever woman. We had not noticed such a person,
and suggested that perhaps she had not yet arrived. Her
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Majesty dressed very quickly, and as soon as she was ready,
she came into the hall where the head Eunuch brought
in the visitors and presented them to her Majesty. We
court ladies were all standing in a row behind the
throne as they came in. Some kowtowed, others courtesied, while
others did not do anything at all. In fact, nobody
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appeared to know what to do with herself. Her Majesty
spoke a few words of welcome and thanked him for
the present they had sent her. I would like to
say here that contrary to the general idea which exists,
her Majesty always expressed her thanks for any present or
service rendered, no matter how insignificant. Her Majesty could see
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plainly that everybody was embarrassed, and ordered the head Eunuch
to show them to their respective rooms and told them
to make themselves at home and go and take a rest.
They hesitated a moment, not knowing whether to go or not,
until Her Majesty said, to us take them and present
them to the Young Empress. When we arrived at the
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palace of the Young Empress, they were duly presented and
were not nearly so shy as before. The Young Empress
informed them that in case they desired to know anything
or to be put right on any point of court etiquette,
the court ladies would be pleased to give them all
necessary information. And she decided that the best way would
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be for each court lady to have charge of so
many of the visitors, as it would not be nice
to have any mistakes occur during the ceremony on the tent.
So we each were allotted so many guests and had
to look after them and instruct them how to act
on the different occasions. During Her Majesty's afternoon rest, I
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paid a visit to the guests I was to take
charge of. Among them was the bride referred to by
Her Majesty. So I went and made myself agreeable to her,
and found her very interesting. She had evidently received a
good education, unlike the majority of Manchu ladies, as I
found she could read and write Chinese exceptionally well. I
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then explained to all of them what they would have
to do and how to address her Majesty should it
be necessary to do so. I don't know whether I
have mentioned it previously, but whenever anybody spoke to her Majesty,
they always addressed her as great ancestor, and when referring
to themselves, instead of the pronound eye, they would say
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your slave. In all Manchu families, a similar rule is observed,
the pronounced you and I being dispensed with, and the
title's mother and father and the sons or daughter's first
name being substituted. Her Majesty was very particular about this
role being strictly observed. For the next four days until
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the day of the ceremony, these visitors passed their time
in learning the court etiquette and going to the theater
every morning. As usual, we waited on her Majesty and
reported anything of interest which had occurred during the previous day.
Then we all preceded her Majesty to the theater, where
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we awaited her arrival. Standing in the courtyard on her
Majesty approaching, we would all kneel down until she had
passed into the building opposite the stage, kneeling in rows,
first the Emperor behind him, the young Empress, next, the
secondary world, then the princesses and court ladies, and last
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of all the visitors. The first two days everything went
off all right. But on the third morning, the Emperor,
from whom we received the signal, suddenly turned and said,
Her Majesty is coming down. We all went on our knees,
the Emperor alone remaining standing and laughing at us. Of course,
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there was no sign of Her Majesty, and everybody joined
in the laugh. He was never so happy as when
he could work off a joke like this. On the
evening of the ninth none of the court ladies went
to bed, as we all had to be up betimes.
On the morning of the tenth, the visitors were told
to proceed by chair to Her Majesty's special audience Hall
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on the top of the hill, where they were to
await our arrival. They arrived at the audience hall at
three o'clock in the morning, and we followed soon afterwards,
arriving there about daybreak by and by her Majesty arrived
and the ceremony commenced. The ceremony in no way differed
from the one previously described in connection with the Emperor's birthday,
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so there is no need to give particulars except one thing.
Very early on the morning of the tenth we had
to bring another present to her, and each of us
brought a hundred birds of various kinds. Each year, on
her birthday, her Majesty did a very peculiar thing. She
would buy ten thousand birds with her own money from
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her private purse and set them free. It was a
very pretty sight to see those huge cages hung in
the courtyard of the audience hall. Her Majesty would select
the most lucky hour and order the eunuchs to carry
the cages and to follow her. The hour selected was
four o'clock in the afternoon. Her Majesty took the whole
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court with her to the top of the hill, where
there was a temple. First, she burnt sandal wood and
offered up prayers to the gods. Then the eunuchs, each
with a cage of birds, knelt in front of her Majesty,
and she opened each cage one after another, and watched
the birds fly away, and prayed to the gods that
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these birds should not be caught again. Her Majesty did
this very seriously, and we asked each other in whispers
which bird we thought was the prettiest and would like
to keep it for ourselves. Among this lot, there were
a few parrots. Some were pink, others were red and green.
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All were chained on stands, and when the eunuchs broke
the chains, the parrots would not move. Her Majesty said,
how funny. Each year a few parrots will not go
away at all, and I have kept them until they died.
Look at them now, they won't go away. By this time,
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the head eunuch arrived, Her Majesty told him what had happened,
and he immediately knelt down and said, your Majesty's great luck.
These parrots understand your Majesty's kindness and would rather stay
here and serve your Majesty. This ceremony is called fung shung.
It is considered a very Meritoro's action and will not
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fail of reward in heaven. One of the court ladies
asked me what I thought of the parrots that would
not fly away, and I told her that it was
really very strange, she said, It is very simple and
not strange at all. These eunuchs, ordered by the head one,
have bought these parrots long ago and trained them during
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her Majesty's afternoon rest. These parrots were brought to the
top of the very same heel every day to accustom
them to the place. The object of this is just
to please and otherwise fall her Majesty, to make her
feel happy and believe that she is so merciful that
even such dumb things would rather stay with her. Continuing,
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she said, the huge joke is this, while her Majesty
is letting the birds free, there are a few eunuchs
waiting at the rear of the hill to capture them,
and seldom again, and so no matter how her Majesty
prays for their freedom, they will be caught at once.
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The celebrations were continued until the thirteenth day. Nobody did
any work, and all was gaiety and enjoyment, the theater
being open every day. Towards the close of the thirteenth day,
the visitors were informed that the celebrations were at an end,
and they made arrangements to leave early the next morning.
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They all bade her Majesty good bye that evening and
departed early the following day. For the next few days
we were all busy preparing for removing to the Sea Palace.
Her Majesty consulted her book and finally selected the twenty
seconds as being the most favorable day for this removal.
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So at six o'clock on the morning of the twenty second,
the whole court left the Summer Palace. It was snowing
very heavily, and the journey was only accomplished with great difficulty.
Of course, we were all in chairs as usual, and
the eunuchs who were not employed as chair bearers, rode horseback.
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Many of the horses fell on the slippery stones, and
one of Her Majesty's chair bearers also slept and brought
Her Majesty to the ground. All of a sudden I
thought something dreadful had happened. Horses galloping and eunuchs howling. Stop. Stop.
I heard some one saying, say, if she is still alive.
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The whole procession stopped and blocked the way. This happened
on the stone road just before entering the western gate.
Finally we saw that Her Majesty's chair was resting on
the ground, So we all alighted and went forward to
see what had happened. A great many people were talking excitedly,
all at the same time, and for a moment I
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was rather frightened. For just about that time we heard
a rumor that some of the revolutionists were going to
take the life of the whole court. And although we
heard that, we did not dare tell her, Majesty, So
I immediately went to her chair and found her sitting
there composedly giving orders to the chief eunuch not to
punish this chair bearer, for he was not to blame
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the stones being wet and very slippery. Lilian Ying said
that would never do, for this chair bearer must have
been careless, and how there he carried the old Buddha
in this careless way. After saying this, he turned his
head to the beaters. These beaters, carrying bamboo sticks, went
everywhere with the court for such occasions as this, and said,
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give him eighty blows on his back. The poor victim,
who was kneeling on the muddy ground, heard the order.
The beaters took him about a hundred yards away from us,
pushed him down and started to do their duty. It
did not take very long to give the eighty blows,
and much to my surprise, this man got up after
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receiving the punishment as if nothing had happened to him.
He looked just as calm as could be. While we
were waiting, a eunuch handed me a cup of tea,
which I presented to Her Majesty and asked her if
she was hurt. She smiled and said it was nothing,
ordering us to proceed on our journey. I must explain
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about this tea. The eunuchs had it prepared all the
time and always carried a little stove along with hot water.
Although this went every time when the court moved, it
was seldom used. As usual, all the court ladies take
a short cut to the palace so as to be
ready to receive Her Majesty when she arrived. After waiting
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in the courtyard for quite a long time, during which
we were nearly frozen, her Majesty arrived and we all
knelt until she had passed, and then followed her into
the palace. Her Majesty also complained of the cord and
ordered that fires should be brought into the hall. These
fires were built in brass portable stoves lined with clay
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and were lighted outside and brought into the hall after
the smoke had passed off somewhat. There were four stoves
in all. All the windows and doors were closed, there
being no ventilation of any description, and very soon I
began to feel sick. However, I went on with my
work getting Her Majesty's things in order, until I must
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have fainted. For the next thing I remembered was waking
up in a strange bed and inquiring where I was.
But on hearing Her Majesty giving orders in the next room,
I knew it was all right. One of the court
ladies brought me a cup of turnip juice, which Her
Majesty said I was to drink. I drank it and
felt much better. I was informed that Her Majesty had
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gone to rest, and so I went off to sleep
again myself. When I awoke, her Majesty was standing by
my bed side. I tried to get up, but found
that I was too weak. So Her Majesty told me
to lie still and keep quiet, and I would soon
be all right again. She said that I had better
have a room close to her bedroom, and gave instructions
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to the eunuchs to remove me there as soon as
it was prepared. Every few minutes her Majesty would send
to inquire how I was progressing and whether I wanted
anything to eat. It was the custom to stand up
whenever receiving a message from Her Majesty, but it was
out of the question for me to do so, although
I tried, with the result that I made myself worse
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than ever. Towards evening, the head Eunuch came to see
me and brought several plates of sweetmeats. He was very
nice and told me that I was very fortunate, as
Her Majesty very rarely bothered herself about any of the
court ladies, and that evidently she had taken a fancy
to me. He sat talking for some time and told
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me to eat some of the sweetmeats. Of course, I
was not able to eat anything at all, let alone sweetmeats,
so I taught him to leave them and I would
eat them later. Before leaving, he said that in case
I wanted anything, I was to let him know. This
visit was a great surprise to me, as usually he
took very little notice of any of us. But I
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was told afterwards that the reason he was so nice
was because her Majesty showed such an interest in me.
The next morning I was able to get up and
resume my duties. I went in to see Her Majesty
and kotoed to her, thanking her for her kindness during
my disposition. Her Majesty said that the head eunuch had
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told her the previous evening that I was much better,
and that she was glad I was up and about again.
She said it was nothing serious, simply that I was
unaccustomed to the fumes from the fires, which had gone
to my head. As the snow had stopped falling, Her
Majesty decided that the next day we would go and
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choose the place for Miss Krl to continue the painting.
I suggested that perhaps it would be better if we
waited until Miss Carle arrived herself, so that she could
choose a suitable place for her work, But Her Majesty
said that would not do at all, because if it
were left to Miss Carle, doubtless she would choose some
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impossible place. Of course, there were many parts of the
palace which were kept quite private, and Miss carl would
not be allowed to go there. So the next day
Her Majesty and myself set out to find a place.
After visiting many different rooms, all of which were too dark,
we finally fixed on a rim on the lake side
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of the palace. Her Majesty said, this is very convenient,
as you can go to and throw either by chair
or by water. I found that it took about three
quarters of an hour by chair to get to the
palace gate, and rather less than that by boat. I
was expecting to return to stay at the palace with
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Her Majesty, but it was finally decided that this would
not do, as it would not be policy to allow
Miss Carle, who was staying at the American legation, to
go in and out of the palace gate alone. So
Her Majesty said it would be better for me to
stay at my father's place in the city and bring
Miss Krle to the palace each morning, returning with her
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in the evening. This was anything but pleasant, but I
had no other alternative than to obey Her Majesty's instructions.
When Miss carl arrived at the palace the next day
and saw the room which had been selected for her
to work in, she was not at all pleased. In
the first place, she said it was too dark, so
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her Majesty ordered the paper windows to be replaced by glass.
This made the room too bright, and Miss Carle asked
for some curtains so as to focus the light on
the picture. When I informed Her Majesty of this request,
she said, well, this is the first time I have
ever changed anything in the palace except to suit myself. First,
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I owe to the windows, and she is not satisfied,
but must have curtains. I think we had better take
the roof off than perhaps she may be suited. However,
we fixed up the curtains to Miss Carle's satisfaction. When
Her Majesty examined the portrait to see how it was progressing,
she said to me, after all the trouble we have
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had over this picture, I am afraid it is not
going to be anything very wonderful. I notice that the
pearls in my cape are painted in different colors. Some
look white, some pink, while others are green. You tell
her about it. I tried to explain to her Majesty
that Miss carl had simply painted the pearls as she
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saw them, according to the different shades of light, but
Her Majesty could not understand that at all, and asked
if I could see anything green about them or pink either.
I again explained that this was simply the tints caused
by the lights falling on the pearls, but she replied
that she could not see any shade except white. However,
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after a while she did not seem to trouble any
further about the matter. Situated in a room near Her
Majesty's bedroom in the Sea Palace was a pagoda about
ten feet in height made of car sandal wood. Dis
contained various images of Buddha, which her Majesty used to
worship every morning. The ceremony consisted of her Majesty burning
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incense before the pagoda, while a court lady was told
of each day to Koto before the images. Her Majesty
told me that this pagoda had been in the palace
for more than a hundred years. Among the different images
was one representing the Goddess of Mercy. This image was
only about five inches in height and was made of
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pure gold. The inside was hollow and contained all the
principal anatomical parts of the human body. Made out of
jade and pearls. This Goddess of Mercy was supposed to
possess wonderful powers, and her Majesty often worshiped before it
when in any trouble, and maintained that on many occasions
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her prayers had been answered. She said, of course, when
I prayed to the image, I pray earnestly, not the
same as you, you girls who simply koto because it is
your duty, and then get away as quickly as possible.
Her Majesty went on to say that she was quite
aware that many of the people in China were discarding
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the religion of their ancestors in favor of Christianity, and
that she was very much grieved that this was so.
Her Majesty was a firm believer in of all Chinese
superstitions connected with the Sea Palace, and during one of
our conversations she told me I was not to be
surprised at anything I saw. She said it was quite
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a common occurrence for a person walking beside you to
suddenly disappear altogether, and explained that they were simply foxes
who took human shape to suit their purpose. They had
probably lived in the Sea Palace for thousands of years
and possessed this power of changing their form at will.
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She said that no doubt the eunuchs would tell me
they were spirits or ghosts, but that was not true.
They were sacred foxes and would harm nobody. As if
to confirm this superstition, one evening a few days later,
my fire having gone out, I sent my eunuch to
see if any of the other court ladies were awake,
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and if so, to try to get me some hot water.
He went out, taking his lantern along with him, but
he returned almost immediately with a face as white as chalk.
On inquiring what was the matter, he replied, I have
seen a ghost of a woman who came up to me,
blew the light out, and disappeared. I told him that
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perhaps it was one of the servant girls, but he
said no. He knew all the women attached to the
palace and he had never seen this one before. He
stuck to it that it was a ghost. I told
him that her Majesty said there were no ghosts, but
that it might be a fox which had taken human shape.
He replied it was not a fox. Majesty calls them
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foxes because she is afraid to call them ghosts. He
went on to tell me that many used previously the
head Eunuch Lilianying, whilst walking in the courtyard back of
Her Majesty's palace, saw a young servant girl sitting on
the edge of the well. He went over to ask
her what she was doing there, but getting closer he
found that there were several other girls there also, and
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on seeing him approach, they all deliberately jumped down the well.
He immediately raised the alarm, and on one of the
attendants coming forward with the lantern, he explained what had occurred.
The attendant showed him that it was impossible for anybody
to jump into the well as it was covered with
a large stone. My eunuch said that a long time
(31:45):
before this, several girls did actually commit suicide by jumping
down this well, and that what Lilian Ying had seen
were the ghosts of these girls and nothing more. It
is believed by the Chinese that when a person commits suicide,
their spirit remains in the neighborhood until such time as
they can entice somebody else to commit suicide when they
(32:07):
are free to go to another world. And not before
I told him that I did not believe such things,
and that I would very much like to see for myself.
He replied, you will only want to see at once.
That would be sufficient. Things went along in the usual
way until the first day of the eleventh moon, when
(32:28):
Her Majesty issued orders to the court that, as the
eleventh moon contained so many anniversaries of death of previous
rulers of China, the usual theatrical performance would be eliminated,
and the court dress would, in addition, be modified to
suit the occasion. On the ninth day, the Emperor was
to go and worship at the Temple of Heaven. So
(32:51):
as was customary on all these occasions, he confined himself
to his own private apartments for three days before the ninth,
during which time he held no communication whatsoever with anybody
excepting his private eunuchs. Not even the young Empress his wife,
was allowed to see him during these three days. This
(33:12):
ceremony did not differ very materially from the other sacrifices,
except that pigs were killed and placed on the numerous
altars of the temple, where they remained for a time,
after which they were distributed among the different officials. The
eating of the flesh of these pigs, which had been blessed,
was believed to bring good luck and prosperity, and the
(33:35):
officials who were presented with them considered themselves greatly favored
by Her Majesty. Another difference was that the Emperor could
not appoint a substitute to officiate for him, but must
attend in person, no matter what the circumstances might be.
The reason for this was that, according to the ancient law,
(33:56):
the emperor signed the death warrant of every person sentenced
to the death, record of which is kept in the
board of Punishment. At the end of the year. The
name of each person executed is written on a piece
of yellow paper and sent to the Emperor. When the
time for worshiping at the temple arrives, he takes this
yellow paper and burns it in order that the ashes
(34:19):
may go up to heaven and his ancestors know that
he had been fearless and faithful and has done his
duty according to the law. As this ceremony of worshiping
at the Temple of Heaven was to take place in
the Forbidden City, in spite of Her Majesty's dislike to
the place, she commanded that the whole of the court
(34:40):
be transferred there, her reason for this being that she
did not wish to be away from the Emperor's side
even for an hour, so we all moved to palace
in the Forbidden City. After the ceremony was over, the
court was to return to the Sea Palace, but as
the thirteenth day was the anniversary of the death of
(35:01):
the Emperor Kangxi, it was decided that we should remain
in the Forbidden City where the ceremony was to be held.
The Emperor Kangxi rode over the Chinese Empire for sixty
one years, the longest reign of any Chinese ruler up
to the present time, and Her Majesty told us that
he was the most wonderful Emperor China had ever had,
(35:24):
and that we must respect his memory accordingly. End of
Chapter sixteen, read by J. C. Guan, Montreal, January two
thousand nine.
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