August 19, 2025 • 24 mins
The author of this captivating narrative possesses a unique perspective shaped by her remarkable lineage. As the daughter of Lord Yu Keng, a prominent figure in the Manchu White Banner Corps and a progressive Chinese official, she brings unparalleled insights to her experiences. Serving as First Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress Dowager, she had the rare opportunity to observe and understand the complexities of the woman who ruled China for decades. This intimate chronicle, inspired by the encouragement of friends, illuminates the extraordinary personality of the Empress and the rich customs of her court, offering readers a fresh lens on this pivotal moment in history.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter seventeen of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
Livery Rocks recording is in the public domain. Recording by J. C. I. Guan.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess Darling, Chapter seventeen.
The Audience Hall on the fourteenth day of the eleventh Moon.
After the morning audience, her Majesty informed us that there
(00:25):
was a likelihood of war breaking out between Russia and Japan,
and that she was very much troubled as although it
actually had nothing whatever to do with China, she was
afraid they would fight on Chinese territory and that in
the long run China would suffer in some way or other.
Of course, we did not bother ourselves about it much
(00:47):
at the moment, but the next morning the head eunuch
reported to Her Majesty that fifty eunuchs were missing. As
there was no apparent reason for this, everybody was much excited.
There was no rule against any of the eunuchs going
into the city after their duties were ended, providing they
returns before the palace gate was closed. But when on
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the following morning it was reported that another hundred eunuchs
had also disappeared, her Majesty at once said, I know
now what the trouble is. They must have heard what
I said about this war coming on and are afraid
there may be a repetition of the Boxer trouble, and
so they have cleared out. It was the custom whenever
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a eunuch was missing to send out search parties and
have him brought back and punished, but in the present instance,
Her Majesty gave instructions that nothing was to be done
about recapturing them. One morning, however, one of Her Majesty's
personal attendants was missing, which made her furious. She said
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that she had been very kind to this particular eunuch
in many ways, and this was all the thanks she got.
He ran away at the first sign of trouble. I
myself had noticed how good she had been to this eunuch,
but I was not really sorry that he had left,
as he used to take advantage of every opportunity of
(02:17):
getting some of the court ladies into trouble. These disappearances
continued from day to day until Her Majesty decided that
it would be safer for us to remain in the
forbidden city until the following spring. At any rate. On
inquiring for my eunuch the cause of these disappearances. He
(02:37):
said that it was just as Her Majesty suspected they
were afraid of getting mixed up in another such affair
as the Boxer trouble, and added that he was not
a bit surprised at Her Majesty's favorite eunuch going along
with the rest. He further told me that even Lilaying
himself was not to be absolutely relied upon, as at
(02:59):
the time Her Majesty's leaving Peijing for Chien during the
Boxer movement, he had feigned sickness and followed a little
later so that in the event of anything happening, he
would be able to return and make his escape. While
talking about Liliayan, my eunuch told me in confidence that
he was responsible for the death of many innocent people,
(03:22):
mostly eunuchs. He had unlimited power at the court, and
it was very easy for him to get anybody put
away who offended him, or to whom, for some reason
or another he took a dislike. Furthermore, the eunuch informed
me that, although not generally known, Liliayan was addicted to
(03:44):
opium smoking, which habit he indulged in freely. Even her
Majesty was unaware of this, as Opium's smoking was strictly
forbidden in the palace. Each morning there was fresh news
regarding the trouble between Russia and Japan, and of course
everybody gradually became very much excited at the palace. One day,
(04:07):
her Majesty summoned the whole of the court to a
special audience, and there informed us that there was no
need for us to get excited at all, that if
any trouble did occur, it was none of our business
and we should not be interfered with, as the spirits
of our ancestors were watching over us, and she did
not want to hear any more talk and gossip on
(04:30):
the subject. However, she summoned all of the court ladies
to her apartment and there commanded us to pray to
the spirits of our ancestors to protect us, which plainly
showed that she was just as much worried as we
were ourselves. In spite of what she had said with
reference to gossiping about this trouble, her Majesty often spoke
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about it herself, and during one of our conversations, she
said she wished she could get in information Each day
as to what was actually occurring. So I suggested that
it would be very easy to get all the latest
news by taking the foreign papers and also Ruter's specials.
Her Majesty jumped at the suggestion and told me to
(05:16):
have these sent each day to my father's house in
his name, and have them brought to the palace where
I could translate them for her. I told her that
my father received all these papers as they were published,
so I arranged that they should be brought along as
directed by Her Majesty each morning during the audience. I
(05:37):
translated into Chinese all the war news, but the telegrams
began to arrive so rapidly that it soon became quite
impossible for me to write them all out in Chinese.
So I told Her Majesty that I would read and
translate them into Chinese as they arrived. This was much
quicker and interested Her Majesty so much that she insisted
(05:59):
on my not only translating the war news, but everything
else of interest in the papers. Especially, she was interested
in all news appertaining to the movements, et cetera of
the crowned heads of Europe, and was very plainly astonished
when she learned that their every movement was known. She said, here,
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at any rate, it is more private. For nobody outside
the palace ever knows what is going on inside, not
even my own people. It would be a good thing
if they didn't know a little more than perhaps all
these rumors about the palace would stop. Of course, during
our stay in the Forbidden City, Miss Carle attended each
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morning to work on the portrait. We had given her
a nice room, which seemed to suit her very well,
and her Majesty had instructed me to let her have
every convenience possible to assist her, as she was getting
tired of the business and would like to see it
finished quickly. Her Majesty hardly ever went near the place herself,
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but when she did go, she would be most a fable,
and really one would think that it was the greatest
pleasure of her life to go and inspect the portrait.
Things went very slowly during this eleventh moon on account
of the court being in mourning. So one day her
Majesty suggested that she should show us round the Forbidden City. First,
(07:28):
we proceeded to the audience hall. This differs somewhat from
the audience hall of the summer Palace. To enter, one
must mount some twenty odd steps of white marble, with
rails on either side of the steps made of the
same material. At the top of the steps, a large
verandah supported by huge pillars of wood painted red, surrounded
(07:51):
the building. The windows along this verandah were of marvelously
carved trays, work designed to represent the character to show,
arranged in different positions. Then we entered the hall itself.
The floor is of brick, and her Majesty told us
that all these bricks were of solid gold and had
(08:13):
been there for centuries. They were of a peculiar black collar,
doubtless painted over, and were so slippery that it was
most difficult to keep on one's feet. The furnishing was
similar to that in the audience halls in the Summer
Palace and in the Sea Palace, with the exception that
the throne was made of dark brown wood inlaid with
(08:37):
jade of different colors. The hall was only used for
audience on very rare occasions, such as the birthday of
the Empress Dowager and the New Year's Day, and no
foreigner has ever entered this building. All the usual audiences
were held in a smaller building in the Forbidden City.
(08:57):
After spending some little time in the audience, we next
visited the Emperor's quarters. These were much smaller than those
occupied by Her Majesty, but were very elaborately furnished. There
were thirty two rooms, many of which were never used,
but all were furnished in the same expensive style. In
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the rear of this building was the palace of the
Young Empress, which was smallly still, having about twenty four
rooms in all, and in the same building three rooms
were set apart for the use of the secondary wife
of the Emperor. Although close together, the palaces of the
Emperor and his wife were not connected by any entrance,
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but both buildings were surrounded by verandahs, connecting with Her
Majesty's apartments, which were quite a distance away. There were
several other buildings which were used as waiting rooms for visitors.
In addition to the above, there were several buildings which
were not used at all. The were sealed, and nobody
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seemed to know what they contained, or whether they contained
anything at all. Even Her Majesty said she had never
been inside these buildings, as they had been sealed for
many years. Even the entrance to the enclosure containing these
buildings was always closed, and this was the only occasion
that any of us ever even passed through. They were
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quite different in appearance from any other buildings in the palace,
being very dirty and evidently of great age. We were
recommended not to talk about the place at all. The
servants quarters were at the end of our apartments, but
there was no entrance, and they could only be reached
by passing along our verandah, while the only entrance we
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ourselves had to our rooms was by passing along Her
Majesty's veranda. This was Her Majesty's own idea, in order
that she could keep an eye on all of us
and could see when we either went out or came in.
Her Majesty now conducted us to her own palace, and,
pausing a little, said I will now show you something
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which will be quite new to you. We entered the
room adjoining her bedroom, which was connected by a narrow
passage some fifteen feet in length on either side. The
walls were painted and decorated very beautifully. Her Majesty spoke
to one of the unique attendants who stooped down and
removed from the ground at each end of this passage
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two wooden plugs, which were fitted into holes in the basement.
Then I began to realize that what I had hitherto
regarded as solid walls were in reality sliding panels of wood.
These panels, when opened, revealed a kind of grotto. There
were no windows, but in the roof was a skylight.
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At one end of this room, or a grotto, was
a large rock, on the top of which was a
seat with a yellow cushion, and beside the cushion an
incense burner. Everything had the appearance of being very old.
The room contained no furniture of any description. One end
of this room led into another passage, similar to the
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one already described, having sliding panels, which led into another grotto,
and so on. In fact, the whole of the palace
walls were intersected by these secret passages, each concealing an
inner room. Her Majesty told us that during the Ming dynasty,
these rooms had been used for various purposes, principally by
(12:40):
the Emperor when he wished to be alone. One of
these secret rooms was used by Her Majesty as a
treasure room, where she kept her valuables. During the time
of the boxer trouble. She hid all her valuables here
before she fled. When she returned and opened this secret room,
she found everything intact. Not one of the vandals who
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ransacked the palace even suspected there was such a place.
We returned to our verandah, and on looking around for
the rooms we had just vacated, could see nothing except
black stone walls, so well they were hidden. One of
the principal reasons for Her Majesty's dislike to the Forbidden
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City was the mysteries which it contained, so many of
which she did not know of herself. She said, I
don't even talk about these places at all, as people
might think that they were used for all kinds of purposes.
While at the palace in the Forbidden City, I met
the three secondary wives of the previous Emperor Tonjou, son
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of the Empress Dowager, who since the death of the Emperor,
had resided in the Forbidden City and spent their time
in doing needlework, et cetera. For Her Majesty. When I
got to know them, I found that they were highly educated,
one of them, Ufe, being exceptionally clever. She could write
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poetry and play many musical instruments, and was considered to
be the best educated lady in the emprayor of China.
Her knowledge of Western countries and their customs surprised me
very much. She seemed to know a little bit of everything.
I asked how it was that I had never seen
them before, and was informed that they never visited Her
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Majesty unless commanded by her to do so, but that
when Her Majesty stayed in the forbidden city, of course,
they had to call and pay their respects each day.
One day I received an invitation to visit them in
their palace. This was separated from all the other buildings
in the city. It was rather a small building and
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very simply furnished, with just a few eunuchs and servant
girls to wait upon them. They said they preferred this
simple life, as they never received any visitors and had
nobody to please but themselves. Euphe's room was literally packed
with literature of all descriptions. She showed me several poems
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which she had written, but they were of a melancholy character,
plainly showing the trend of her thoughts. She was in
favor of establishing schools for the education of young girls,
as only very few could even read or write their
own language, and she suggested that I should speak to
Her Majesty about it at the first opportunity. In spite
(15:35):
of her desire to see Western reforms introduced into China, however,
she was not in favor of employing missionary teachers. All
these peoples always taught their religion at the expense of
other subjects, which she feared would set the Chinese against
the movement. Toward the end of the eleventh Moon, Her
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Majesty granted an audience to the Visceroy of Tuli Yuan Shrakai,
and as this particular day was a holiday and Miss
carl was absent, I was able to attend. Her Majesty
asked him for his opinion on the trouble between Russia
and Japan. He said that although these two countries might
make war against each other, China would not be implicated
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in any way, but that after the war was over,
there was sure to be trouble over Manchuria. Her Majesty
said she was quite aware of that, as they were
fighting on Chinese territory, and that the best thing for
China to do would be to keep absolutely neutral in
the matter, as she had quite enough of war during
the China Japan war. She said it would be best
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to issue orders to all the officials to see that
the Chinese did not interfere in any way, so as
not to give any excuse for being brought into the trouble.
She then asked his opinion as to what would be
the result in the event of war, who would win.
He said that it was very hard to say, but
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he thought Japan would win. Her Majesty thought that if
Japan were victorious, she would not have so much trouble
over the matter, although she expressed doubts as to the outcome,
saying that Russia was a large country and had many
soldiers and that the result was far from certain. Her
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Majesty then spoke about the condition of things in China.
She said that in case China were forced into war
with another nation, we should be nowhere. We had nothing already,
no navy and no trained army, in fact, nothing to
enable us to protect ourselves. Yazhukhai, however, assured her that
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there was no need to anticipate any trouble at present,
so far as China was concerned. Her Majesty replied that
in any event, it was time China began to wake
up and endeavor to straighten things out in some way
or other, but she did not know where to begin.
That it was her ambition to see China holding a
prominent position among the nations of the world, and that
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she was constantly receiving memorials suggesting this reform and that reform,
but that we never seemed to get any further. After
this audience was over, her Majesty held an audience with
the Grand Council. She told them what had been said
during her interview with Yuan Shukai, and of course they
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all agreed that something should be done. Several suggestions were
discussed with regard to national defense, et cetera. But a
certain prince said that although he was in perfect sympathy
with reform generally, he was very much against the adoption
of foreign clothing, foreign modes of living, and the doing
away with the cur Her Majesty quite agreed with these remarks,
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and said that it would not be wise to change
any Chinese custom for one which was less civilized. As usual,
nothing definite was decided upon when the audience was over.
For the next few days, nothing was talked of but
the war and many Chinese generals were received in audience
by Her Majesty. These audiences were sometimes very amusing, as
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these soldiers were quite unaccustomed to the rules of the
court and did not know the mode of procedure when
in the presence of Her Majesty, many foolish suggestions were
made by these generals. During one of the conversations, her
Majesty remarked on the inefficiency of the navy and referred
to the fact that we had no trained naval officers.
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One of the generals replied that we had more men
in China than in any other country, and as for ships,
why we had dozens of river boats and China merchant
boats which could be used in case of war. Her
Majesty ordered him to retire, saying that it was perfectly
true that we had plenty of men in China, but
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that the majority of them were, like himself, of very
little use to the country. After he had retired, everybody
commenced to laugh, but Her Majesty stopped us, saying that
she did not feel at all like laughing. She was
too angry to think that such men held positions as
officers in the army and navy. One of the court
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ladies asked me why Her Majesty was so angry with
the man for mentioning the river boats, and was very
much surprised when I informed her that the whole of
them would be worse than useless against a single war vessel.
Just about the end of the eleventh Moon, Juan Suton,
Vistery of Wuchang, arrived and was received in audience. Her
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Majesty said to him, now, you are one of the
oldest officials in the country, and I want you to
give me your unbiased opinion as to what effect this
war is going to have on China. Do not be
afraid to give me your firm opinion, as I want
to be prepared for anything which is likely to happen.
(21:07):
He answered that no matter what the result of the
war might be, China would in all probability have to
make certain concessions to the powers with regard to Manchuria
for trade purposes, but that we should not otherwise be
interfered with. Her Majesty repeated what had been discussed at
the previous audiences on this subject and also regarding reform
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in China. Don Jujong replied that we had plenty of
time for reform, and that if we were into a
greater hurvey, we should not accomplish anything at all. He
suggested that the matter be discussed at length before deciding
upon anything definite. In his opinion, it would be foolish
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to go to extremes in the matter of reform. He
said that ten or fifteen years ago he would have
been very much against any reform whatsoever, but that he
now saw the need for it to a certain extent,
as circumstances had changed very much. He said that we
should adhere strictly to our own mode of living and
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not abandon the traditions of our ancestors. In other words,
he simply advised the adoption of Western civilization, where it
was an improvement on our own and nothing more. Her
Majesty was delighted with the interview, for John J. Dun's
opinions coincided exactly with her own. During the whole of
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these audiences, the Emperor, although present each time, never opened
his lips to say a word, but sat listening all
the time. As a rule, Her Majesty would ask his
opinion just as a matter of form, but he invariably
replied that he was quite in accord with what her
Majesty had said or decided upon. Of the many religious
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ceremonies in connection with the Buddhist religion, the Lapatcha was
the most important. This was held on the eighth day
of the twelfth moon each year. According to the common belief,
on this eighth day of the twelfth moon, many centuries ago,
a certain Buddhist priest Rulae set out to beg for food,
and after receiving a good supply of rice and beans
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from the people, he returned and divided it with his
brother priest, giving each an equal share, and he became
celebrated for his great charity. This day was therefore set
apart as an anniversary to commemorate the event. The idea
was that by practicing self denial on this day one
would gain favor in the sight of this Buddha roulee. Therefore,
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the only food eaten was rice, grain, and beans, all
mixed together in a sort of porridge, but without any
salt or other flavoring. It was not at all pleasant
to eat, being absolutely tasteless. End of Chapter seventeen, read
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by J. C. Guan, Montreal, February two thousand nine,
Chapter seventeen of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This
Livery Rocks recording is in the public domain. Recording by J. C. I. Guan.
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess Darling, Chapter seventeen.
The Audience Hall on the fourteenth day of the eleventh Moon.
After the morning audience, her Majesty informed us that there
(00:25):
was a likelihood of war breaking out between Russia and Japan,
and that she was very much troubled as although it
actually had nothing whatever to do with China, she was
afraid they would fight on Chinese territory and that in
the long run China would suffer in some way or other.
Of course, we did not bother ourselves about it much
(00:47):
at the moment, but the next morning the head eunuch
reported to Her Majesty that fifty eunuchs were missing. As
there was no apparent reason for this, everybody was much excited.
There was no rule against any of the eunuchs going
into the city after their duties were ended, providing they
returns before the palace gate was closed. But when on
(01:11):
the following morning it was reported that another hundred eunuchs
had also disappeared, her Majesty at once said, I know
now what the trouble is. They must have heard what
I said about this war coming on and are afraid
there may be a repetition of the Boxer trouble, and
so they have cleared out. It was the custom whenever
(01:34):
a eunuch was missing to send out search parties and
have him brought back and punished, but in the present instance,
Her Majesty gave instructions that nothing was to be done
about recapturing them. One morning, however, one of Her Majesty's
personal attendants was missing, which made her furious. She said
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that she had been very kind to this particular eunuch
in many ways, and this was all the thanks she got.
He ran away at the first sign of trouble. I
myself had noticed how good she had been to this eunuch,
but I was not really sorry that he had left,
as he used to take advantage of every opportunity of
(02:17):
getting some of the court ladies into trouble. These disappearances
continued from day to day until Her Majesty decided that
it would be safer for us to remain in the
forbidden city until the following spring. At any rate. On
inquiring for my eunuch the cause of these disappearances. He
(02:37):
said that it was just as Her Majesty suspected they
were afraid of getting mixed up in another such affair
as the Boxer trouble, and added that he was not
a bit surprised at Her Majesty's favorite eunuch going along
with the rest. He further told me that even Lilaying
himself was not to be absolutely relied upon, as at
(02:59):
the time Her Majesty's leaving Peijing for Chien during the
Boxer movement, he had feigned sickness and followed a little
later so that in the event of anything happening, he
would be able to return and make his escape. While
talking about Liliayan, my eunuch told me in confidence that
he was responsible for the death of many innocent people,
(03:22):
mostly eunuchs. He had unlimited power at the court, and
it was very easy for him to get anybody put
away who offended him, or to whom, for some reason
or another he took a dislike. Furthermore, the eunuch informed
me that, although not generally known, Liliayan was addicted to
(03:44):
opium smoking, which habit he indulged in freely. Even her
Majesty was unaware of this, as Opium's smoking was strictly
forbidden in the palace. Each morning there was fresh news
regarding the trouble between Russia and Japan, and of course
everybody gradually became very much excited at the palace. One day,
(04:07):
her Majesty summoned the whole of the court to a
special audience, and there informed us that there was no
need for us to get excited at all, that if
any trouble did occur, it was none of our business
and we should not be interfered with, as the spirits
of our ancestors were watching over us, and she did
not want to hear any more talk and gossip on
(04:30):
the subject. However, she summoned all of the court ladies
to her apartment and there commanded us to pray to
the spirits of our ancestors to protect us, which plainly
showed that she was just as much worried as we
were ourselves. In spite of what she had said with
reference to gossiping about this trouble, her Majesty often spoke
(04:53):
about it herself, and during one of our conversations, she
said she wished she could get in information Each day
as to what was actually occurring. So I suggested that
it would be very easy to get all the latest
news by taking the foreign papers and also Ruter's specials.
Her Majesty jumped at the suggestion and told me to
(05:16):
have these sent each day to my father's house in
his name, and have them brought to the palace where
I could translate them for her. I told her that
my father received all these papers as they were published,
so I arranged that they should be brought along as
directed by Her Majesty each morning during the audience. I
(05:37):
translated into Chinese all the war news, but the telegrams
began to arrive so rapidly that it soon became quite
impossible for me to write them all out in Chinese.
So I told Her Majesty that I would read and
translate them into Chinese as they arrived. This was much
quicker and interested Her Majesty so much that she insisted
(05:59):
on my not only translating the war news, but everything
else of interest in the papers. Especially, she was interested
in all news appertaining to the movements, et cetera of
the crowned heads of Europe, and was very plainly astonished
when she learned that their every movement was known. She said, here,
(06:20):
at any rate, it is more private. For nobody outside
the palace ever knows what is going on inside, not
even my own people. It would be a good thing
if they didn't know a little more than perhaps all
these rumors about the palace would stop. Of course, during
our stay in the Forbidden City, Miss Carle attended each
(06:41):
morning to work on the portrait. We had given her
a nice room, which seemed to suit her very well,
and her Majesty had instructed me to let her have
every convenience possible to assist her, as she was getting
tired of the business and would like to see it
finished quickly. Her Majesty hardly ever went near the place herself,
(07:04):
but when she did go, she would be most a fable,
and really one would think that it was the greatest
pleasure of her life to go and inspect the portrait.
Things went very slowly during this eleventh moon on account
of the court being in mourning. So one day her
Majesty suggested that she should show us round the Forbidden City. First,
(07:28):
we proceeded to the audience hall. This differs somewhat from
the audience hall of the summer Palace. To enter, one
must mount some twenty odd steps of white marble, with
rails on either side of the steps made of the
same material. At the top of the steps, a large
verandah supported by huge pillars of wood painted red, surrounded
(07:51):
the building. The windows along this verandah were of marvelously
carved trays, work designed to represent the character to show,
arranged in different positions. Then we entered the hall itself.
The floor is of brick, and her Majesty told us
that all these bricks were of solid gold and had
(08:13):
been there for centuries. They were of a peculiar black collar,
doubtless painted over, and were so slippery that it was
most difficult to keep on one's feet. The furnishing was
similar to that in the audience halls in the Summer
Palace and in the Sea Palace, with the exception that
the throne was made of dark brown wood inlaid with
(08:37):
jade of different colors. The hall was only used for
audience on very rare occasions, such as the birthday of
the Empress Dowager and the New Year's Day, and no
foreigner has ever entered this building. All the usual audiences
were held in a smaller building in the Forbidden City.
(08:57):
After spending some little time in the audience, we next
visited the Emperor's quarters. These were much smaller than those
occupied by Her Majesty, but were very elaborately furnished. There
were thirty two rooms, many of which were never used,
but all were furnished in the same expensive style. In
(09:19):
the rear of this building was the palace of the
Young Empress, which was smallly still, having about twenty four
rooms in all, and in the same building three rooms
were set apart for the use of the secondary wife
of the Emperor. Although close together, the palaces of the
Emperor and his wife were not connected by any entrance,
(09:40):
but both buildings were surrounded by verandahs, connecting with Her
Majesty's apartments, which were quite a distance away. There were
several other buildings which were used as waiting rooms for visitors.
In addition to the above, there were several buildings which
were not used at all. The were sealed, and nobody
(10:01):
seemed to know what they contained, or whether they contained
anything at all. Even Her Majesty said she had never
been inside these buildings, as they had been sealed for
many years. Even the entrance to the enclosure containing these
buildings was always closed, and this was the only occasion
that any of us ever even passed through. They were
(10:25):
quite different in appearance from any other buildings in the palace,
being very dirty and evidently of great age. We were
recommended not to talk about the place at all. The
servants quarters were at the end of our apartments, but
there was no entrance, and they could only be reached
by passing along our verandah, while the only entrance we
(10:47):
ourselves had to our rooms was by passing along Her
Majesty's veranda. This was Her Majesty's own idea, in order
that she could keep an eye on all of us
and could see when we either went out or came in.
Her Majesty now conducted us to her own palace, and,
pausing a little, said I will now show you something
(11:09):
which will be quite new to you. We entered the
room adjoining her bedroom, which was connected by a narrow
passage some fifteen feet in length on either side. The
walls were painted and decorated very beautifully. Her Majesty spoke
to one of the unique attendants who stooped down and
removed from the ground at each end of this passage
(11:32):
two wooden plugs, which were fitted into holes in the basement.
Then I began to realize that what I had hitherto
regarded as solid walls were in reality sliding panels of wood.
These panels, when opened, revealed a kind of grotto. There
were no windows, but in the roof was a skylight.
(11:55):
At one end of this room, or a grotto, was
a large rock, on the top of which was a
seat with a yellow cushion, and beside the cushion an
incense burner. Everything had the appearance of being very old.
The room contained no furniture of any description. One end
of this room led into another passage, similar to the
(12:17):
one already described, having sliding panels, which led into another grotto,
and so on. In fact, the whole of the palace
walls were intersected by these secret passages, each concealing an
inner room. Her Majesty told us that during the Ming dynasty,
these rooms had been used for various purposes, principally by
(12:40):
the Emperor when he wished to be alone. One of
these secret rooms was used by Her Majesty as a
treasure room, where she kept her valuables. During the time
of the boxer trouble. She hid all her valuables here
before she fled. When she returned and opened this secret room,
she found everything intact. Not one of the vandals who
(13:02):
ransacked the palace even suspected there was such a place.
We returned to our verandah, and on looking around for
the rooms we had just vacated, could see nothing except
black stone walls, so well they were hidden. One of
the principal reasons for Her Majesty's dislike to the Forbidden
(13:23):
City was the mysteries which it contained, so many of
which she did not know of herself. She said, I
don't even talk about these places at all, as people
might think that they were used for all kinds of purposes.
While at the palace in the Forbidden City, I met
the three secondary wives of the previous Emperor Tonjou, son
(13:47):
of the Empress Dowager, who since the death of the Emperor,
had resided in the Forbidden City and spent their time
in doing needlework, et cetera. For Her Majesty. When I
got to know them, I found that they were highly educated,
one of them, Ufe, being exceptionally clever. She could write
(14:07):
poetry and play many musical instruments, and was considered to
be the best educated lady in the emprayor of China.
Her knowledge of Western countries and their customs surprised me
very much. She seemed to know a little bit of everything.
I asked how it was that I had never seen
them before, and was informed that they never visited Her
(14:29):
Majesty unless commanded by her to do so, but that
when Her Majesty stayed in the forbidden city, of course,
they had to call and pay their respects each day.
One day I received an invitation to visit them in
their palace. This was separated from all the other buildings
in the city. It was rather a small building and
(14:52):
very simply furnished, with just a few eunuchs and servant
girls to wait upon them. They said they preferred this
simple life, as they never received any visitors and had
nobody to please but themselves. Euphe's room was literally packed
with literature of all descriptions. She showed me several poems
(15:12):
which she had written, but they were of a melancholy character,
plainly showing the trend of her thoughts. She was in
favor of establishing schools for the education of young girls,
as only very few could even read or write their
own language, and she suggested that I should speak to
Her Majesty about it at the first opportunity. In spite
(15:35):
of her desire to see Western reforms introduced into China, however,
she was not in favor of employing missionary teachers. All
these peoples always taught their religion at the expense of
other subjects, which she feared would set the Chinese against
the movement. Toward the end of the eleventh Moon, Her
(15:56):
Majesty granted an audience to the Visceroy of Tuli Yuan Shrakai,
and as this particular day was a holiday and Miss
carl was absent, I was able to attend. Her Majesty
asked him for his opinion on the trouble between Russia
and Japan. He said that although these two countries might
make war against each other, China would not be implicated
(16:19):
in any way, but that after the war was over,
there was sure to be trouble over Manchuria. Her Majesty
said she was quite aware of that, as they were
fighting on Chinese territory, and that the best thing for
China to do would be to keep absolutely neutral in
the matter, as she had quite enough of war during
the China Japan war. She said it would be best
(16:42):
to issue orders to all the officials to see that
the Chinese did not interfere in any way, so as
not to give any excuse for being brought into the trouble.
She then asked his opinion as to what would be
the result in the event of war, who would win.
He said that it was very hard to say, but
(17:04):
he thought Japan would win. Her Majesty thought that if
Japan were victorious, she would not have so much trouble
over the matter, although she expressed doubts as to the outcome,
saying that Russia was a large country and had many
soldiers and that the result was far from certain. Her
(17:24):
Majesty then spoke about the condition of things in China.
She said that in case China were forced into war
with another nation, we should be nowhere. We had nothing already,
no navy and no trained army, in fact, nothing to
enable us to protect ourselves. Yazhukhai, however, assured her that
(17:45):
there was no need to anticipate any trouble at present,
so far as China was concerned. Her Majesty replied that
in any event, it was time China began to wake
up and endeavor to straighten things out in some way
or other, but she did not know where to begin.
That it was her ambition to see China holding a
prominent position among the nations of the world, and that
(18:08):
she was constantly receiving memorials suggesting this reform and that reform,
but that we never seemed to get any further. After
this audience was over, her Majesty held an audience with
the Grand Council. She told them what had been said
during her interview with Yuan Shukai, and of course they
(18:28):
all agreed that something should be done. Several suggestions were
discussed with regard to national defense, et cetera. But a
certain prince said that although he was in perfect sympathy
with reform generally, he was very much against the adoption
of foreign clothing, foreign modes of living, and the doing
away with the cur Her Majesty quite agreed with these remarks,
(18:51):
and said that it would not be wise to change
any Chinese custom for one which was less civilized. As usual,
nothing definite was decided upon when the audience was over.
For the next few days, nothing was talked of but
the war and many Chinese generals were received in audience
by Her Majesty. These audiences were sometimes very amusing, as
(19:14):
these soldiers were quite unaccustomed to the rules of the
court and did not know the mode of procedure when
in the presence of Her Majesty, many foolish suggestions were
made by these generals. During one of the conversations, her
Majesty remarked on the inefficiency of the navy and referred
to the fact that we had no trained naval officers.
(19:37):
One of the generals replied that we had more men
in China than in any other country, and as for ships,
why we had dozens of river boats and China merchant
boats which could be used in case of war. Her
Majesty ordered him to retire, saying that it was perfectly
true that we had plenty of men in China, but
(19:59):
that the majority of them were, like himself, of very
little use to the country. After he had retired, everybody
commenced to laugh, but Her Majesty stopped us, saying that
she did not feel at all like laughing. She was
too angry to think that such men held positions as
officers in the army and navy. One of the court
(20:21):
ladies asked me why Her Majesty was so angry with
the man for mentioning the river boats, and was very
much surprised when I informed her that the whole of
them would be worse than useless against a single war vessel.
Just about the end of the eleventh Moon, Juan Suton,
Vistery of Wuchang, arrived and was received in audience. Her
(20:45):
Majesty said to him, now, you are one of the
oldest officials in the country, and I want you to
give me your unbiased opinion as to what effect this
war is going to have on China. Do not be
afraid to give me your firm opinion, as I want
to be prepared for anything which is likely to happen.
(21:07):
He answered that no matter what the result of the
war might be, China would in all probability have to
make certain concessions to the powers with regard to Manchuria
for trade purposes, but that we should not otherwise be
interfered with. Her Majesty repeated what had been discussed at
the previous audiences on this subject and also regarding reform
(21:30):
in China. Don Jujong replied that we had plenty of
time for reform, and that if we were into a
greater hurvey, we should not accomplish anything at all. He
suggested that the matter be discussed at length before deciding
upon anything definite. In his opinion, it would be foolish
(21:50):
to go to extremes in the matter of reform. He
said that ten or fifteen years ago he would have
been very much against any reform whatsoever, but that he
now saw the need for it to a certain extent,
as circumstances had changed very much. He said that we
should adhere strictly to our own mode of living and
(22:11):
not abandon the traditions of our ancestors. In other words,
he simply advised the adoption of Western civilization, where it
was an improvement on our own and nothing more. Her
Majesty was delighted with the interview, for John J. Dun's
opinions coincided exactly with her own. During the whole of
(22:34):
these audiences, the Emperor, although present each time, never opened
his lips to say a word, but sat listening all
the time. As a rule, Her Majesty would ask his
opinion just as a matter of form, but he invariably
replied that he was quite in accord with what her
Majesty had said or decided upon. Of the many religious
(22:57):
ceremonies in connection with the Buddhist religion, the Lapatcha was
the most important. This was held on the eighth day
of the twelfth moon each year. According to the common belief,
on this eighth day of the twelfth moon, many centuries ago,
a certain Buddhist priest Rulae set out to beg for food,
and after receiving a good supply of rice and beans
(23:20):
from the people, he returned and divided it with his
brother priest, giving each an equal share, and he became
celebrated for his great charity. This day was therefore set
apart as an anniversary to commemorate the event. The idea
was that by practicing self denial on this day one
would gain favor in the sight of this Buddha roulee. Therefore,
(23:44):
the only food eaten was rice, grain, and beans, all
mixed together in a sort of porridge, but without any
salt or other flavoring. It was not at all pleasant
to eat, being absolutely tasteless. End of Chapter seventeen, read
(24:04):
by J. C. Guan, Montreal, February two thousand nine,
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