 Part A of Chapter 13 of Two Years in the Forbidden City. After staying a little while at the temple, we returned to the palace, and the ladies said good-bye and took chairs to the palace gate, where their own chairs were waiting for them. I then went to report to Her Majesty in the usual way what had been said by the visitors, whether they had expressed themselves as being placed with the reception they had received. Her Majesty said, I like Mrs. Evans. I think she is a very good woman. It seems to me that her manners are quite different from those of the other American ladies whom I have met. I like to meet people who are polite. Then, referring to the subject of the portrait, Her Majesty said, I wonder why Mrs. Conjure has this idea. Now please explain to me what painting a portrait really is. When I explained that it would be necessary for her to sit for several hours each day, she was excited, and afraid she would never have the patience to see it through. She asked me what she must do during the sitting. So I explained that she would simply have to pose for the portrait, sitting in one position all the time. She said, I shall be an old woman by the time the portrait is finished. I told her that I had had my own portrait painted during my stay in Paris. By the same artist Mrs. Conjure had proposed should paint her own portrait, Mrs. Carle. She immediately told me to fetch the portrait of myself so that she could examine it and see what it was like. So I gave the order right away to a eunuch who was standing by to go to my house and bring it. Her Majesty said, I do not understand why I must sit for the portrait. Couldn't someone else do it for me? I explained to her that as it was her own portrait and not that of somebody else, they wished to paint it would be necessary for her to sit herself. She then inquired whether it would be necessary for her to wear the same dress at each sitting. Also the same jewels and ornaments. I replied that it would be necessary to do so on each occasion. Her Majesty then explained that in China it was only necessary for an artist to see his subject once, after which he could start right away and finish the portrait in a very short time and thought that a really first class foreign artist should be able to do the same. Of course I explained the difference between foreign portrait painting and Chinese and told her that when she had seen it she would see the difference and understand the reason for so many sittings. She said, I wonder what kind of a person this lady artist is. Does she speak Chinese? I said that I knew Miss Carl very well and that she was a very nice lady, but that she didn't speak Chinese. She said, If her brother has been in the customs service for so long, how is it that she doesn't speak Chinese also? I told her that Miss Carl had been away from China for a long time, that in fact she had only been in China for a very short time altogether, most of her work being in Europe and America. Her Majesty said, I am glad she doesn't understand Chinese. The only objection about this portrait painting is that I have to have a foreigner at the palace all the time. With my own people gossiping they might tell her things which I don't want anyone to know. I told her that would be impossible as Miss Carl did not understand Chinese at all. Neither did any of the people at court understand English, with the exception of ourselves, my mother, sister, and myself. Her Majesty answered, You must not rely too much on that, as after spending a short time at the court they will soon learn to understand each other. Continuing, she said, By the way, how long will it take before this portrait is finished? I told her that it depended entirely upon how often she sat and how long each time. I didn't like to tell her exactly how long it would take as I was afraid she might consider it too much bother. So I said that when the artist arrived, I would tell her to get along and finish the portrait as quickly as possible. Her Majesty said, I don't see how I can very well refuse Mrs. Conjure's request. Of course I told her, as you know, that I would have to consult with my ministers just to give me time to think the matter over. If you know all about this artist lady and think she is quite all right to come here to the palace, of course she may come, and I will tell Prince Qing to reply to Mrs. Conjure to that effect. First of all, we must talk over what we are going to do, for to have a foreign lady staying in the palace is out of the question altogether. As a rule, I always spend the summer at my summer palace, and it is so far from the city that I don't think she will be able to go to and from the palace every day, on account of the distance. Now, where can we put her? Someone will have to watch her all the time. This is such a difficult matter that I hardly know what to decide upon. How would you like to look after her? Do you think you could manage it in such a way that no one at the palace will have a chance to talk with her during the daytime, but who is going to stay and watch her during the night? Her Majesty walked up and down the rim, thinking it over for quite a while. Finally she smiled and said, I have it. We can treat her as a prisoner without her knowing it, but it will all depend on your mother, your sister, and yourself to act for me in this matter. Each of you will have to play your part very carefully, and mine also. I will give orders to have the palace garden of Prince Zhong, the Emperor Guangxu's father, fixed up for Miss Carl during her stay here. This palace garden is quite close to Her Majesty's own palace, about ten minutes drive. It is not in the palace ground, but is quite a separate palace outside the summer palace. Continuing, Her Majesty said, Now you will have to come with her every morning, and return to stay with her every night. I think this is the safest way out of the difficulty, but be careful with regard to all correspondence which she may either receive or send away. The only thing about it is that it will give you a lot of extra work, but you know how particular I am over things of this kind, and it will save a lot of trouble in the end. There is another thing you will have to be very careful about, and that is to watch that Miss Carl has no chance to talk with the Emperor. The reason why I say this is because, as you know, the Emperor is of a shy disposition, and might say something which would offend her. I will appoint four extra eunuchs to be in attendance during the settings for the portrait, so that they will be on hand in case anything is wanted. Her Majesty then said, I noticed that Mrs. Conner was watching you when you pulled my sleeve. I wonder what she thought of it. You needn't care anyway. Let her think anything she likes. I understood what you meant if Mrs. Conner didn't, and that is all that is necessary. I told her that perhaps Mrs. Conner thought I wanted to advise her to refuse this request. But Her Majesty said, What does that matter? If it hadn't been that you knew the artist yourself, I would not have consented in any case. It is not the painting of the portrait that I mined, but it might give rise to serious results. The next morning I received a letter from Mrs. Conner, begging me not to prejudice her Majesty against Miss Carl in any way. I translated this to her Majesty, and it made her furious. She said, No one has any right to write to you in such a way. How dare she suggest that you would say anything against Miss Carl? Didn't I tell you she was watching you when you pulled my sleeve? When you replied to that letter, tell her whatever you like, but answer in the same way she writes herself. Or, better still, you write and inform her that it is not customary for any court lady to try and influence Her Majesty in this country, and that, in addition, you are not so mean as to say anything against anybody. If you don't like to say that, just say that, as Miss Carl is a personal friend of yours, you certainly would never think of saying anything against her. Laura replied to Mrs. Conner's letter in the ordinary way, making it as formal as possible. Her Majesty then talked of nothing but the portrait during the whole of that afternoon. By and by she said, I hope that Mrs. Conner will not send a missionary lady with Miss Carl to keep her company during her stay at the palace. If she does, I will certainly refuse to sit. The next morning the eunuch arrived with my portrait, and everyone at the court had a good look at it before I took it to show Her Majesty. Some of them were of the opinion that it was very much like me, while others thought the painting a very poor one. When I informed Her Majesty of the arrival of the portrait, she ordered that it should be brought into her bedroom immediately. She scrutinized it very carefully for a while, even touching the painting in her curiosity. Finally she burst out laughing and said, What a funny painting this is. It looks as though it has been painted with oil. Of course it was an oil painting. Such rough work I never saw in all my life. The picture itself is marvelously like you, and I do not hesitate to say that none of our Chinese painters could sketch the expression which appears in this picture. What a funny dress you are wearing in this picture. Why are your arms and neck all bare? I have heard that foreign ladies wear their dresses without sleeves and without collars, but I had no idea that it was so bad and ugly as the dress you are wearing here. I cannot imagine how you could do it. I should have thought you would have been ashamed to expose yourself in that matter. Don't wear any more such dresses, please. It has quite shocked me. What a funny kind of civilisation is this, to be sure? Is this dress only worn on certain occasions, or is it worn any time, even when gentlemen are present? I explained to her that it was the usual evening dress for ladies, and was worn at dinners, bowls, receptions, etc. Her Majesty laughed, and exclaimed, This is getting worse and worse. Everything seems to go backwards in foreign countries. Here we don't even expose our wrists when in the company of gentlemen. But foreigners seem to have quite different ideas on the subject. The emperor is always talking about reform, but if this is a sample, we had much better remain as we are. Tell me, have you yet changed your opinion with regard to foreign customs? Don't you think that our own customs are much nicer? Of course, I was obliged to say yes, seeing that herself was so prejudiced. She again examined the portrait, and said, Why is it that one side of your face is painted white, and the other black? This is not natural. Your face is not black. Half of your neck is painted black, too. How is it? I explained that it was simply the shading, and was painted exactly as the artist saw me from the position in which she was sitting. Her Majesty then inquired, Do you think that this artist's lady will paint my picture to look black also? It is going to America, and I don't want the people over there to imagine that half of my face is white and half black. I didn't like to tell her to choose, that her portrait would in all probability be painted the same as mine. So I promised Her Majesty that I would tell the artist exactly how she wished to be painted. She then asked me if I knew when the artist proposed commencing the portrait. I told her that the artist was still in Shanghai, but that Mrs. Conjure had already written to her to come up to Beijing to make the necessary preparations. One week later I received a letter from Miss Carl informing me that she proposed coming up to Beijing at once, and that she would be delighted if Her Majesty would allow her to paint this portrait. I translated the letter to Her Majesty, who said, I am very glad that you know this lady personally. It will make it much easier for me. You know there may be some things which I may want to tell Miss Carl, but which I don't want Mrs. Conjure to know. I mean that there might be certain things which I shall have to say to Miss Carl, which if Mrs. Conjure heard of them would give her the impression that I was very difficult to please. You understand what I mean. As this lady is a friend of yours, you will of course be able to tell her things in such a manner as not to offend her, and I may tell you again that if it were not that she is a personal friend of your own, I would not have her here at all, as it is quite contrary to our custom. On the third day of the second fifth moon, Prince Qing informed Her Majesty that the artist had arrived at Beijing and was staying with Mrs. Conjure and wished to know Her Majesty's pleasure in regard to commencing the portrait. Now I must explain that the Chinese year varies as to the number of moons it contains. For example, one year contains the ordinary twelve months or moons. The following year may contain thirteen moons. Then the two years following that may contain twelve moons only, and thirteen moons the next year, and so on. At the time of the proposed visit of the artist, the Chinese year contained thirteen moons. There being only two-fifths moons in that year. When Prince Qing asked Her Majesty to name the day on which Miss Carl should commence her work, she replied, I will give her my answer tomorrow. I must first consult my book, as I don't want to start this portrait on any unlucky day. So the next day, after her usual morning audience, Her Majesty consulted this book for quite a time. Finally she said to me, According to my book, the next lucky day will not occur for another ten days or so, and handed me the book to look myself. Eventually she picked out the twentieth day of the second fifth moon as the most lucky day for beginning the work. Next day she had to consult the book again in order to fix the exact hour, finally fixing it on seven o'clock in the evening. I was very much worried when she told me that, as by that time it would be quite dark, so I explained to Her Majesty as nicely as I could that it would be impossible for Miss Carl to work at that hour of the day. Her Majesty replied, Well, we have electric light here. Surely that would be sufficient light for her. Then I had to explain that it would not be possible to get such good results by means of artificial light as if it were painted during the daytime. You see, I was anxious to get her to change the hour as I was sure that Miss Carl would refuse to paint by means of electric light. Her Majesty replied, What a bother! I can't paint pictures myself in any kind of light, and she ought to be able to do the same. After much discussion it was finally settled that ten o'clock on the morning of the twentieth day of the second fifth moon should be the time for Miss Carl to commence to paint this portrait, and I can assure you that I felt very much relieved when it was all settled. When the eunuch brought in my portrait, he also brought in several photographs which I had taken during my stay in Paris. But I decided not to show them to Her Majesty in case she should decide to have a photograph taken instead of having this portrait painted, as it would be much quicker and save her the trouble of sitting each day. However, as Her Majesty was passing on the veranda in front of my bedroom the next morning, she stepped into my room just to have a look around, and as she put it, to see whether I kept everything clean and in good order. This was the first time she had visited me in my own room, and I was naturally very much embarrassed, as she very rarely visited the rooms of her court-ladies. I could not keep her standing, and I could not ask her to sit down in any of my own chairs, as it is the Chinese custom that the emperor and empress should only sit down in their own special chairs, which are usually carried by an attendant wherever they go. I therefore was on the point of giving an order for her own stool to be brought in when Her Majesty stopped me and said that she would sit on one of the chairs in the room, and so bring me good luck. So she sat down in an easy chair. A eunuch brought in her tea, which I handed to her myself instead of letting the eunuch wait upon her. This, of course, was court etiquette, and was also a sign of respect. After she had finished her tea, she got up and went around the room, examining everything, opening up all my bureau drawers and boxes in order to see whether I kept my things in proper order. Happening to glance into one corner of the room, she exclaimed, What are those pictures on the table over there? and walked across to examine them. As soon as she picked them up, she exclaimed in much surprise, Why, they are all photographs of yourself and are very much better than the picture you had painted. They are more like you. Why didn't you show me them to me before? I hardly knew what to answer. And when she saw that I was very much embarrassed by her question, she immediately started talking about something else. She often acted in this manner when she saw that any of us were not quite prepared for any of her questions. But she would be sure to reopen the subject at some future time when we were expected to give a direct answer. After examining the photographs for some time, which, by the way, were all taken in European dress, her majesty said, Now these are good photographs, much better than the portrait you had painted. Still, I have given my promise, and I suppose I shall have to keep it. However, if I do have my photograph taken, it will not interfere at all with the painting of the portrait. The only trouble is I cannot ask an ordinary professional photographer to the palace. It would hardly be the thing. My mother, thereupon exclaimed to her majesty that if she desired to have her photograph taken, one of my brothers, who had studied photography for some considerable time, would be able to do all that was necessary. I would like to explain that I had two brothers at court at that time who held appointments under the Empress Dowager. One was in charge of all the electrical installation at the summer palace, and the other her private steam launch. It was the custom for all the sons of the mantra officials to hold certain physicians at the court for two or three years. They were perfectly free to walk about the grounds of the palace, and saw her majesty daily. Her majesty was always very kind to these young men, and chatted with them in quite a motherly way. These young fellows had to come to the palace each morning very early, but as no man was allowed to stay all night in the palace, they of course had to leave when they had finished their duties for the day. When her majesty heard what my mother said, she was very much surprised and asked why she had never been told that my brother was learned in photography. My mother replied that she had no idea that her majesty wished to have a photograph taken, and had not dared to suggest such a thing herself. Her majesty laughed, and said, you may suggest anything you like as I want to try anything that is new to me, especially as outsiders can know nothing about it. She gave orders to send for my brother at once. On his arrival, her majesty said to him, I hear that you are a photographer. I am going to give you something to do. My brother was kneeling, as was the custom of the court, whilst her majesty was addressing him. Everybody, with the exception of the court ladies, had to kneel when she was speaking to them. Even the emperor himself was no exception to this role. Of course, the court ladies, being constantly in attendance, were allowed not to kneel, as her majesty was talking to us all the time, and it was her orders that we should not do so, as it would be wasting a lot of time. Her majesty asked my brother when he would be able to come and take her photograph, and what kind of weather was necessary. My brother said that he would go back to Beijing that night to fetch his camera, and that he could take the photograph at any time she desired, as the weather would not affect the work. So her majesty decided to have her photograph taken the next morning. She said, I want to have one taken first of all in my chair, when going to the audience, and you can take some others afterwards. She also asked my brother how long she would have to sit, and was surprised to learn that only a few seconds would suffice. Next she inquired how long it would be before it was finished, so that she could see it. My brother answered that if it were taken in the morning it could be finished late in the same afternoon. Her majesty said that was delightful, and expressed a wish to watch him do the work. She told my brother that he might select any room in the palace to work in, and ordered a eunuch to make the necessary preparations. The next day was a beautiful day, and at eight o'clock my brother was waiting in the courtyard with several cameras. Her majesty went to the courtyard and examined each of them. She said, how funny it is that you can take a person's picture with a thing like that. After the method of taking the photograph had been fully explained to her, she commanded one of the eunuchs to stand in front of the camera, so that she might look through the focusing glass to see what it was like. Her majesty exclaimed, Why is it your head is upside down? Are you standing on your feet? So he explained, when the photo was taken it would not look that way. She was delighted with the result of her observations, and said that it was marvellous. Finally she told me to go and stand there as she wanted to have a look at me through this glass also. She then exchanged places with me, and desired that I should look through the glass and see if I could figure out what she was doing. She waved her hand in front of the camera, and on my telling her of it, she was pleased. She then entered her chair and ordered the bearers to proceed. My brother took another photograph of her majesty in the procession as she passed the camera. After she had passed the camera, she turned and asked my brother, Did you take a picture? And on my brother answering that he had, her majesty said, Why didn't you tell me? I was looking too serious. Next time when you're going to take one, let me know so that I may try and look pleasant. I knew that her majesty was very much pleased. While we were at the back of the screen during the audience, I noticed that she seemed anxious to get it over in order to have some more photographs taken. It only took about twenty minutes to get that particular audience over, which was very rare. After the people had gone, we came from behind the screen, and her majesty said, Let us go and have some more pictures taken while the weather is fine. So she walked the courtyard of the audience hall, where my brother had the camera already, and had another photograph taken. She said that she would like to have some taken sitting on her throne, exactly as though she were holding an audience. It took us only a few minutes to have everything prepared in the courtyard. The screen was placed behind the throne, and her footstool was also placed ready for her, and she ordered one of the court ladies to go and bring several gowns for her to select from. At the same time, I went and brought some of her favorite jewellery. She ordered the two gowns which she had worn at the audiences when she received Admiral Evans and Mrs. Evans to be brought in, and also the same jewels as she had worn on these two respective occasions. She had two photographs taken in these costumes, one in each dress. Next she wanted one taken in a plain gown without any embroidery. She then ordered my brother to go and finish the pictures which had already been taken, as she was anxious to see what they were like. She said to my brother, You wait a minute. I want to go with you and see how you work on them. Of course, I had not considered necessary to explain to Her Majesty the process of developing the pictures, the dark room, etc., so I explained to her as well as I could the whole thing. Her Majesty replied, It doesn't matter. I want to go and see the room no matter what kind of room it is. So we all adjourned to the dark room in order to see my brother work on the photographs. We placed a chair so that Her Majesty could sit down. She said to my brother, You must forget that I am here, and go along with your work just as usual. She walked for a while, and was very pleased when she saw that the plates were developing so quickly. My brother held up the plate to the red light to enable her to see more distinctly. Her Majesty said, It is not very clear. I can say that it is myself all right, but why is it that my face and hands are dark? We explained to her that when the picture was printed on paper, these dark spots would show white, and the white parts would be dark. She said, Well, one is never too old to learn. This is something really new to me. I am not sorry that I suggested having my photograph taken, and only hope that I shall like the portrait painting as well. She said to my brother, Don't finish these photographs until after I have had my afternoon rest. I want to see you do it. When she got up at about half past three, it did not take her long to dress herself, as was her usual custom, and she went immediately to where my brother had the papers and everything prepared. He then showed Her Majesty how the printing was done. There was plenty of light, as it was summertime, and as it was only four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was still high. Her Majesty watched for two hours while my brother was printing, and was delighted to see each picture come out quite plainly. She held the first one in her hands so long while examining the others that when she came to look at it again, she found that it had turned quite black. She could not understand this at all, and exclaimed, Why has this gone black? Is it bad luck? We explained to her that it must be washed after printing, otherwise a strong light could cause the picture to fade, as this one had done. She said, How very interesting, and what a lot of work there is. After the printing process had been finished, my brother placed the pictures in a chemical bath, as usual, finally washing them in clean water. This caused Her Majesty even more surprise when she saw how clear the pictures came out, and caused her to exclaim, How extraordinary! Everything is quite true to life. When they were finally completed, she took the whole of them to her own room, and sat down on her little throne, and gazed at them for a long time. She even took her mirrors in order to compare her reflection with the photographs just taken. All this time my brother was standing in the courtyard awaiting Her Majesty's further commands. Suddenly, she recollected this fact, and said, Why, I had forgotten all about your brother. The poor fellow must be still standing waiting to know what I want You go and tell him. No, I had better go and speak to him myself. He has worked so hard all the day that I want to say something to make him feel happy. She ordered my brother to print ten copies of each of the photographs, and to leave all his cameras at the palace in order that he could proceed with the work the next day. The following ten days it rained continually, which made Her Majesty very impatient, as it was impossible to take any more photographs until the weather improved. Her Majesty wanted to have some taken in the throne room, but this room was too dark, the upper windows being pasted over with thick paper, only the lower windows allowing the light to enter. My brother tried several times, but failed to get a good picture. During this rainy period, the court was moved to the sea palace, as the Emperor was to sacrifice at the Temple of Earth. This was a yearly ceremony, and was carried out on similar lines to all other annual ceremonies. On account of the rain, Her Majesty ordered that boats should be brought alongside the west shore of the summer palace. On entering the boat, Her Majesty, accompanied by the court, proceeded to the western gate of the city, and on arrival at the last bridge, this embarked. Chairs were awaiting us, and we rode to the gate of the sea palace. There we again entered the boat and proceeded across the lake, a distance of about a mile. While crossing the lake, Her Majesty noticed a lot of lotus plants which were in full bloom. She said, We are going to stay at least three days here. I hope the weather will be fine, as I should like to have some photographs taken in the open boats on the lake. I also have another good idea, and that is, I want to have one taken as Guan Yin, Goddess of Mercy. The two chief eunuchs will be dressed as attendants. The necessary gowns were made some time ago, and I occasionally put them on. Whenever I have been angry or worried over anything, by dressing up as the Goddess of Mercy, it helps me to calm myself, and so play the part I represent. I can assure you that it does help me a great deal, as it makes me remember that I am looked upon as being all merciful. By having a photograph taken of myself dressed in this costume, I shall be able to see myself as I ought to be at all times. When we arrived at the private palace, the rain ceased. We walked to her bedroom, although the ground was still in bad condition. One of Her Majesty's specularities was the desire to go out in the rain and walk about. She would not even use an umbrella unless it was raining very heavily. The eunuchs always carried out umbrellas, but if Her Majesty did not use her umbrella, of course we could not very well use ours. The same thing applied in everything. If Her Majesty wanted to walk, we had to walk also, and if she decided to ride in her chair, we had to get into our own chairs and ride as well. The only exception to this rule was when Her Majesty, being tired of walking, ordered her stool to rest on. We were not allowed to sit in her presence, but had to stand at all time. Her Majesty liked the sea palace better than her palace in the Forbidden City. It was far prettier and had the effect of making her good tampered. Her Majesty ordered us to retire early that day, as we were all very tired after the trip, and said that in the event of its being fine the next day she would have the proposed photographs taken. However, much to Her Majesty's disappointment, it rained incessantly for the next three days, so it was decided to stay a few days longer. On the last day of our stay it cleared up sufficiently to enable the photographs to be taken, after which we all returned to the Summer Palace. The day after our arrival at the Summer Palace, Her Majesty said that we had better prepare everything for the audience to receive the Lady Artist, Miss Carl. She told the Chief Eunuch to issue orders to all the other Eunuchs not to speak to Miss Carl, but simply be polite as occasion required. We, court ladies, received similar orders. Also that we were not to address Her Majesty while Miss Carl was present. The Emperor received several instructions. Her Majesty gave orders to have the gardens of Prince Trong's palace ready. She then said to us, I trust you three to look after this Lady Artist. I have already given orders for food to be supplied by the Waewu Poo. The only thing that I have been worried about is that I have no foreign food here for Miss Carl. She ordered us to have our stove taken over to Prince Trong's palace in case Miss Carl decided something cooked. She said, I know it will be very hard for you to take her to the palace each morning and return with her at night, besides having to watch her all day long, but I know you do not mind. You are all doing this for me. After a while she smiled and said, How selfish of me! I order you to bring all your things to this place, but what is your father going to do? The best thing will be to ask your father to come and live in the same place. The country heir might benefit him. We co-toed and thanked Her Majesty, as this was a special favor. No official nor anyone else having been allowed to live in Prince Trong's palace previously. We all were very pleased. I could now see my father every day. He did too. We had only been able to see him about once a month, and then only by asking special leave. The next day Her Majesty sent us to Prince Qing's palace to make all necessary arrangements for Miss Carl's stay. This palace of Prince Trong's was a magnificent place. All the smaller dwellings were quite separate from each other, not in one large building, as was the custom. There was a small lake in the grounds, and lovely little paths to walk along, exactly like the Empress Dowager's summer palace, but of course, on a much smaller scale. We selected one of these small dwellings, or summer houses, for the use of Miss Carl during her stay, and had it fitted up nicely to make her as comfortable as possible. We ourselves were to occupy the next house to Miss Carl in order that we might always be on hand, and at the same time, keep a good eye on her. We returned to the summer palace the same evening and told Her Majesty just how everything had been arranged. She said, I want you all to be very careful not to let this lady know that you are watching her. She seemed very anxious about this, repeating these instructions for several days prior to Miss Carl's arrival. I felt very much relieved when the day before the audience arrived, and everything was finally fixed to Her Majesty's satisfaction. She ordered us to retire early that evening, as she wanted to rest and look well the next morning. When morning came, we hurried over everything, even the usual morning audience, so that we could be ready when Miss Carl arrived. While I was standing behind the screen, as usual, a eunuch came and told me that Mrs. Conjure, the artist, and another lady had arrived, and that they were now in the waiting room. By that time, the audience was about finished. The chief eunuch came in and told Her Majesty that the foreign ladies had arrived and were waiting in another room. Her Majesty said to us, I think I will go to the courtyard and meet them there. Of course, at all private audiences, Her Majesty received the people in the throne room. But, as Miss Carl was more of a guest, she did not think it necessary to go through the usual formal reception. While we were descending the steps, we saw the ladies entering the gate of the courtyard. I pointed out Miss Carl to Her Majesty, and noticed that she awed Miss Carl very keenly. When we arrived in the courtyard, Mrs. Conjure came forward and greeted Her Majesty, and then presented Miss Carl. Her Majesty's first impression of Miss Carl was a good one, as Miss Carl was smiling very pleasantly. And Her Majesty, who always liked to see a pleasant smile, exclaimed to me in an undertone, she seems to be a very pleasant person. To which I replied that I was very glad she thought so, as I was very anxious about the impression Miss Carl would make on Her Majesty. Her Majesty watched Miss Carl and myself as we greeted each other, and I could see that she was satisfied. She told me afterwards that she had noticed Miss Carl appeared very glad to see me again, and said, We will handle her pretty easily, I think. Her Majesty then went to her own private palace, and we all followed. On our arrival Miss Carl told me that she had brought her own canvas. This was a piece about six feet by four feet. I had told Miss Carl a little previously that Her Majesty refused to sit for a very small portrait, and that she would like a life-size one. When Her Majesty saw the canvas, she appeared to be very much disappointed, as in her opinion even that was not large enough. We placed the tables ready for Miss Carl, and Her Majesty asked her to choose the position in which she wished to paint. I knew that Miss Carl would have great difficulty in choosing a good position, on account of the windows being built so low, there being very little light except low down near the ground. However Miss Carl finally placed the canvas near the door of the room. Her Majesty told Mrs. Conjure and the rest to sit down for a while, as she wanted to change into another gown. I followed her into her bedroom. The first question Her Majesty asked was how old I thought Miss Carl was, as she herself could not guess her age, her hair being extremely light, in fact almost white. I could hardly refrain from laughing outright on hearing this, and told Her Majesty that Miss Carl's hair was naturally of a light color. Her Majesty said that she had often seen ladies with golden hair, but never one with white hair, excepting old ladies. She said, I think that she is very nice, however, and hope she will paint a good portrait. Turning to one of the court ladies, she ordered her to fetch a yellow gown, as although, as she put it, she did not like yellow, she thought it would be the best color for a portrait. She selected one from a number which the court lady brought, embroidered all over with purple wisteria. Her shoes and handkerchiefs matched. She also wore a blue silk scarf, embroidered with the character's show, Long Life. Each character had a pearl in the center. She wore a pair of jade bracelets, and also jade nail protectors. In addition, she wore jade butterflies and a tassel on one side of her headdress, and as usual, fresh flowers on the other side. Her Majesty certainly did look beautiful on that occasion. By the time she came out from her room, Miss Carl had everything prepared. When she saw how Her Majesty was dressed, she exclaimed, How beautiful Her Majesty looks in this dress! Which remark I interpreted to Her Majesty, and it pleased her very much. She seated herself in her throne, ready to pose for the picture. She just sat down in an ordinary easy position, placing one hand on a cushion. Miss Carl exclaimed, This is an excellent physician, as it is so natural. Please do not move. I told Her Majesty what Miss Carl said, and she asked me whether she looked all right, or not. If not, she would change her position. I assured her that she looked very grand in that position. However, she asked the opinion of the young emperors, and some of the court ladies, who all agreed that she could not look better. I could see that they never looked at Her Majesty at all. They were too much interested in what Miss Carl was doing. When Miss Carl commenced to make the rough sketch of Her Majesty, everyone watched with open mouth, as they had never seen anything done so easily, and so naturally. The young emperors whispered to me, Oh, do I don't know anything about portrait painting? Still, I can say that she is a good artist. She has never seen any of our clothes and headdresses, and she has copied them exactly. Just imagine one of our Chinese artists trying to paint a foreign lady. What a mess he would make of it. After the sketch was finished, Her Majesty was delighted and thought it was wonderful for Miss Carl to have made it so quickly, and so accurately. I explained that this was a rough sketch, and that when Miss Carl commenced painting, she would soon see the difference. Her Majesty told me to ask Miss Carl whether she was tired and would like to rest. Also, to tell her that she was very busy all the day, and would only be able to give her a few minutes sitting each day. We then took Miss Carl to luncheon, together with Mrs. Conjure, and after luncheon, we accompanied Her Majesty to the seerder. After Mrs. Conjure had departed, I took Miss Carl to my room to rest. As soon as we arrived there, Her Majesty sent a eunuch to call me to her bedroom. Her Majesty said, I don't want this lady to paint during my afternoon rest. She can rest at the same time. As soon as I am up, you can bring her here to paint. I'm glad that it looks like turning out better than I had anticipated. I therefore told Miss Carl Her Majesty's wishes in this respect, and that she could paint for a little while if she chose to, after Her Majesty had had her rest. Miss Carl was so interested in Her Majesty, she told me she didn't want to rest at all, but that she would like to go on with the painting right away. Of course, I did not like to tell her anything the first day, as it might upset her, and did not say that this was a command from Her Majesty. After a lot of manoeuvring, I got her to give up the idea of continuing straight off without offending her. I took her out on the veranda as the eunuch was preparing the table for Her Majesty's dinner in the room and chappying. The young Empress kept Miss Carl busy talking, I acting as interpreter. Soon one of the eunuchs came and informed us that Her Majesty had finished dinner, and would we please come and take hours. On entering the room I was very much surprised to see that chairs had been placed there, as this had never been done previously. Everybody with the exception of Her Majesty the young Empress was also very much surprised, and asked me whether I knew anything about it. I said that perhaps it was an account of Miss Carl being there. The young Empress told me to go over and ask Her Majesty, as she was afraid to sit down without receiving orders to do so. Her Majesty whispered to me, I don't want Miss Carl to think we are barbarians and treat the young Empress ladies in that manner. Of course she does not understand our court etiquette, and might form a wrong impression. So you can all sit down without coming over to thank me. But be natural, as though you were accustomed to sitting down to dinner every day. After Her Majesty had washed her hands she came over to our table. Of course we all stood up. Her Majesty told me to ask Miss Carl whether she liked the food, and was pleased when Miss Carl answered that she liked the food better than her own kind. That relieved Her Majesty. After dinner was over I told Miss Carl to say good-bye to Her Majesty. We curbs it to her, also to the young Empress, and set good night to the court ladies. We then took Miss Carl to the palace of Princeton. It took us about ten minutes' ride in the carts. We showed Miss Carl her bedroom and were pleased to leave her and get to our own rooms for a good night's rest. The next morning we took Miss Carl to the palace and arrived there during the morning audience. Of course Miss Carl, being a foreigner, could not enter the throne room. So we sat down on the back veranda of the audience hall, and waited until it was over. This, of course, prevented my being in attendance each morning, as usual, and was a great disappointment to me, as I was unable to keep in touch with what was taking place. Moreover, during the time I had been at court, my one object had been to endeavour to interest Her Majesty in western customs and civilisation. I believed that, to a great extent, Her Majesty was becoming interested in these things, and would refer the subjects of our conversation to her ministers, for their opinions. For instance, I had shown her photographs taken of a naval review at which I was present in France. Her Majesty seemed to be impressed and said that she would certainly like to be able to make a similar display in China. This matter she consulted with her ministers, but they gave the usual evasive answer viz. There is plenty of time for that. From this you will see that Her Majesty was not able to introduce reforms entirely alone, even though she might desire to do so, but had to consult the ministers, who would always agree with Her Majesty, but would suggest that the matter be put off for a time. My experience, while at the palace, was that everybody seemed to be afraid to suggest anything new, for fear they might get themselves into trouble. When Her Majesty came out from the audience hall, Miss went up to her and kissed Her Majesty's hand, which caused her great surprise, although she did not show it at the time. Afterwards, however, when we were alone, she asked me why Miss Carl had done this, as it was not a Chinese custom. She naturally thought that it must be a foreign custom and therefore said nothing about it. Her Majesty then proceeded on foot to her own palace to change her dress for the portrait. It was a beautiful morning and when she had posed for about ten minutes she told me that she felt too tired to proceed and asked if it would be all right to ask Miss Carl to postpone it. I explained that as Miss Carl was going to be at the palace for some time, the postponement of one day's setting would not make much difference at that time although I knew that Miss Carl would naturally be disappointed. Still, I had to humor Her Majesty as much as possible otherwise she might have thrown up the whole thing. Miss Carl said that if Her Majesty wished to go rest, she would be working painting the screen and thrown and Her Majesty could pose again later on if she felt like it. This pleased Her Majesty and she said that she would try to sit again after taking her afternoon's rest. Her Majesty ordered me to give Miss Carl her lunch in my own room at twelve o'clock each day my mother, my sister and myself keeping her company. Dinner at the palace was usually taken about six o'clock and it was arranged that Miss Carl should take dinner with the young emperors and the court ladies at that hour after Her Majesty had finished dining. Her Majesty also ordered that champagne or any other wine which Miss Carl preferred should be served. As she said, she knew it was the custom for all foreign ladies to take wine with their meals. Where she got hold of this idea nobody knew. I was sure that Her Majesty had been misinformed by somebody but it would have been bad policy to have tried to tell her difference at the moment. She disliked very much to be told that she was wrong in any of these things and was done by waiting and casually introducing the subject at some other time. After Miss Carl had gone to rest during the afternoon Her Majesty sent for me and asked the usual question Viz, what had Miss Carl been saying, etc., etc. She seemed particularly anxious to know what Miss Carl thought of her and when I told her that Miss Carl had said that she was very beautiful looking she said Oh well, of course Miss Carl would say that to you. However, on my assuring her that Miss Carl had given this opinion without being asked for she showed very plainly that she was not at all displeased with the compliment. Suddenly Her Majesty said I have been thinking that if Miss Carl can paint the screen and the throne, surely she ought to be able to paint my clothes without it being necessary for me to pose all the time. I told her that would be quite impossible as nobody could hold the things for Miss Carl to get the proper effect. To my surprise she answered well, that is easily gotten over you wear them in my place I hardly knew what to say but thought I would get out of the difficulty by telling her that perhaps Miss Carl would not like such an arrangement Her Majesty however could see no possible objection on Miss Carl's part as she herself could pose when the time came for painting her face so I put the matter as nicely as possible to Miss Carl and it was finally arranged that I should dress in Her Majesty's robes and jewels whenever Her Majesty felt too tired to do the posing herself In this manner the portrait of the Empress Dowager was painted and with the exception of just a few hours to enable Miss Carl to get Her Majesty's facial expression I had to sit for two hours each morning and for another two hours each afternoon until the portrait was finished End of Part B of Chapter 13 Read by J. C. Guan Montreal, January 2009 Chapter 14 of two years in the Forbidden City My father's four months leave having expired he was received in audience by their Majesties on the first day of the 6th moon He was much improved in health but his rheumatism was still very troublesome This was particularly noticeable when the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager came to see the Empress Dowager and said to him that the Empress Dowager was particularly noticeable when climbing the steps to the audience hall and Her Majesty ordered two of the eunuchs to assist him First he thanked Her Majesty for her kindness towards my sister and myself and as was the custom took off his hat and knelt down bowing his head until it struck the ground This ceremony was always gone through by any official who had received special favors from their Majesties He then replaced his hat on his head and remained kneeling before the throne Her Majesty then questioned him about his life in Paris from time to time complimenting him on his work seeing that remaining in this kneeling position appeared to be making him tired Her Majesty ordered one of the eunuchs to bring a cushion for him to use which was another great honor as this cushion was only used by the President of the Grand Council Her Majesty told him that as he was now getting to be a very old man she did not intend sending him away from China again as she wanted to keep my sister and myself at the court which she could not do if she sent him to some foreign country as he would want to take his daughters with him She said she was pleased that as she had been away from China for such a long time we were well acquainted with the Manchu Customs My father replied that it had been his care that we should be brought up according to the customs of our own country Her Majesty then asked the Emperor if he had anything to say and he replied by asking my father if he spoke French and thought it very strange on learning that he did not have time to study it besides which he considered himself too old to learn a foreign language The Emperor next asked what was the feeling in France towards China My father replied that they were very friendly at that time but that immediately after the boxer trouble the post of minister had been a very embarrassing one Her Majesty said that it had been an unfortunate affair but she was glad that everything was factually She told my father that he was to get well again as quickly as possible and the audience came to an end Afterwards Her Majesty said that my father was looking very old since his return from France and that he would have to be careful and take things easy until he got stronger again She was pleased that he had shown appreciation of her interest in my sister and myself Preparations were now commenced for celebrating the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor Guangxu which was to take place on the 28th of that month The actual date of the Emperor's birthday was the 26th of the 6th moon but this day being the anniversary of the death of a previous Emperor of China we were unable to hold any festivities and so it was always celebrated on the 28th day instead The official celebration lasted for 7 days 3 days before and 4 days after the actual date During that time the whole of the court dressed in official robes and no business of any kind whatever was attended to This being the Emperor's 32nd birthday and as the full celebrations only took place every 10th year i.e. on his 20th birthday his 30th birthday and so on the festivities were not carried out on a very grand scale however it was quite sufficient to interfere with all business and the usual morning audiences did not take place during these 7 days The Empress Dowager herself was the only person who did not dress especially during these celebrations and who did not take any active part in the festivities Another reason why the celebrations were not carried out on a very large scale was the fact that the Empress Dowager being alive she took precedence according to the Manchu custom over the Emperor himself in fact she was the actual ruler of the country the Emperor being 2nd The Emperor was quite aware of this fact and when the Empress commanded that preparations be commenced for the celebrations the Emperor would always suggest necessary to celebrate the occasion unless it happened to be a 10th year and would very reluctantly agree to the festivities taking place Of course this was more out of politeness on the part of the Emperor and to conform to the recognized etiquette but the nation recognized this birthday and naturally celebrated according to the usual custom During this period therefore the painting of the portrait was postponed When the morning of the 25th arrived the Emperor dressed himself in his official robe yellow gown embroidered with gold dragons and coat of a reddish black color Of course being the Emperor in place of the usual button on the hat he wore a large pearl I might mention that the Emperor was the only person who could wear this particular pearl in place of a button It was usual to wish her Majesty Ji Xiang and then proceeded to the temple to worship before the ancestral tablets After this ceremony was over he returned to the Empress Dowager and co-towed to her All the Chinese adopted this rule of co-towing to their parents on their own birthdays as a sign of reverence and respect The Emperor next proceeded to the audience hall where all the ministers were assembled and received their salutations and congratulations This ceremony often caused amusement for to see several hundred people all bobbing their heads up and down especially when they did not all managed to do it together was a very funny sight Even the Emperor himself had to laugh it was such an extraordinary spectacle The musical instruments which were used during the ceremony deserve a little description The principal instrument is made of hard wood and has a flat bottom about three feet in diameter with a dome shaped top raised about three feet from the ground The inside is quite hollow A long pole made of the same material is used as a drumstick and an official, specially appointed beats with all his might on the drum The noise can be better imagined This is used as a signal to announce when the Emperor takes his seat upon the throne In addition to the above a full-sized model of a tiger also made of similar hard wood and having 24 scales on its back is brought into the courtyard In this case they did not beat the instrument but scraped along its back over the scales which emitted a noise similar to the letting off simultaneously of the innumerable crackers The noise was kept up during the whole of the ceremony and what with the drum and this tiger instrument it was sufficient to defend one During the ceremony an official crier used to call out the different orders such as Huantunil, Bao, Stand Up, Koto etc. etc But with the noise it was quite impossible to hear a single word Another instrument was composed of a frame made of wood about 8 feet high by 3 feet broad Across this frame were 3 wooden bars from which was suspended 12 bells made out of pure gold When these were struck with a wooden stick the sound was not at all unlike the dulcimer only of course very much louder This was placed on the right side of the audience hall on the left side a similar instrument was placed with the exception that the bells were carved out of white jade The music which could be brought out of the instrument was very sweet When this ceremony of receiving the ministers was concluded the emperor proceeded to his private palace where the young empress, his wife the secondary wife and all the court ladies were gathered and after kotoing all of the court ladies present led by the young empress knelt before him and presented him with a ruyi This is a kind of sceptre Some are made out of pure jade while others are made out of wood inlaid with jade This ruyi is a symbol of good luck and was supposed to bring happiness and prosperity to the person to whom it was presented The ceremony was gone through to the accompaniment of music played on string instrument which was very sweet Next the eunuchs were received by the emperor and they similarly congratulated him but without the accompaniment of music After the eunuchs came the servants girls and the whole of the ceremony was over The emperor next proceeded to her majesty's palace where he knelt before her majesty and thanked her for the celebration which had been given in his honor after which her majesty accompanied by the whole court went to the theater to see the play On arrival at the theater we were all presented by her majesty with sweets meets this being the custom on these occasions and after a little while her majesty retired for her afternoon rest Thus the celebration ended Two days after the celebration the 7th moon commenced The 7th day of the 7th moon was the occasion of another important anniversary The two stars Niu Lang, Capricorn, and Chi Nu Lyra are supposed to be the patrons of agriculture and weaving and according to a tradition were at one time man and wife As the result of a quarrel however they were doomed to live apart being separated from each other by the Milky Way But on the 7th day of the 7th moon of each year they are allowed to see each other and the magpies are supposed to build a bridge to enable them to meet The ceremony is rather peculiar Several basins full of water were placed so that the sun's rays will fall upon them Her majesty then took several tiny needles and dropped one into each basin These floated on the water casting a shadow across the bottom of the basins These shadows took different forms according to the position of the needle and if the shadow took certain prescribed forms the person throwing in the needle was supposed to be very lucky and clever While if they represented certain other forms they were despised by the gods as being ignorant In addition Her majesty burned incense to the two gods referred to This was always a sad moon for her majesty It's being the anniversary of the death of her husband the emperor Xianfeng who died on the 17th of that month The 15th of the 7th moon each year is the day of the festival for the dead and early in the morning the court moved to the sea palace in order to sacrifice The Chinese hold that when a person dies his soul still remains on the earth and on these anniversaries they burn imitation money The belief being that the soul of the departed one will benefit to the extent of the amount of money so represented On the anniversary above referred to Her majesty sent for hundreds of Buddhist priests to pray for those unfortunate people who had died without leaving anyone for them On the evening of this day Her majesty and all her court ladies set out in open boats on the lake where imitation lotus flowers were arranged as lanterns with a candle placed in the center which formed a sort of floating light The idea being to give light to the spirits of those who had departed during the year as to enable them to come and receive the blessings which had been prepared for them Her majesty ordered us to light the candles and place the flowers on the water ourselves as she said it would be appreciated by the spirits of the dead Some of the eunuchs had told her majesty that they had actually seen some of these spirits which assertion was thoroughly believed Although she had never seen them herself she accounted for this by the fact that she was of too high rank and the spirits were afraid of her but she ordered all the rest of us to keep a sharp look out and tell her if we saw anything Of course we didn't see anything but many of the court ladies were so frightened that they closed their eyes for fear they might see something supernatural Her majesty was devoted to the late emperor Xianfeng and she was very sad and morose during this period We all had to be very carefully indeed not to upset her in any way as she would find fault on the slightest provocation She hardly had a word to say to any of us and cried almost incessantly I could hardly understand the reason for such grief seeing that the emperor had died so many years previously None of the court ladies were allowed to dress in light colored gowns during the whole of the seventh moon We all dressed either in dark blue or pale blue while her majesty herself dressed in black every day without exception Even her handkerchiefs were black The theaters which were usually opened on the first and fifteenth of each month were closed during the seventh moon There was no music and everything was conducted in the most solemn manner In fact the whole court was in deep mourning On the morning of the seventeenth day of the seventh moon Her majesty visited the late emperor's tablet and knelt there crying for quite a while In order to show respect for the late emperor none of us were allowed to eat meat for three days This being my first year at the palace it appeared to me very strange after the customary gaiting and noise Of course I felt very sorry for her majesty I could say as it was a genuine display of grief and was not in any way put on As I was her favorite at that time she kept me close to her side during this sad period The young emperor said to me one day Her majesty is very much attached to you and I think you had better stay with her for the time being This I did and was so miserable myself that when her majesty commenced crying when she saw that I was crying Her majesty would immediately stop and ask me not to cry She would tell me that I was too young to cry and that in any case I did not know what real sorrow was as yet During the conversation we had at that time she would tell me quite a lot about herself On one occasion she said You know I have had a very hard life as a young girl I was not a bit happy when with my parents as I was not the favorite My sisters had everything they wanted while I was to a great extent ignored altogether When I first came to the court a lot of the people were jealous of me because I was considered to be a beautiful woman at that time I must save myself that I was a clever one for I thought my own battles When I arrived at the court the late emperor became very much attached to me and would hardly glance at any of the other ladies Fortunately I was lucky in giving birth to a son as it made me the emperor's undisputed favorite But after that I had very bad luck During the last year of his reign the emperor was seized with his sudden illness In addition to this the foreign soldiers burnt down the palace at Yuanmingyuan so we fled to Ruhe Of course everybody knows what took place at that time I was still a young woman with a dying husband and a young son The East emperor's dowager's nephew was a bad man who coveted the throne which he had no right to in any event as he was not of royal blood I would not wish anyone to experience what I myself passed through at that time I was in that dying condition being practically unconscious of what was taking place around him I took my son to his bedside and asked him what was going to be done about his successor to the throne He made no reply to this but as has always been the case in emergencies I was equal to the occasion and I said to him here is your son unhearing which he immediately opened his eyes and said of course he will succeed to the throne I naturally felt relieved when this was settled once and for all these words were practically the last he spoke for he died immediately afterwards although it is now so many years ago I can see him now in that dying condition just as though it all happened only yesterday I thought that I could be happy with my son as the emperor Tongzhi but unfortunately I was twenty years of age since that time I have been a changed woman as all happiness was over as far as I was concerned when he died I had also quite a lot of trouble with the East Empress Dowager and found it very difficult to keep on good terms with her however she died five years after the death of my son in addition to all this when the emperor Guangxu was brought to me as a baby three years old he was a very sickly child and could hardly walk he was so thin and weak his parents seemed to be afraid of giving him anything to eat you know his father was Prince Zhong and his mother was my sister so of course he was almost the same as my own son in fact I adopted him as such even now after all my trouble on his account he is not in perfect health you know I have had plenty of other troubles beside these but it is useless to mention them now I am disappointed with everything as nothing has turned out as I had expected with this remark Her Majesty commenced crying afresh continuing she said people seem to think that's just because I am the Empress Dowager that I am bound to be happy but what I have just told you is not all I have gone through much more than that if ever anything went wrong I was always the one who was blamed the censors even there to impeach me once in a while however I am philosopher enough to take things for what they are worth otherwise I would have been in my own grave long, long ago just imagine how small minded these people are amongst other things they objected to my transferring my court to the summer palace during the hot weather although I could do no harm by being there even in the short time you have spent at court you can see that I am unable to decide anything alone while whenever they want anything they consult with each other and then present their petition to me which unless it is something of a very serious nature I never think of refusing after the time set apart for mourning had expired we all went back to the summer palace Ms. Carl recommends her work on Her Majesty's portrait Her Majesty apparently soon got tired of this portrait painting for one day she asked me when I thought it would be finished she was afraid that it would not be finished by the time the cold weather came on when we always removed the court to the forbidden city and she said it would be a lot of trouble and inconvenience to have to continue the portraits there I told Her Majesty that it could easily be arranged and that she need not worry herself after I had been posing in Her Majesty's place for several days Her Majesty asked me whether Ms. Carl had said anything about it and if she did I was to inform her that it was a command from Her Majesty and that I did not make any further suggestion in that respect so we had no further trouble with Ms. Carl after that I had however quite a lot of trouble with Eunice who in spite of Her Majesty's instructions were anything but polite to Ms. Carl of course Ms. Carl herself did not know this I tried to make them behave better by threatening to tell Her Majesty about them which had a good effect for a while but they were soon as bad as ever at the commencement of the 8th moon Her Majesty always attended to the transplanting of her chrysanthemums which was one of her favourite flowers so each day she would take us with her to the west side of the lake and assisted by us would cut the tops of the young plants and set them in flower pots I was very much surprised at this as there were no roots only the stems of the flowers but Her Majesty assured me that they would soon grow into very pretty plants every day we went over to water these flowers until they began to bud in case it rained heavily Her Majesty would order some of the eunuchs to go over and cover up these chrysanthemum plants with mats so that they would not be broken it was characteristic of Her Majesty that no matter what other business she had to attend to her flowers had her first consideration and she would if necessary even go without her usual rest in order to superintend them personally she also spent quite a time in looking after her orchard where she had planted apple trees pear trees etc another thing which I began to notice was that when the spring and summer days had passed she got quite irritable and sad while in the winter she was simply unbearable she loathed cold weather one night during the age moon Her Majesty was taken slightly ill and complained of suffering from severe headaches this was the only time I ever saw Her Majesty actually sick she however got up as usual in the morning and held audience but was unable to take her luncheon and very soon had to retire to her bed several doctors were summoned each of whom took her pulse this was quite a ceremony in itself the doctors knelt at the bedside and Her Majesty stretched forth her arm resting her hand upon a small pillow which was provided for that purpose after this each doctor wrote out his prescription all of which were different from each other we handed them to Her Majesty who chose the one which she thought was the nicest to take and two attendants and the doctor himself had to take a dose in her presence before she would touch it then she would take it all right during this time it rained a great deal and was very hot the climate at this time of the year is very damp which causes the flies to make their appearance in millions if there was one thing more than another that Her Majesty detested it was these flies during the actual summer they were not so troublesome as at this particular time of course every precaution was taken to keep them away a eunuch being posted at each door provided with a sort of switch made of horse hair fastened at the end of a bamboo pole we were never troubled by mosquitoes however in fact I never saw a mosquito curtain in the palace during the whole of my stay there these flies were an abomination in spite of all that could be done a few would find their way into the rooms whenever they alighted on Her Majesty she would scream while if by any chance one were to alight on her food she would order the whole lot to be thrown away this would spoil her appetite for the whole day and put her into a terrible temper as well whenever she saw one anywhere near her she would order whoever happened to be present to go and catch it I myself often received this order but I detested them almost as much as Her Majesty did they were so dirty and stuck to one's hands whenever they touched them after her illness Her Majesty was indisposed more or less for quite a long time and doctors were constantly in attendance she took so many different kinds of medicine that instead of getting better she got worse and eventually contracted a fever Her Majesty was very much afraid of fevers of any kind and we had to stay with her all night and all day and had to take our meals whenever we could get away from her bedside for a few minutes another peculiarity was Her Majesty's aversion for any kind of perfume near her when she was sick while when she was feeling well she was simply smothered in it the same applied to fresh flowers in spite of her love for them under ordinary conditions when she was sick she could not bear them anywhere near her nerves became absolutely unstrung as she was unable to sleep during the day and consequently the time passed very slowly to her in order to make the time pass a little less tediously she gave instructions for one of the better educated eunuchs to read to her during the daytime this reading generally consisted of Chinese history poetry and all kinds of Chinese lore and while the eunuch was reading to her we had to stand by her bedside one of us being told off to massage her legs which seemed to suit her somewhat this same program was gone through every day until she was completely herself again some 10 days later one day Her Majesty asked me what kind of medicine does a foreign doctor usually give in case of a fever I have heard that they make you take all kinds of pills this must be very dangerous as you never know what they are made of here in China all medicines are made from roots and I can always find out whether I am receiving the right medicine as I have a book which explains what each different medicine is for another thing I have heard is that foreign doctors generally operate on you with a knife while we cure the same sickness by means of our medicine li li and yin told me that one of our little eunuchs had a boil on his wrist and someone advised him to go to the hospital of course they didn't know what they would do and the foreign doctors there opened the boil with a knife which frightened the child very much I was very much surprised when I heard he was all right again in a couple of days I was wondering Her Majesty said a year ago one of the foreign ladies came to the palace and hearing me cough a lot gave me some black pills and told me to swallow them I did not like to offend her so I took the pills and told her I would take them by and by however I was afraid to take them and throw them away of course I answered but she had seen me take foreign medicines whenever I was not feeling well she then said of course I know there are people in Beijing who do take the medicines given them by foreign doctors and even some of my own relatives patronize these foreigners also they try not to let me know but I do know for all that in any case if they choose to kill themselves by taking these pills it is none of my business if they are sick I never send my own doctors to attend them when Her Majesty had completely recovered from her illness she used to go out on the lake a great deal sometimes in an open boat and adds other times in a steam launch she always appeared to enjoy this kind of thing for some reason or other she always insisted on taking the west side of the lake which was very shallow and invariably the launch was much faster than the mud which seemed to afford Her Majesty great enjoyment she simply loved to feel the launch strike the bottom the open boat would then come alongside and we would have to get out of the launch and enter the boat and proceed to the top of the nearest hill to watch the efforts of the eunuchs trying to reflow to the launch it was a characteristic of Her Majesty to experience a keen sense of enjoyment in the course of the course of other people the eunuchs knew this quite well and whenever opportunity offered they would do something which they thought would amuse Her Majesty so long as it was nothing of a serious nature Her Majesty would always overlook it but in case it proved serious or was carelessness she would always order them to be severely punished thus it was very hard to tell just what to do in order to please her another of Her Majesty's peculiarities was inquisitiveness for example as I have stated before it was the custom for Her Majesty to have sweet-meats brought to her before every meal and after she had finished with them the remainder were distributed among the court ladies whenever it happened that we were very busy we did not bother with the sweet-meats at all and Her Majesty very soon found out one day after she had finished dining she came and looked through the window to see what we were doing and saw some of the eunuchs eating the sweet-meats which she had given us she did not say anything but simply ordered that the sweet-meats should be brought back again making us believe that she wanted some more herself I knew that there was something wrong as she never ordered them back before when she saw what was left of them she asked who had been eating so many as they were nearly all finished but she got no reply we were all too scared however after thinking it over I came to the conclusion that it would be best to tell her the truth for I was quite certain that she knew anyhow so I told her that we had all been very busy and had forgotten all about the sweet-meats and that the eunuchs had come and taken them themselves and I added that this was not the first time they had done so I was rather glad that she had given me this opportunity to report the eunuchs for Her Majesty replied that if she intended the eunuchs to have sweet-meats she herself would give them some but thought it a lack of appreciation on our part not eating them ourselves after she had been so kind for us she turned to me and said I'm glad that you have told me the truth as I saw myself what was happening she gave orders that the eunuchs should each have three months wages deducted as a punishment but of course I knew very well they didn't mind that as they were making many times the amount of their salary in other ways on my return to the sitting-room one of the court-lady said they should not have told Her Majesty about the eunuchs they are sure to revenge themselves in some way I asked how they could possibly injure me in any way as they were only servants but she told me that they would find some underhand way in which to get even with me this being their general custom of course I knew the eunuchs were a bad lot but could not say what cause they had to be against me in any way and I knew they dare not say anything against me to Her Majesty so I forgot all about the matter I found out afterwards that one of the tricks they used to play on any of the court-ladies who offended them was to try and prejudice Her Majesty against us for instance if Her Majesty told one of the eunuchs that a certain thing should be done instead of telling me what Her Majesty wanted the eunuch would go off to one of the other ladies in this way Her Majesty would get the impression that I was too lazy to wait upon her myself and of course the other lady would get all the credit although Her Majesty was very kind to me also the young emperors it was very hard to get along with the eunuchs and it was not good policy to offend them in any way they regarded themselves as being exclusively the servants of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager and refused to take instructions from anybody else consequently they were often very rude to the other ladies of the court not even accepting the young Empress everything proceeded as usual until the 8th moon when the Emperor was to sacrifice at the Temple of the Sun on this occasion the Emperor wore a red robe about this time Mrs. Conger asked for a private audience as she wanted to see Her Majesty and at the same time see how the portrait was progressing Her Majesty replied that she would receive her and gave orders accordingly at this private audience Mrs. Conger brought into the court two of her relatives to be presented to Her Majesty besides Miss Campbell and a missionary lady as it was a private audience they were conducted to Her Majesty's private palace they were received in the hall which was being used as studio for this lady artist although Her Majesty was quite out of patience with the portrait painting and talked to us a great deal about it yet when she saw Mrs. Conger and the others she was extremely polite and told them that the portrait was going to be a masterpiece she was in an unusually good humour and told me to give orders to the eunuchs to open all the buildings and show them to her guests Her Majesty led the way from one room to another and showed them her curious in the different rooms until she came to rest in one of the bedrooms when she ordered chairs to be brought in for the guests there were many chairs in this room but they were really small thrones of Her Majesty's although they looked like any ordinary chairs the custom is that no matter what kind of a chair it may be as soon as she uses it it is at once called her throne and no one is allowed to sit on it thereafter unless the order is given by her during the time the eunuchs were bringing in the chairs kept purposely for foreigners to use one of the ladies of the party made a mistake and sat upon one of Her Majesty's thrones I noticed her at once and before I had a chance to warn her Her Majesty made a sign of annoyance to me I went to this lady at once and told her I wanted to show her something and naturally she was obliged to get up the trouble was this although Her Majesty felt that no one had the right to sit upon her throne she expected me to get this lady off the chair and at the same time why? while I was busy interpreting for her she said in an undertone there she is again sitting on my bed we had better leave this room after this the ladies were conducted to the refreshment room and when they had partaken of lunch bade Her Majesty goodbye leaving Miss Carl with us as usual we reported to her that we had seen the guests safely off she said to me this was a funny lady first she sat upon my throne and then upon my bed perhaps she does not know what a throne is when she sees one and yet foreigners laugh at us I am sure that our manners are far superior to theirs another thing did you notice that Mrs. Conjure landed a parcel to Miss Carl out in the courtyard when she came in I replied that I had noticed her passing something like a parcel but could not tell what the parcel contained she there upon told me to go and ask Miss Carl what it was at that time I had received so many peculiar orders from Her Majesty that I was beginning to get accustomed to them and used my own discretion in carrying out her instructions therefore I did not ask Miss Carl but set about finding out for myself however when I began to look around for the parcel it had mysteriously disappeared and I could not find the thing anywhere this naturally worried me knowing as I did that Her Majesty liked her instructions carried out quickly while I was searching one of the eunuchs came in and told me that Her Majesty wanted to see me and of course I had to go to her before she could say anything to me I informed Her Majesty that I had not been able to ask Miss Carl about the parcel as she was asleep but would do so immediately after she got up Her Majesty said I don't want Miss Carl to think I have told you to ask what the parcel contains otherwise she might think I am suspicious of what is going on so you must manage to get the information somehow without mentioning the matter you are clever enough to do that much shortly afterwards while I was walking along with Miss Carl to Her Majesty's palace to proceed with the portrait I noticed that she was carrying the parcel in question which was a great relief to me I can assure you on arrival at the palace Miss Carl said to me you need not trouble to pose at present as it is rather dark and I can be painting the throne you can look through this magazine if you like to pass the time away so I opened up the parcel which proved to contain nothing more than an ordinary American monthly magazine after glancing through the book I made an excuse to hurry away and inform Her Majesty however she had already gone out for her usual trip on the lake so I took my chair and followed when I reached the lake Her Majesty, who had seen me sent a small boat and I was rowed out to the launch before I could get a chance to speak Her Majesty said with a smile I know all about it it was a book and Miss Carl handed it to you to read I was very much disappointed that I had had my journey for nothing I knew that the eunuchs would report it to Her Majesty at the first opportunity but I hardly expected they would have done so already Her Majesty was now quite satisfied and simply asked whether Miss Carl suspected that she had inquired about the matter as I was about to return to Miss Carl Her Majesty called me and said there is one thing I want to tell you and that is whenever any foreign ladies are visiting the palace always keep close to the emperor so that in the event of their speaking to him you can interpret I answered that so far whenever any foreigners were present I was present also thinking that anybody had held any conversation with the emperor whatsoever she explained that her reason for mentioning this was that she wanted me to be just as courteous to the emperor as I was to herself and I was to place myself entirely at his disposal whenever visitors were present of course I knew very well that this was not the true reason at all but that she wanted to take every precaution the possibility of foreigners influencing the emperor in matters of reform etc End of Chapter 14 Read by J. C. Guan Montreal, January 2009