 forward of two years in the Forbidden City this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by JC Guan two years in the Forbidden City by Princess De Ling forward the author of the following narrative has peculiar qualifications for her task she is a daughter of Lord Yu Kong a member of the Manchu White Banner Corps and one of the most advanced and progressive Chinese officials of his generation Lord Yu Kong entered the army when very young and served in the typing rebellion and the Formosan War with France and as vice-minister of war during the China Japan War in 1895 later he was minister to Japan which post he quitted in 1898 to become a president of the Zhongli Yamen Chinese Foreign Office in 1899 he was appointed minister to France where he remained for years at a period when the Chinese government was extremely conservative and reactionary Lord Yu Kong labored indefinitely for reform he was instrumental in reorganizing China's postal service on more than lines but failed in efforts to revise the revenue system and modernize the army and Navy from being ahead of his times he died in 1905 the progressive spirit of Lord Yu Kong was shown in the education of his children when it became known that his daughters were receiving a foreign education then and almost unheard of proceeding among high Manchu officials attempts were made to impeach him as pro-foreign and revolutionary but he was not deterred his children got their early education in missionary schools and the daughters later attended a convent in France where the author of this work finished her schooling and entered society on returning to China she became first lady-in-waiting to the Empress Dowager and while serving at the court in that capacity she received the impressions which provide the subject matter of this book her opportunity to observe and estimate the characteristics of the remarkable woman who rolled China for so long was unique and her narrative throws a new light on one of the most extraordinary personalities of modern times while only from her duties to attend upon her father who was fatally ill in Shanghai Princess Duoling took a step which terminated connection with the Chinese court this was her engagement to Mr. Thaddeus C. White an American to whom she was married on May 21st 1907 yielding to the urgent solicitation of friends she consented to put some of her experiences into literary form and the following chronicle in which the most famous of Chinese women the customs and atmosphere of her court are portrayed by an intimate of the same race is a result and a foreword chapter one of two years in the Forbidden City this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by J. C. Guan two years in the Forbidden City by Princess Duoling chapter one introductory my father and mother Lord and Lady Yukeng and family together with our street consisting of the first secretary second secretary naval and military attaches chancellors their families servants etc. all together 55 people arrived in Shanghai on January 2nd 1903 on the SS Annam from Paris where for four years my father had been Chinese minister our arrival was anything but pleasant as the rain came down in torrents and we had the greatest difficulty getting our numerous retinue landed and safely housed not to mention the tons of baggage that had to be looked after we had found from previous experience that none of our legation people or servants could be depended upon to do anything when traveling in consequence of which the entire charge the wealth upon my mother who was without doubt the genius of the party in arranging matters and straightening out difficulties when the launch from the steamer arrived at the jetty of the French we were met by the Shanghai Daotai the highest official in the city the Shanghai Magistrate and numerous other officials all dressed in their official robes the Daotai told my father that he had prepared the Tianhou Gong Temple of the Queen of Heaven for us to reside in during our stay in Shanghai but my father refused the offer saying that he had telegraphed from Hong Kong and made all arrangements to go to the Hotel des Colonies in the French concession we had had previous experience staying in this temple while on our way to Japan where my father went as minister in 1895 and did not care to try it a second time the building is very old and very much out of repair it was a beautiful place in its prime but had been allowed to go to rack and ruin the custom is that the magistrate has to find a place and supply the food etc for high officials when passing through and it is not exactly the thing to refuse their kind offer but my father was always very independent and politely declined all proffers of assistance at last we did safely arrive in the Hotel des Colonies where my father found awaiting him two telegrams from the Imperial Palace these telegrams ordered my father to go to Beijing at once but as the river to Tianjin was frozen it was out of the question for us to go by that route and as my father was very old and quite ill at that time in fact constantly under the doctors care the only accessible way via Qin Wang Tao was equally out of the question as it was a long and most tedious journey and quite beyond his strength in view of all these difficulties he telegraphed that after the ice had broken up in the Baihe river he would come by the first steamer leaving Shanghai for Tianjin we left Shanghai on the 22nd of February and arrived at Tianjin on the 26th and that's before we're met by the custom style tie of the port and numerous other officials the same as when we arrived at Shanghai there is a very curious custom of reverence which must be performed by all high officials on their return from abroad immediately upon landing on the shores of China arrangements are made with the nearest Viceroy or Governor to receive their obedience to Qin Song An to worship the Emperor of Peace a Tao Tai being considered to lower rank for such an honor as soon as we arrived Yuan Shikai who was then Viceroy of Zhili Province at Tianjin sent an official to my father to prepare the time and place for dysfunction which is an extremely pretty one when arrangements had been made both my father and Yuan Shikai dressed in their full ceremonial robes which is the dragon long robe with the reddish black three-quarter length coat over it Chaozhu amber beads hat with peacock feather and red coral button and repaired at once to the Wan Shoukong ten thousand years palace which is especially built for functions of this kind where they were met by a large number of officials of the lower grades at the back center of this temple or palace stands a very long narrow table on which are placed the tablets of the Emperor an Empress Dowager on which is written Wan Sui Wan Sui Wan Wan Sui ten thousand years time ten thousand years time ten thousand ten thousand years the Viceroy or in this case Yuan Shikai and the other officials arrived first Yuan stood at the left side of this table and the others arranged themselves in two diminishing lines starting from the front corners of the table soon afterward my father came and knelt directly in front of the center of the table and said ah ah Qing Sheng An your servant gives you greeting after this ceremony was over my father immediately arose and inquired after the Majesty's and Yuan replied that they were quite well this close to the function we stayed in Tianjin for three days arriving in Beijing on the 29th my father's condition was much worse and he begged for four months leave of absence in which to recuperate which was granted by her Majesty the Empress Dowager as our beautiful mansion which we had built and furnished just before leaving for Paris was burned during the boxer rising of 1900 in telling a loss of over tells a hundred thousand we rented and moved into a Chinese house our old house was not entirely new when we bought the place there was a very fun but old Chinese house the palace of a duke standing on the ground and by some clever rearrangement and building on it was transformed into a beautiful foreign style house with all the fine hardwood carving of the old house worked into it by using the words foreign style it is meant that in so far as the Chinese house could be made to look like a foreign house without tearing it down entirely it was changed that is the doors and windows passageways furnishings etc were foreign but the arrangements of the house itself and courtyard was Chinese this like all Chinese houses in Beijing was built in a very rambling fashion and with the gardens covered about 10 acres of ground we had just finished furnishing it and moved in only four days when we left for Paris and it has always been a great sorrow for my family that we should lose this magnificent place after having spent so much time and money in building and beautifying it however this is only one of the many trials that a high official in China is called upon to bear the houses in Beijing are built in a very rambling fashion covering a large amount of ground and our former house was no exception to this role it had 16 small houses one story high containing about 175 rooms arranged in quadrencles facing the courtyard which went to make up the whole and so placed that without having to actually go out of doors you could go from one to the other by verandas built along the front and enclosed in glass my reader will wonder what possible views we could make of all these rooms but what with our large family numerous secretaries Chinese writers messengers servants mafu's coachmen and chair-coolies it was not a difficult task to use them the garden surrounding the houses were arranged in the Chinese way with small lakes stocked with goldfish and in which the beautiful lotus flower grew crossed by bridges large weeping wells along the banks and many different varieties of flowers in prettily arranged flower beds running along winding paths which weren't in and out between the lakes at the time we left for Paris in the month of june 1899 the gardens were a solid mass of flowers and foliage and much admired by all who saw them as we now had no place of our own in Beijing we did not know where to go so while we were at Tianjin my father telegraphed to one of his friends to find him a house after some little trouble one was secured and it turned out to be a very famous place indeed it was the house where Li Hongzhang signed the treaties with the foreign powers after the boxer rising and also where he died we were the first people to live there since the death of Li Hongzhang as the Chinese people were very superstitious and were afraid that if they want there to live something dreadful would happen to them we soon made ourselves very comfortable and while we lived there none of the dreadful things happened to us that all our good friends told us would be visited upon us if we dared to take this place however in view of our having lost our place by fire i am inclined to think that their fears were well founded the loss sustained by having this house burned we never recovered as my father being an official of the government it would have been very bad form to have tried to recover this money besides a possible loss of standing as government officials are supposed to never to consider themselves or families in the service of their country and any private losses in the service must be borne without complaint on the first of march 1903 prince jing and his son prince zai zhen came to see us and told us that her majesty wished to see my mother my sister and myself at once that we should be at the summer palace one shoushan at six o'clock the following morning my mother told prince jing that we had been wearing foreign clothes all these years while abroad and had no suitable manchu clothes to wear he replied that he had told her majesty all about house and also mentioned that he had seen us in european attire and she had said that it would not be necessary for us to wear manchu costume to go to the palace that she would be glad to have us wear foreign clothes as it would give her an opportunity to study the foreign way of dressing both my sister and myself had a very difficult time deciding what we should wear for this occasion she wished to wear her pale blue velvet gown and she thought that color suited her the best my mother had always made us dress exactly alike ever since we were little girls i said that i preferred to wear my red velvet gown as i had the idea it might please her majesty after a long discussion i had my way we had lovely red hats trimmed with plumes and the same color shoes and stockings to match my mother wore a lovely gown of c green chiffon clothes embroidered with pale mauve iris and trimmed with mauve velvet she wore her large black velvet hat with long white plumes as we lived in the central part of the city and the only means of travel was by sedan chair and the distance from our house to the palace was about 36 chinese li a three hour ride note li is one third mile or half a kilometer and note we had to start at three o'clock in the morning in order to be there at six as this was our first visit to the palace prince ching's message drew us into a great state of excitement and we were naturally anxious to look our best and to be there on time it had been the dream of my life to go to the palace and see what it was like and up to this time i had never had an opportunity as most of my life had been spent out of Beijing in fact out of china another reason why this chance had never come before was that my father had never registered our names my sister and myself in the government book for the registration of births of manchu children in consequence of which the empress dowager did not know until we came back from paris that lord yukong had any daughters my father told me the reason why he did not put our names in this book was that he wished to give us the best education obtainable and the only way he could do it was not let the empress dowager know besides this according to the manchu custom the daughters of all manchu officials of the second rank and above after reaching the age of 14 years should go to the palace in order that the emperor may select them for secondary wives if he so desires and my father had other plans and ambitions for us it was in this way that the late empress dowager was selected by the emperor Xianfeng we started at three o'clock that morning in total darkness riding in four coulis sedan chairs one on each side of the chair in going such a long distance it was necessary to have two relays of chair coulis this meant 24 coulis for the three chairs not counting an extra coulis for each chair who acted as a sort of headchair bearer besides this there were three military officers on horses one for each chair and two servants riding at the back of each chair in addition there were three big chinese carts following behind for the chair coulis to ride in and rest this made a cavalcade consisting of 45 men nine horses and three carts i had a rather nervous feeling riding along in the chair surrounded by inky blackness with nothing to relieve the stiffness of the night but the rough voices of the chairbearers calling back and forth to each other to be careful of stones and holes in the road which was very uneven and the clump clump of the horses to my readers who have never had the experience of riding along distance in a sedan chair i would say that it is a most uncomfortable convenience as you have to sit perfectly still and absolutely straight otherwise the chair is liable to upset this ride was a very long one and i felt quite stiff and tired by the time i reached the palace gates end of chapter one read by jc guan january 2009 chapter two of two years in the forbidden city this labor box recording is in the public domain recording by jc guan two years in the forbidden city by princess duoling chapter two adds into palace when we reached the city gates which were about halfway between our house and the summer palace they were wide open for us to pass this quite surprised us as all gates are closed at seven o'clock in the evening and are not opened except on special occasions until daylight we inquired of the guard why this was and were told that orders had been given for the gates to be opened for us to pass the officials who had charged were standing in the double line dressed in full official dress and saluted us as we passed it was still quite dark when we had passed through the gate and i thought of the many experiences of my short life but this was by far the strangest of them all i wondered what her majesty would be like and whether she would like me or not we were told that probably we would be asked to stay at the court and i thought that if that came to pass i would possibly be able to influence her majesty in favor of reform and so be of valuable assistance to china these thoughts made me feel happy and i made up my mind then and there that i would do all i could and use any influence i might have in the future towards the advancement of china and for her welfare while i was still dreaming of these pleasant prospects a faint red light appeared on the horizon heralding the coming of a most perfect day and so it proved as the lights grew brighter and i could distinguish objects a very pretty view gradually opened to me and as we came nearer to the palace i could see a high red wall which zigzagged from hill to hill and then closed to palace grounds the tops of the wall and buildings were covered with yellow and green tiles and made a most dazzling picture in the bright sunlight pagodas of different sizes and styles were passed and when we arrived at the village of haitian about four li from the palace gates we were told by the officers we only had a short distance further to go this was good news as i began to think we would never get there this village was quite a pretty country place of one-story houses built of brick which were very neat and clean as are most of the houses in the northern part of china the children trooped out to see the procession pass and i heard one remark to another those ladies are going to the palace to become empresses which amused me very much soon after leaving haitian we came to a pailo archway a very beautiful piece of old chinese architecture and carved work and from here got our first view of the palace gates which were about a hundred yards ahead these gates are cut into the solid wall surrounding the palace and consist of one very large gate in the center and two smaller ones on each side the center gate is only opened when their majesties pass in and out of the palace our chairs were set down in front of the left gate which was open outside of these gates at a distance of about 500 yards were two buildings where the guards stayed at night just as we arrived i saw a number of officials talking excitedly and some of them went into the gate shouting laila taola have come have arrived when we got out of our chairs we were met by two eunuchs of the fourth rank crystal button and feather this feather which is worn by eunuchs of the fourth rank comes from a bird called the machi horsefowl which is found in situan province they are gray and are dyed black and are much wider than the peacock feather these two eunuchs were accompanied by 10 small eunuchs carrying yellow silk screens which they placed around our chairs when we alighted it appeared that her majesty had given orders that these screens should be brought to us this is considered a great honor they were 10 feet long and 20 feet high and were held by two eunuchs these two eunuchs of high rank were extremely polite and stood at each side of the gate and invited us to enter passing through this gate we came into a very large paved courtyard about 300 feet square in which there were a great many small flower beds and old pine trees from which hung all kinds of birds in cages on the side opposite to the gates we had entered was a red brick wall with three gates exactly like the others on the right and left side were long rows of low buildings each containing 12 rooms used as waiting rooms the courtyard was full of people dressed in official robes of the different ranks and after the chinese fashion all seemed to be very busy doing nothing when they saw us they stood still and stared the two eunuchs who were showing us the way conducted us to one of these rooms this room was about 20 feet square just ordinarily furnished in blackwood furniture with red cloth cushions and silk curtains hanging from the three windows we were not in this room more than five minutes when a gorgeously dressed eunuch came and said imperial edict says to invite you tai tai lady you and young ladies to wait in the east side palace on his saying this the two eunuchs who were with us knelt down and replied yes whenever her majesty gives an order it is considered an imperial edict or a command and all servants are required to kneel when any command is transmitted to them the same as they would if in her majesty's presence then they told us to follow them and we went through another life gate to another courtyard laid out exactly the same as the former except that the Ren Shou Dian audience hall is situated on the north side and the other buildings were a little larger the eunuchs showed us into the east side building which was beautifully furnished with reddish blackwood exquisitely carved the chairs and tables covered with blue satin and the walls hung with the same material in different parts of the room were 14 clocks of all sizes and shapes i know this for i counted them in a little while two servant girls came and waited on us and told us that her majesty was dressing and that we were to wait a little time this little time proved to be a matter of more than two hours and a half but as this is considered nothing in china we did not get impatient from time to time eunuchs came and brought milk to drink and about 20 or more dishes of various kinds of food which her majesty sent she also sent us each a gold ring with a large pearl in the center later the chief eunuch li liangying came dressed in his official clothes he was of the second rank and wore a red button and peacock feather and was the only eunuch that was ever allowed to wear the peacock feather he was a very ugly man very old and his face was full of wrinkles but he had beautiful manners and said that her majesty would receive us in a little while and brought us each a jade ring which she had sent us we were very much surprised that she should give us such beautiful presents before she had even seen us and felt most kindly disposed toward her for her generosity soon after liliangying had gone two court ladies daughters of prince qing came in and asked the eunuchs who were attending us if we could speak chinese which we thought a great joke i was the first one to speak and told them of course we could speak our own language although we knew several others they were very much surprised and said oh how funny they can talk the language as well as we do we in turn were very much surprised to find such ignorant people in the imperial palace and concluded that their opportunities for acquiring knowledge were very limited then they told us her majesty was waiting to receive us and we went immediately after walking through three courtyards very similar to those we had previously passed through we came to a magnificent building just one mass of exquisite carving large lanterns made of buffalo horns hung all over the veranda covered with red silk from which red silk tassels were hanging and from each of these tassels was suspended a beautiful piece of jade there were two smaller buildings flanking this large one also one mass of carvings and hung with lanterns at the door of the large building we met a lady dressed the same as prince qing's daughters with the exception that she had a phoenix in the center of her headdress which distinguished her from the others this lady came out to meet us smiling and shook hands with us in the most approved foreign fashion we were told that this was the young empress wife of the emperor kuangxu she said her majesty has sent me to meet you and was very sweet and polite and had beautiful manners but was not very pretty then we heard a loud voice from the hall saying tell them to come in at once we went into this hall immediately and saw an old lady dressed in a beautiful yellow satin gown embroidered all over with pink punies and wearing the same kind of headdress with flowers on each side made of pearls and jade a pearl tassel on the left side and a beautiful phoenix in the center made of purest jade over her gown she wore a cape the most magnificent and costly thing i ever saw this cape was made of about 3500 pearls the size of a canary bird's egg all exactly alike in color and perfectly round it was made on the fishnet pattern and had a fringe of jade pendants and was joined with two pure jade clasps in addition to this her majesty wore two pairs of pearl bracelets one pair of jade bracelets several jade rings and on her third and little fingers of her right hand she wore gold fingernail protectors about three inches long and on the left hand two fingernail protectors made of jade and about the same length her shoes were trimmed with small tassels made of pearls and embroidered with tiny pieces of different colored jade her majesty stood up when she saw us and shook hands with us she had the most fascinating smile and was very much surprised that we knew the court etiquette so well after she had greeted us she said to my mother yu tai tai lady yu you are a wonder the way you have brought your daughters up they speak chinese just as well as i do although i know they have been abroad for so many years and how is it that they have such beautiful manners their father was always very strict with them my mother replied he made them study their own language first and they had to study very hard i am pleased to hear their father has been so careful with them her majesty said and given them such a fine education she shook my hands and looked into my face and smiled and kissed me on both cheeks and said to my mother i wish to have your daughters and hope they will stay with me we were very much pleased at this and thanked her for her kindness her majesty asked us all sorts of questions about our parents gowns and said we must wear them all the time as she had very little chance to see them at the court she was particularly in love with our louis 15 high heel shoes while we were talking to her we saw a gentleman standing at a little distance and after a while she said let me introduce you to the emperor kuang xiu but you must call him one-year master of 10 000 years and call me lao zhu zhong the great ancestor his majesty shyly shook hands with us he was a man about five feet seven inches in height very thin but with very strong features high nose and forehead large brilliant black eyes strong mouth very white even teeth altogether good-looking i noticed he had a very sad look although he was smiling all the time we were there at this juncture the head yanook came knelt down on the marble floor and announced that her majesty's chair was ready and she asked us to go with her to the audience hall distant about two minutes walk where she was going to receive the heads of the different boards it was a beautiful day and her open chair was waiting this chair is carried by eight eunuchs all dressed in official robes a most unusual sight the head eunuch walked on her left side and the second eunuch on her right side each with a steadying hand on the chair pole four eunuchs of the fifth rank in front and 12 eunuchs of the sixth rank walked behind each eunuch carried something in his hand such as her majesty's clothes shoes handkerchiefs combs brushes powder boxes looking glasses of different sizes perfumes pins black and red ink yellow paper cigarettes water pipes and the last one carried her yellow satin covered stool besides this there were two amas old women servants and four servant girls all carrying something this procession was most interesting to see and made one sink it a lady's dressing room on legs the emperor walked on her majesty's right and the young empress on the left as did also the court ladies the audience hall was about 200 feet long but about 150 feet wide and at the left side was a long table covered with yellow satin when her majesty came down from the chair she went into the hall and mounted her throne just behind this table and his majesty mounted a smaller one at her left side the ministers all kneeling on the floor in front of her and on the opposite side of the table at the back of the hall was a large days about 20 feet long by about 18 feet wide enclosed by a magnificently carved railing about two feet high running all the way round open only in the front in two places just large enough for a person to pass through these two openings were reached by a flight of six steps at the back of these days was a small screen and immediately in front of this in the center was her majesty's throne immediately behind was an immense carved wood screen the most beautiful thing i ever saw 20 feet long by 10 feet high in front of her majesty's throne was a long narrow table at the left side was a smaller throne for the emperor the theme of the carving and furnishings of these days was the phoenix and a puny most exquisitely carved in ebony wood in fact the theme of the entire room was the same on each side of her majesty's throne were two upright ebony poles on the top of which were peepcock feathers made into the shape of a fan the upholstery was entirely of yellow chinese velvet just before her majesty took her seat on her throne she ordered us to go behind the screen with the young empress and the court ladies this we did and could hear the conversation between her majesty and the ministers very plainly and as my readers will see later i made good use of this end of chapter two read by jc guan january 2009 chapter three of two years in the forbidden city this library box recording is in the public domain recording by jc guan two years in the forbidden city by princess daling chapter three a play at the court this day to me was a medley of brilliant impressions it was a great novelty among these exclusive court ladies brought up rigidly apart from foreign life and customs and i was subjected to a rapid fire of questions i soon found out that these women were the same as others the world over in point of curiosity and love of gossip the fourth daughter of prince jing sir ge ge a young widow and a strikingly handsome woman spoke to me were you brought up in europe and educated she asked i am told that when people go to that country and drink the water there they quickly forget their own country did you really study to acquire all those languages or was it drinking the water that gave them to you i mentioned that i met her brother prince zai chen in paris on his way to london for the coronation of king edward and that we should have liked to have gone also as my father had a special invitation but were prevented from doing so by his urgent duties in paris in settling the yunnan question to which the princess replied is there a king in england i had thought that our empress dowager was queen of the world her sister wife of the brother of the young empress a most intelligent quiet and dignified lady stood by smiling and listening to the eager questions after numerous questions had been asked the young empress finally said how ignorant you are i know that each country has its ruler and that some countries are republics the united states is a republic and very friendly toward us but i am sorry that such a common class of people go there as they will think we are all the same what i should like to see is some of our good manchu people go as then they would see what we really are she afterwards told me she had been reading a history of the different countries which had been translated into chinese and she seemed to be very well informed after the audience was over her majesty called us out from behind the screen and told us to go with her to see the theater she said as it was such a beautiful day she preferred to walk so we started walking a little behind her as is the custom along the way she pointed out from time to time different places and things that were her particular favorites and as she had to keep turning around all the time she finally told us to come and walk alongside of her this as i afterwards found out was a great condescension on her part anything that she very seldom ever did she like everybody else had her pets and hobbies such as flowers trees plants dogs horses etc and there was one dog in particular that was her favorite this dog was with her majesty always and followed her wherever she went and a more homely dog i never saw it had absolutely nothing to recommend it in any way her majesty thought it beautiful and called it shui ta sea otter a short distance from the audience hall we came to a large courtyard on each side of this courtyard were two immense baskets 15 feet in height built of natural logs and literally covered with purple visteria they were simply gorgeous and great favorites of her majesty she was always very proud of them when in bloom and took great delight in showing them to the people from this courtyard we entered a sort of passageway which ran along the sides of a big hill and led directly to the seater where we soon arrived this theater is quite unlike anything that you can imagine it is built along the four sides of an open courtyard each side being separate and distinct the building has five stories it is entirely open on the front and has two stages one above the other the three top stories are used for holding the drops and for storerooms the stage on the first floor is of the ordinary kind but that on the second floor is built to represent a temple and used when playing religious plays of which her majesty was very fond on the two sides were long low buildings with large barandas running their entire land where the prince and ministers sat when invited by her majesty to witness the play directly opposite the stage was a spacious building containing three large rooms which was used exclusively by her majesty the floor was raised about 10 feet above the ground which brought it on a level with this stage large glass windows ran along in front so made that they could be removed in the summer and replaced with pale blue gods screens two of these rooms were used as sitting rooms and the third the one on the right she used as a bedroom and it had a long couch running across the front on which she used to sit or lie according to her mood this day she invited us to go to this room with her later i was told that she would very often come to this room look at the play for a while and then take her siesta she could certainly sleep soundly for the din and noise did not disturb her in the least if any of my readers have ever been to a chinese theater they can well imagine how difficult it would be to woo the god of sleep in such a pandemonium as soon as we were in this bedroom the play commenced it was a religious play called the empress of heaven's party or feast to all the buddhist priests to eat her famous peaches and drink her best wine this party or feast is given on the third day of the third moon of each year the first act opens with a buddhist priest dressed in a yellow coat robe with a red scarf draped over his left shoulder descending in a cloud from heaven to invites all the priests to this party i was very much surprised to see this actor apparently suspended in the air and actually floating on this cloud which was made of cotton the clever way in which they moved the scenery etc was most interesting and before the play was finished i concluded that any theater manager could well take lessons from these people as it was all done without the slightest bit of machinery as this buddhist priest was descending a large pagoda began to slowly rise from the center of the stage in which was a buddha singing and holding an incense burner in front of him then four other smaller pagodas slowly rose from the four corners of the stage each containing a buddha the same as the first when the first buddhist priest had descended the five buddhas came out of the pagodas which immediately disappeared and walked about the stage still singing gradually from the wing came numbers of buddhas singing until the stage was full and they all formed into a ring then i saw a large lotus flower made of pink silk and two large green leaves appearing from the bottom of the stage and as it rose the petals and leaves gradually opened and i saw a beautiful lady buddha goddess of mercy dressed all in white silk with a white hood on her head standing in the center of this flower as the leaves opened i saw a girl and a boy in the center of them when the petals of the lotus flower were wide open this lady buddha began to gradually ascend herself and as she ascended the petals closed until she seemed to be standing on a lotus buddha the girl standing in the leaf on the goddess right side held a bottle made of jade and a willow branch the legend of this is that if the goddess dips the willow branch into the jade bottle and spreads it over a dead person it will bring the person to life the boy and the girl are the two attendants of the buddha finally the three came down from the flower and leaves and joins the rest of the buddhas then the empress of heaven came a good old lady with snow white hair dressed from head to foot in imperial yellow followed by many attendants and ascended the throne which was in the center of the stage and said we will go to the banquet hall this ended the first scene the second scene opened with tables set for the feast to be given by the empress of heaven these tables were loaded down with peaches and wine and four attendants guarding them suddenly a bee came buzzing near and scattered a powder under the nostrils of the attendants which made them sleepy when they had fallen asleep this bee transformed itself into a big monkey and this monkey ate all the peaches and drank all the wine as soon as he had finished he disappeared a blast of trumpets announced the coming of the empress of heaven and she soon arrived accompanied by all the buddhist priests and their attendants when the empress of heaven saw all the peaches and wine had disappeared she walked the attendants and asked them why they were asleep and where the peaches and wine had gone they said that they did not know that they were waiting for her to come and fell asleep then one of the guests suggested that she should find out what had become of the feast and attendants were sent out to the guard to find out from the soldiers if anyone had gone out of the gate recently before the messenger had time to return the guard of heaven came and informed the empress that a big monkey who was very drunk and carried a big stick had just gone out of the gate when she was told of this she ordered the soldiers of heaven and several buddhas to go and find him at his place it seems that this monkey had originally been made from a piece of stone and lived in a large hole in the mountain on the earth he was in doubt with supernatural powers and could walk on the clouds he was allowed to come to heaven and the empress of heaven gave him a position looking after the imperial orchards when they got to his place on the earth they found that he had taken some of the peaches with him and he with other monkeys was having a feast the soldiers challenged him to come out and fight he immediately accepted this challenge but the soldiers could do nothing with him he pulled the hair out of his coat and transformed each hair into a little monkey and each monkey had an iron rod in his hand he himself had a special iron rod which had been given to him by the king of sea dragons this rod he could make any size he wanted from a needle to a crowbar among the buddhas who had gone with the soldiers was one named Erlangye who was the most powerful of them all and had three eyes this buddha had a dog which was very powerful and he told the dog to bite this monkey which he did and the monkey fell down and he caught him and brought him up to heaven when they got there the empress of heaven ordered that he should be handed to Laojun an old Taoist god and that he should burn him in his incense burner the incense burner was very large and when they took the monkey to him he placed him inside this burner and watched him very carefully to see that he did not get out after he had watched for a long time he thought the monkey must be dead and went out for a few minutes the monkey however was not dead and as soon as Laojun went out he escaped and stole some golden pills which Laojun kept in a gourd and went back to his hole in the mountains the pills were very powerful and if one of them were eaten it would give eternal life and the monkey knew this the monkey ate one and it tasted good and he gave the little monkey some when Laojun came back and found both the monkey and the pills gone he went and informed the empress of heaven this ended the second scene the third scene opened with the buddhas and soldiers at the monkey's palace in the mountains and they again asked him to come out and fight the monkey said what coming again and laughed at them they started to fight again but he was so strong they could not get the best of him even the dog who had bit him before was powerless this time and they finally gave it up and returned to heaven and told the empress of heaven that they could not capture him the second time as he was too strong then the empress of heaven called a little god about 15 years old by the name of Nezha who had supernatural powers and told him to go down to earth to the monkey's place and see if he could finish him this god was made of lotus flowers and leaves that is his bones were made of flowers and his flesh made of leaves and he could transform himself into anything that he wished when Nezha got to the monkey's place and the monkey saw him he said what a little boy like you come to fight me well if you think you can beat me come on and the boy transformed himself into an immense man with three heads and six arms when the monkey saw this he transformed himself also into the same thing when the little god saw that this would not do he transformed himself into a very big man and started to take the monkey but the monkey transformed himself into a very large sword and cut this man into two pieces the little god again transformed himself into fire to burn the monkey but the monkey transformed himself into water and put the fire out again the little god transformed himself this time into a very furious lion but the monkey transformed himself into a big net to catch the lion so this little god seeing that he could not get the best of the monkey, gave it up, and went back to heaven, and told the Empress of Heaven that the monkey was too strong for him. The Empress of Heaven was in despair, so she sent for Julie, an old ancestor of the Buddhas, who was the all-powerful one of them all, and Quan Yin, Goddess of Mercy, and sent them down to the monkey's place to see if they could capture him. When they arrived at a hole in the mountain, the monkey came out and looked at Julie, but did not see a word, as he knew who this god was. This god pointed a finger at him, and he knelt down and submitted. Julie said, come with me, and took the monkey, and put him under another mountain, and told him he would have to stay there until he promised he would be good. Julie said, you stay here until one day I lift this mountain up for you to come out to go with the Brutus Priest to the west side of heaven and demand to pray your books that are kept there. You will have to suffer a great deal on the way and face many dangers, but if you come back with this Brutus Priest and the prayer books, by that time your savage temper will be gone, and you will be put in a nice place in heaven and enjoy life forever afterwards. This finished the play, which was very interesting, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. It was acted very cleverly and quite realistic, and I was very much surprised to know that the eunuchs could act so well. Her Majesty told us that the scenery was all painted by the eunuchs, and that she had taught them about all they knew. Unlike most theaters in China, it had a curtain which was closed between the acts, also wing slides, and drop scenes. Her Majesty had never seen a foreign theater, and I could not understand where she got all her ideas from. She was very fond of reading religious books and fairy tales, and wrote them into plays and stages them herself, and was extremely proud of her achievement. Her Majesty sat talking, we standing, for some little time, and she asked me if I understood the play, and I told her that I did, and she seemed quite pleased. Then she said in such a charming way, Oh, I am so interested in talking with you that I have forgotten to order my lunch. Are you hungry? Could you get Chinese food when you were abroad? And were you homesick? I know I would be if I left my own country for so long a time. But the reason why you were abroad so long was not your fault. It was my order that sent Yu Geng to Paris, and I am not a bit sorry. For you see how much you can help me now, and I am proud of you, and will show you to the foreigners that they see our mature ladies can speak other languages than their own. While she was talking, I noticed that the eunuchs were laying three large tables with nice white tablecloths, and I could see a number of other eunuchs standing in the courtyard with boxes of food. These boxes or trees are made of wood painted yellow and are large enough to hold four small and two large bowls of food. After the tables were laid ready, the eunuchs outside formed themselves into a double line from the courtyard to a little gate running into another courtyard and passed these trays from one to the other up to the entrance of the room, where they were taken by four nicely dressed eunuchs and placed on the tables. It seems that it was a habit of Her Majesty to take her meals wherever she happened to be, so that there was no particular place that she used as the dining room. I should also mention that these bowls were of imperial yellow with silver covers. Some were ornamented with green dragons, and some with the Chinese character shou, long life. There were about one hundred and fifty different kinds of food, for I counted them. They were placed in long rows, one row of large bowls and one row of small plates, and then another row of small bowls and so on. As the setting of the tables was going on, court ladies came into the bedroom, each carrying a large yellow box. I was very much surprised to see court ladies doing this kind of work, and I said to myself, if I come here, will I have to do this sort of thing? Although these boxes appeared to be quite heavy, they brought them in very gracefully. Two small tables were placed in front of Her Majesty. Then they opened the boxes and placed a number of very cute plates containing all sorts of sweets, lotus flower seeds, dried and cooked with sugar, watermelon seeds, walnuts cooked in different ways, and fruits of the season cut and sliced. As these plates were being placed on the tables, Her Majesty said that she liked these dainties better than meat and gave us some and told us to make ourselves at home. We thanked her for her kindness and enjoyed them very much. I noticed that she ate quite a quantity from the different plates and wondered how she would be able to eat her lunch. When she had finished, two of the court ladies came and took the plates away, and Her Majesty told us that she always gave what was left to the court ladies after she had finished eating. After this, a eunuch came in carrying a cup of tea. This tea cup was made of pure white jade, and the saucer and cover was of solid gold. Then another eunuch came in carrying a silver tray on which were two jade cups similar to the others, one containing honeysuckle flowers and the other rose petals. He also brought a pair of gold chopsticks. They both knelt on the floor in front of Her Majesty and held the trays up so that she could reach them. She took the golden cover off the cup containing tea and took some of the honeysuckle flowers and placed them in the tea. While she was doing this and sipping the tea, she was telling how fond she was of flowers and what a delicate flavor they gave to the tea. Then she said, I will let you taste some of my tea and see if you like it, and ordered one of the eunuchs to bring us some tea, the same as she was drinking. When it came, she put some of the honeysuckle flowers in the cup for us and watched us drink it. It was the most delicious tea I had ever tasted, and the putting of flowers in it gave it an extremely delicate flavor. End of Chapter 3, read by J. C. Guan, January 2009, Chapter 4 of Two Years in the Forbidden City. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by J. C. Guan, Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess De Ling, Chapter 4, A Luncheon with the Empress. When we had finished drinking tea, she told us to go with her into the next room, where the tables had been prepared for lunch, and I wondered if she had any room for lunch after all that she had just eaten, but I soon found out. As soon as she was inside the room, she ordered the covers to be removed, and they were all taken off at one time. Then she took her seat at the head of the table and told us to stand at the foot. She then said, Generally, the Emperor takes lunch with me when we have the theater, but he is shy today, as you are all new to him. I hope he will get over it and not be so bashful. You three had better eat with me today. Of course, we knew that this was a special favor and thanked her by co-towing before we commenced to eat. This co-towing, or bowing our heads to the ground, was very tiring at first and made us dizzy until we got used to it. When we commenced to eat, Her Majesty ordered the eunuchs to place plates for us and give us silver chopsticks, spoons, etc., and said, I am sorry you have to eat standing, but I cannot break the law of our great ancestors. Even the young Empress cannot sit in my presence. I am sure the foreigners must think we are barbarians to treat our court ladies in this way, and I don't wish them to know anything about our customs. You will see how differently I act in their presence, so that they cannot see my true self. I was watching her while she was talking to my mother and marveled to see how she could eat after having eaten such a quantity of candy, walnuts, etc., while in her bedroom. Beef was a thing that was tabooed within the precincts of the palace, as it was considered a great sin to kill and eat animals that were used as beasts of burden. The food consisted mostly of pork, mutton, and game, fowls and vegetables. This day we had pork cooked in ten different ways, such as meatballs, sliced cold in two different ways, red and white, the red being cooked with a special kind of sauce made of beans which gives it the red color and has a delicious taste. Chopped pork with chopped bamboo shoots, pork cut in cubes and cooked with cherries and pork cooked with onions and sliced thin. This last dish was Her Majesty's favorite, and I must say it was good. Then there was a sort of pancake made of eggs, pork and mushrooms, chopped fine and fried. Also, pork cooked with cabbage and another dish cooked with turnips. The fowl and mutton was cooked in several different ways. In the center of the table was a very large bowl about two feet in diameter of the same yellow porcelain in which there was a chicken, a duck, and some shark fins in a clear soup. Shark fins are considered a great delicacy in China. Besides this, there was roast chicken, boneless chicken, and roast duck. Ducks and chicken are stuffed with little pine needles to give them a fine flavor and roasted in open-air ovens. There was another dish that Her Majesty was very fond of, and that was the skin of roast pork cut into very small slices and fried until it curls up like a rasher of bacon. As a roll, the Manchu people seldom eat rice, but are very fond of bread, and this day we had bread made in a number of different ways, such as baked, steamed, fried, some with sugar, and some with salt and pepper, cut in fancy shapes or made in fancy molds, such as dragons, butterflies, flowers, etc., and one kind was made with minced meat inside. Then we had a number of different kinds of pickles, of which Her Majesty was very fond. Then there was beans and green peas and peanuts made into cakes and served with sugarcane syrup. I did not eat very much, as I was too busy watching Her Majesty and listening to what she said, although she told us to eat all we could. In addition to all I have mentioned, we had many different kinds of porridge, some made of sweet corn and some with tiny yellow rice, like birdseed. And Her Majesty said that we must all eat porridge after our meat. After we had finally finished eating, Her Majesty rose from the table and said, Come into my bedroom and you will see the young Empress and the court ladies eat. They always eat after I am finished. We went with her and I stood near the door between the two rooms and saw the young Empress and court ladies come in and stand around the table eating very quietly. They were never allowed to sit down and eat their food. All this time the theatre had been going on playing some fairytales, but they were not near as interesting as the one play that we had seen. Her Majesty sat on her long couch in the bedroom and the eunuch bought her some tea and she ordered some broth for us. My reader can imagine how delighted I was to be treated in this way. In China, people think their sovereign is the supreme being and that her word is law. One must never raise their eyes when talking to her. This is a sign of great respect. I thought these extreme favours must be most unusual. I had been told that Her Majesty had a very fierce temper, but seeing her so kind and gracious to us and talking to us in such a motherly way, I thought my informant must be wrong and that she was the sweetest woman in the world. When Her Majesty had rested in a while, she told us that it was time we were returning to the city, as it was getting late. She gave us eight big yellow boxes of fruit and cakes to take home with us. She said to my mother, Tell Yu Geng, my father, to get better soon and tell him to take the medicine I am sending by you and to rest well. Also, give him these eight boxes of fruit and cakes. I thought my father, who had been quite ill since we returned from Paris, would not be much benefited if he ate all those cakes. However, I knew he would appreciate her kind thoughtfulness, even if it were detrimental to his health. As perhaps most of my readers know, it is in the custom to co-tow when Her Majesty gives presents and we co-tow to her when she gave us the fruit and cakes and thanked her for her kindness. Just as we were leaving, Her Majesty said to my mother that she liked us very much and wanted us to come and be her court-liddies and stay at the palace. We thought this was another great favor and again thanked her and she asked us when we could come and told us to bring our clothes and things only, as she would fix everything for us and showed us the house we would live in when we came and told us to come back inside of two days. This house contained three very large rooms and was situated on the right side of her own or private palace. This palace, Le Chautang, is situated on the shores of the lake and was Her Majesty's favorite place and where she spent most of her time reading and resting and when the spirit moved her, she would go for a sail on the lake. In this palace, she had quite a number of bedrooms and made use of them all. When she had finished showing us this house, we took leave of Her Majesty, the young emperors and the court- ladies and having a long and tiresome ride reached home exhausted but happy after the most eventful day of our lives. When we got into the house, we were surprised to find several eunuchs waiting our return. They had brought us each four rolls of imperial brocade from Her Majesty. Once more, we had to bend to custom in thanking her for these gifts. This time, the gift having been sent to the house, we placed the silk on the table in the center of the room and co-towed to thank Her Majesty and told the eunuchs to tell Her Majesty how grateful we were to her for all her kindness and for the beautiful gifts. There is another thing that had to be done according to the custom, and that was to give the eunuchs a present or tip, and we had to give each of the eunuchs ten tails for their trouble. We afterwards found out that when eunuchs went anywhere to take presents for Her Majesty, they were required to report to her when they returned how the recipient had thanked her and what had been given them, which she allowed them to keep. She also asked them numerous questions about our house, whether we were pleased with her, etc. These people are extremely fond of talking, and after we had returned to the palace again, they told us what Her Majesty had said about us the first day we were there. My mother felt very much worried to go to the palace and leave my father all alone owing to his being in poor health, but we could not disobey Her Majesty's order, so we returned to the palace three days later. Our first day there was a busy one for us. When we first arrived, we went and thanked Her Majesty for the present that she had sent us. She told us that she was very busy to-day, as she was going to receive the Russian lady. Madam Plankon, the wife of the Russian minister to China, who was bringing a miniature portrait of the Tsar and Tsarina, and family as a present from the Tsar to her, the Empress Dowager. She asked me if I could speak Russian. I told her that I could not, but that most Russians spoke French, which seemed to satisfy her. She, however, said, Why don't you tell me you speak Russian? I won't know or be able to find out. And at the same time was looking at one of the court ladies. I concluded that someone must be fooling her, for she seemed to appreciate the fact that I had told her the truth. This afterwards proved to be true, and one of the court ladies was dismissed for pretending she could talk foreign languages when she could not speak a word. Besides this audience, there was the theater and the engagement ceremony of Her Majesty's nephew, Teochew. The engagement ceremony, according to the Manchew custom, is performed by two of the princesses of the royal family going to the house of the prospective bride who sits on her bed cross-legged, her eyes closed, and awaits their coming. When they arrive at the house, they go to her bedroom and place a symbol called Ruii, made of pure jade, about one and a half feet long, in her lap, and suspend two small bags made of silk and beautifully embroidered, each containing a gold coin from the buttons of her gown, and placed two gold rings on her fingers, on which is carved the character, Ta-xi, great happiness. The meaning of the symbol, or a scepter, Ruii, is may all joy be yours. During this entire ceremony, absolute silence is maintained, and immediately they have finished, they return to the palace and inform Her Majesty that the ceremony has been completed. CHAPTER V. An audience with the Empress. No one informed us the day before that there was to be an audience to receive the Russian minister's wife on that very day. We told Her Majesty that we must go and change our clothes in order to receive this lady. The dresses we wore that day were very simply made and short. The reason we wore this kind of costume was that there was no carpet, and the bare brick floor had ruined our beautiful red velvet gowns. Also, the clumsy eunuchs had kept stepping on our trains all the time. We had made up our minds that short dresses, for general wear, every day would be more practical. Her Majesty said, Why must you change your clothes? I see you look much better without that tail dragging behind you on the floor. I laughed at the idea of having a tail on one's dresses. I noticed that the first day when you came to the court. Before we had time to explain to her, she said, I see. Dresses with tails behind must be more dignified than short ones. Am I right? We told her it was so. Then she said, Go and put on your most beautiful gowns at once. We immediately went and changed. My sister and myself wore our pink crepe de chine gowns, trimmed with brussels lace, and transparent yolks of the same color chiffon. My mother wore her gray crepe de chine and braided with black roses and a little touch of pale blue satin on her collar and belt. We dressed in a great hurry, as Her Majesty had sent eunuchs to see if we were ready. When she saw us, she exclaimed, Here are three ferries with long tails. Then she asked us, Is it very tiring to hold half of your dress in your hand when you are walking? The costume is pretty, but I do dislike the tail. There is no sense having a thing like that. I wonder what these foreigners will think of me having you dressed in their costume. I am sure they won't like the idea. My reason is this. I want them to see you in foreign clothes in order to let them understand I know something about the way they dress. I must say that no foreign ladies have yet been presented to me dressed in such lovely gowns as you three have. I don't believe foreigners are as wealthy as the Chinese. I also notice they wear very little jewelry. I was told that I have more jewelry than any sovereign in the world, and yet I am getting more all the time. We were very busy getting ready to receive Madame Planquant, who arrived about eleven o'clock, and was received in the waiting room of the first courtyard by my sister, and from there conducted to the audience hall, Ren Shou Dian, where she was received by Her Majesty, who was sitting on her big throne on the raised days. The Emperor was present, sitting on Her Majesty's left hand, and I stood on her right to interpret for her. Her Majesty was dressed in a yellow transparent satin-brocade gown, embroidered with hollyhocks, and the Chinese character Shou, Long Life, and trimmed with gold braid. She wore her big pearl, which is about the size and shape of an egg, suspended from the button of her dress. Also, numerous bracelets and rings and golden fingernail protectors. Her hair was dressed in the same style as usual. When Madame Planquant entered the hall, my sister brought her to the steps of the days, and she curtsied to Her Majesty. I then went forward and brought her up onto the days, and Her Majesty shook hands with her, and she presented the photograph which she had brought to Her Majesty. Her Majesty made a very pretty speech of acceptance, expressing her appreciation of the gift of their Majesties, the Tsar and Tsarina. I interpreted this speech in French to Madame Planquant as she could not speak English. After this, Her Majesty told me to take Madame Planquant to the Emperor, which I did. He stood up when she came near and shook hands with her, and asked after their Majesties' health. This over, Her Majesty stepped down from her throne and took Madame Planquant to her own palace, the one with so many bedrooms, and when they arrived, Her Majesty asked her to sit down, and they talked together for about ten minutes, I interpreting for them, after which I took her to see the young Empress. The Manchu law is very strict as regards the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, and the young Empress had been sitting behind the screen at the back of the throne during the audience, and it was there that I found her. From there, we went to the banquet hall, where luncheon was served in Manchu style. Here, I must explain the difference between the Chinese way of eating and the Manchu. The Chinese place bowls of food, one at a time, in the centre of the table, and everyone eats out of these bowls, sticking their chopsticks in and helping themselves to what they want. The Manchus eat quite differently, and are served with individual bowls and dishes, the same as in any other country. Her Majesty was very proud of this, and said that it saved time, not to mention being cleaner. The food in the palace was always very good and clean, especially when we had foreign guests, and of course we had a variety of dishes for such occasions, such as shark fins, bird's nest pudding, not to mention a great quantity of other things. Her Majesty had given me the order that morning to have the tables nicely decorated, and they did look very nice when we sat down. Besides the usual tableware, we had gold dragon menu holders, little peach-shaped silver saucers filled with almonds and dried watermelon seeds, and knives and forks, in addition to chopsticks. Her Majesty and the Emperor never ate with guests, so Madame Plau Con was entertained by the imperial princes and the court-ladies. When luncheon was half over, a eunuch came and told me that Her Majesty wanted to see me at once. The thought flashed through my head that something had gone wrong, or that some of the eunuchs had been making false reports, a bad habit of the court, and I was much surprised to find her all smiles. She told me what a nice polite lady Madame Plau Con was, and that she had seen many ladies who had come to the court, but none with manners like this one, that she was sorry to say that some of the ladies who came did not behave very well. She said, listening to Sinc, we are only Chinese and do not know anything, and look down upon us. I noticed these things very quickly, and I'm surprised to see people who claim to be well educated and civilized, acting the way they do. I think we, whom they call barbarians, are much more civilized and have better manners. She was always very polite to the foreign ladies, no matter how badly they behaved. But after they had gone, she would tell us who was nice and who was not. After she had finished saying this, she gave me a beautiful piece of green jade to give to Madame Plau Con. When I gave it to her, she had said she wished to thank her Majesty, and I took her to the palace again. When we had finished luncheon, she told me how pleased she was with her reception and the kindness that her Majesty had shown her, and took her departure, we accompanying her to the courtyard of the audience hall, where her chair was waiting. Her Majesty had made a rule, or custom, that after all guests had departed, we must go to her and report everything. I suppose she was like all women, a bit of a gossip, as well as the rest. It appeared so at any rate. She wanted to know what Madame Plau Con said, whether she liked the jade, and whether she enjoyed her luncheon, etc. Her Majesty was very pleased that I had interpreted so well for her, and said, I have never had anyone to interpret for me this way before. Although I don't understand the language, I can see that you speak it fluently. How did you learn? I will never let you go away from me any more. Sometimes the foreign ladies bring their own interpreters, but I can't understand their Chinese, and have to guess at what they are saying, especially some of the missionaries Mrs. Conjure brings with her. I am very happy to have you, and want you to stay with me as long as I live, and I will arrange a marriage for you, but won't tell you just now. I felt very happy at what Her Majesty had said, and thought I had made my debut under very favorable auspices, and was very glad that Her Majesty liked me. But the marriage question worried me, for nothing was further from my mind than this. I afterwards told my mother about it, and she told me not to worry, as I could always refuse when the time came. When we had told Her Majesty all that Madame Planco had said, she told us we could go to our rooms, that as we had risen early that morning, and had worked very hard, we must be tired and needed the rest, that she would not need us any more that day. We curtsied to her according to the custom when saying good night, and retired. The building where we had our rooms, as I have said before, contained four large rooms and a hall, and we three, my mother, sister and myself, each took a room and gave the force to our maids. Her Majesty had ordered a eunuch to accompany us, and this eunuch told us that her Majesty had ordered four young eunuchs to attend on us, and that if they did not behave we should tell him. He also said his name was Lee, but as there were so many by this name, including the head eunuch, it was very hard to tell them apart. When we arrived, which took some time, he pointed to a building on our right and said that it was Her Majesty's own palace, and the one which we had just left. I could not understand why it had taken us so long to come, when the palace was so near, and asked him about it. He told us that our little buildings were at the left side of the Emperor's palace, and that Her Majesty had had the entrance leading from our place to her palace closed up for certain reasons which he would not tell, but said, You see, this place ought to face east instead of towards the lake. The view on the lake was beautiful, and I told him I liked it much better the way it was. He smiled and said, You will have to learn a lot before you find out this wicked place. I was surprised at what the eunuch said, but did not like to ask him any questions. He also told us that the Emperor's palace was just behind our place, and was a large building similar to Her Majesty's palace. We looked and could see the trees of his courtyard above the roof. Then he pointed to another building behind the Emperor's, which was larger but lower than the Emperor's palace, and also had a large courtyard, and said it was the Young Empress's palace. It had two buildings flanking it on each side, and the eunuch told us that the one on the left was the secondary wife's bedroom. That there had been an entrance between the two palaces, but that Lao Foye, the great old Buddha, as the eunuch called Her Majesty, had blocked it up so that the Emperor and Empress could not communicate with each other except through Her Majesty's own palace. I suppose this was the way she kept watch over them, and knew at all times what they were doing. This was all news to me, and I did not know what to think of it. I was afraid that this eunuch Li would tell me more of these curious things, so I told him I was tired, and would go to my room and rest, and he went away. When I finally got inside my room and had a chance to look around, I saw that it was very prettily furnished with ebony wood furniture, which was covered with red satin cushions, and the windows were hung with red silk curtains. All the bedrooms were just alike. The kong, bed, was made of brick covered with the same kind of wood, and ran along the wall under the front window. It had high teaster posts with slats running across on which red curtains were hung. These kongs are very curiously built. They are made of brick and have a hole in the front center in which fire is placed to heat the brick in wintertime. During the day a sort of table is placed on top of the kong and removed again at night. Shortly after we had gone to our rooms some eunuchs came and brought our dinner, which they placed on a table in the center of the hall. They told us the food had been sent by Her Majesty, and that she had ordered them to tell us to make ourselves comfortable. We were so tired that we could not eat very much, and were about to retire for the night when this eunuch Lee came again, and told us that we must be up at five o'clock, not later. So I told my eunuch to knock on my window at five. Immediately after this we went to bed, but did not sleep immediately, as we wanted to talk over the events of the day, which had been many and strange. After we did finally get to bed it seemed as if we had just fallen asleep when I heard someone knocking on my window. I woke up at a start, and asked what the matter was, and the eunuch told me it was five o'clock and time to get up. I immediately got up and opened my window and looked out. The day was just dawning, and the sky was a beautiful deep red, which was reflected in the lake, which was perfectly calm. The scenery was lovely, and in the distance I could see Her Majesty's puny mountain, which was literally covered with these beautiful flowers. I dressed at once, and went to Her Majesty's palace, and there met the young Empress sitting on the veranda. I curtsied to her as a good morning salute. The Emperor's secondary wife was there also, but we had been ordered not to curtsy to her, as she was considered not to have any standing there. There was also a number of young court ladies, many of whom I had never seen before. The young Empress introduced me to them, saying that they were also court ladies. They were daughters of high Manchu officials, and some were very pretty and bright. The young Empress told me that these ten, there were just ten there, were never allowed to go near Her Majesty, as they were just learning the court etiquette. They were all dressed very nicely in pretty Manchu gowns, the same design as that worn by the young Empress. After I had been introduced to these young ladies, and talked with them a while, I went inside with the young Empress, and there met Segege, forced daughter of Prince Qing, and a young widow twenty-four years of age, Yuan Da Nainai, widow of Her Majesty's nephew. Both were busy getting things ready for Her Majesty. The young Empress told us that we must go at once to Her Majesty's bedroom, and assist Her Majesty to dress. So we went at once, and curtsied to her, and said, Lao Zhu Zhong Ji Xiang, old ancestor, all joy be with you. Her Majesty was still in bed, and smiled to us, and asked us if we had slept well. We told her the rooms were very comfortable, etc. I thought to myself, we had slept very well for the little time we had, but I had not had half enough. The day before had been very hard for us, and we were quite unused to it, and it had made us very lame and sore running around so much. She asked us if we had had any breakfast, and we told her not yet. She scolded Li for not having given the order for our breakfast to be brought to our rooms, and said, You must not feel like strangers, or order anything you may want. Then she arose, and started to dress. She put on her white silk socks first, having slept in her pantaloons, as is the custom, and tied them at the ankle with pretty ribbon. I must tell you here that although she always slept in her clothes, she changed them for clean ones every day. Then she put on a pale pink shirt of soft material, and over that a short silk gown that was embroidered with bamboo leaves, as she always wore low heel shoes in the morning, and consequently could not wear her long gowns. After she had dressed, she walked over to a window in front of which were two long tables covered with toilet articles of every kind and description. As she was washing her face and dressing her hair, she said to my mother that she could not bear to have the servant girls, eunuchs, or old women touch her bed, that they were dirty, so the court ladies must make it. When she said this, she turned to my sister and myself. We were standing a little to one side, and said, You two must not think for a moment that the court ladies do servants work, but you know I am an old woman, and could easily be your grandmother, and it will do you no harm to work a little for me. When it comes your turn, you can surpass your intent the others, and don't have to do the work with your own hands. Then Her Majesty said to me, Dear Ling, you are a great help to me in every way, and I make you my first lady in waiting. You must not work too much, for you will have to make all the arrangements for the audiences for foreigners, and you will have to interpret for me. I also want you to look after my jewels, and don't want you to do rough work at all. Rong Ling, my sister, can choose what she likes to do. I have two more beside you, Su Ge Ge and Yuan Dan Ai Nai, making four all together, and you must all work together. It is not necessary to be too polite to them, and if they are not nice to you, you let me know. Although I was very happy at receiving this appointment, I knew that according to custom I must refuse it, so I thanked Her Majesty very kindly for the honour she had given me, and said that I did not know enough to hold such an important position, and would prefer to be just an ordinary court lady, and that I would learn as quickly as possible to be useful to her. She hardly let me finish what I was saying. When she laughed, and said, Stop, don't see anything like that, you are too modest, which shows you are very clever, and not a bit conceited. I am surprised to see what a perfectly tumultuous lady you are, knowing even such small etiquette as this, although you have spent many years outside of China. She was very fond of making fun, and liked very much to tease, and said that I could try, and if she saw that I could not do the work, she would scold me, and put someone else in my place. After all this that she had said, I accepted the appointment, and went over to her bed to see how it was made, and I found that it was very easy work to do. As this would be one of my duties, I watched while the bed was being fixed. First of all, after Her Majesty had risen, the bed clothes were taken out into the courtyard by the eunuchs, and aired. Then the bed, which was made of beautifully carved wood, was brushed off with a sort of whisk broom, and a piece of felt placed over it. Then three thick mattresses made of yellow brocade was placed over the felt. After this came the sheets made of different colored soft silk, and over the whole thing was placed a covering of plain yellow statin embroidered with gold dragons and blue clouds. She had a great many pillows, all beautifully embroidered, which were placed on the bed during the daytime, but had a particular one stuffed with tea leaves on which she slept. It is said that stuffing the pillow on which you sleep with tea leaves is good for the eyes. In addition to all this, she had another very curiously shaped pillow about twelve inches long in the middle of which was a hole about three inches square. It was stuffed with dried flowers, and the idea of the hole was that when she laid on it, she could place her ear in this hole and in this way hear any and every sound. I suppose in that way no one could come on her unawares. Besides this last yellow embroidered cover, there were six covers of different colors, pale mauve, blue, pink, green, and violet, and were placed one on top of the other. Over the top of the bed was a frame of wood, handsomely carved, and from this frame white creep curtains, beautifully embroidered, hung, and numerous little gold silk bags filled with scent were suspended from the carved work of the frame. The odor from these bags was very strong and made one feel sick until they became used to it. Her majesty was also very fond of musk and used it on all occasions. It took us about fifteen minutes to make the bed, and when I had finished, I turned around and saw that her majesty was dressing her hair. I stood beside her majesty while the eunuch was dressing it, and saw that as old as she was, she still had beautiful long hair, which was as soft as velvet and raven black. She parted it in the center and brought it low at the back of her ears, and the back braid was brushed up on the top of her head and made it into a tight knot. When she had finished doing this, she was ready to have the gong zan, manchu headdress, placed on and pinned through the knot with two large pins. Her majesty always dressed her hair first, and then washed her face. She was as fussy and particular as a young girl, and would give it to the eunuch if he did not get it to suit her. She had dozens of bottles of all kinds of perfume, also perfumed soap. When she had finished washing her face, she dried it on a soft towel and sprayed it with a kind of glycerin made of honey and flower petals. After that, she put some kind of strong scented pink powder on her face. When she had completed her toilet, she turned to me and said, It must seem to you quite funny to see an old lady like me taking so much care and pains in dressing and fixing up. Well, I like to dress myself up and to see others dress nicely. It always gives me pleasure to see pretty girls dressed nicely. It makes you want to be young again yourself. I told her that she looked quite young and was still beautiful, and that, although we were young, we would never dare compare ourselves with her. This pleased her very much, as she was very fond of compliments, and I took great pains that morning to study her, and to find out what she liked and what she didn't. After this, Her Majesty took me into another room and showed me where her jewels were kept. This room was covered with shelves on three sides of the room, from top to bottom, on which were placed piles of ebony boxes, all containing jewels. Small yellow strips were pasted on some of the boxes, on which was written the contents. Her Majesty pointed to a row of boxes on the right side of the room, and said, Here is where I keep my favorite everyday jewels, and some day you must go over them to see that they are all there. The rest are all jewels which I wear on special occasions. There are about three thousand boxes in this room, and I have a lot more locked up in my safety room, which I will show you when I am not busy. Then she said, I am sorry, you cannot read and write Chinese. Otherwise, I would give you a list of these things, and you could keep a check on them. I was very much surprised at this, and wondered who had told her I couldn't. I was anxious to know, but did not dare to ask her. So I told her that, although I was not a scholar, I had studied Chinese for some time and could read and write a little. That if she would give me a list, I would try and read it. She said, That is funny. Someone told me the first day you were here, I forget now who it was, that you could not read or write your own language at all. While she was saying this, she was looking all around the room, and I was sure she knew who it was that had told her, but she would not tell me. Then she said, When we have time this afternoon, I will go over this list with you. Bring me those five boxes on the first row of shelves. I brought the boxes to her room, and placed them on the table. She opened the first one, and it contained a most beautiful peony, made of coral and jade, and each petal trembled like a real flower. This flower was made by stringing the petals, which were made of coral on very fine brass wire, also the leaves, which were made of pure jade. She took this flower and placed it on the right side of her headdress. Then she opened another box and took from it a magnificent jade butterfly made in the same way. This was an invention of her own, and it was done by carving the coral and jade into petals and leaves and boring holes in the lower ends through which brass wire was run. The other two boxes contained bracelets and rings of different patterns. There was a pair of gold bracelets set with pearls, another pair set with jade, with a piece of jade hanging from the end of a small gold chain, etc. The last two contained chains of pearls, the like of which I never saw before, and I fell in love with them at once. Her majesty took one which was made into a plum blossom string by winding a circle of five pearls around a larger one, then one single pearl, then another circle of five pearls around a large one, and so on, making quite a long chain, which she suspended from one of the buttons of her gown. At this juncture one of the court ladies came in carrying several gowns for her majesty to select from. She looked at them and said that none of them suited her to take them back and bring more. I had a look at them and thought they were perfectly lovely, such pretty colors and so beautifully embroidered. In a short while the same court lady came back, carrying more, and from these her majesty selected a sea green one embroidered all over with white storks. She put this gown on and looked at herself in the mirror for a while, then took off her jade butterfly. She said, You see, I am very particular about little details. The jade butterfly is too green, and it kills my gown. Put it back in the box and bring me a pearl stork in number thirty-five bucks. I went back to the jewel room and fortunately found number thirty-five bucks and brought it to her. She opened the box and took from it a stork made entirely of pearls set in silver, the bird's bill being made of coral. The pearls making the body of the bird were so cleverly set that the silver could not be seen at all unless one looked at it very closely. It was a most magnificent piece of workmanship, and the pearls were of perfect color and shape. Her majesty took it and placed it in her hair, and did look very graceful and pretty. Then she picked out a mauve-colored short jacket, also embroidered with storks, which she put on over her gown. Her handkerchief and shoes were also embroidered with storks, and when she was entirely dressed, she looked like the stork lady. Just as she had finished dressing, the emperor Guang Xu came into the bedroom dressed in his official clothes. These clothes were exactly like other official clothes, except that he had no button on his hat and did not wear the peacock feather. He knelt down before her majesty and said, Qin Baba, Ji Xiang, dear father, all joy be with you. It makes him curious that the emperor and all of us should call her majesty father, and the reason why this was done was because her majesty always wanted to be a man and compelled everyone to address her as if she were actually one. This was only one of her many peculiarities. I did not know whether to courtesy to the emperor or not, not having received any orders as to what I should do. However, I thought it better to be polite than not enough, so I waited until either he or her majesty went out of the room as we were not allowed to salute or courtesy to anyone in her presence. In a little while the emperor went out and I followed him out into the hall, and just as I was in the act of curtsying, her majesty came out. She looked at me in a very peculiar way as if she did not approve of what I had done, but said nothing. I felt very uncomfortable and made up my mind that being too polite did not always pay after all. Then I returned to the room again and saw a small eunuch placing several yellow boxes on a table at the left side of the room. Her majesty seated herself in a large chair which was called her little throne, and this eunuch opened the boxes, took a yellow envelope from each box, and handed them to her majesty. She opened these envelopes with an ivory paper knife and read their contents. They were memorials from the head of different boards or from the viceroy's of the different provinces. The emperor had come back and was standing at the side of this table, and after she had finished reading she handed them over to him. While all this was being done I stood at the back of her chair. I watched the emperor as the different papers were handed to him, and noticed that it did not take him very long to finish reading their contents. After he was finished reading the papers they were placed back in the boxes. During all this time absolute silence was maintained. Just as they had finished the head eunuch came in, knelt down, and announced that her majesty's chair was ready. She immediately got up and went out of the house, we following her, and I took her arm while she was descending the steps to go to her chair. When she had entered the chair to go to the audience hall, the emperor and young empress, and we all followed in our usual places, the eunuchs, almas, and servant girls carrying all the things exactly the same way as when it's done the first day I came to the palace. When we arrived at the audience hall, we took our places behind the big screen, and the audience commenced. I was very curious to find out just how the audiences were conducted and wanted to listen to what was going on. But the court ladies would not leave me alone. However, when they were all talking together with my sister, I stole away into a corner where I could sit and rest and listen to the conversation between the different ministers and her majesty. Trust the women for being inquisitive. The first part of the audience I could not hear very well, as so many people were whispering and talking at the same time. But by peeping through the carved work of the screen, I could see a general talking to her majesty. I also saw the members of the grand council come in, headed by Prince Qing, who was the councillor-in-chief. After the general had finished, her majesty talked with Prince Qing about the appointment of some minor officials, a list of whose names had been handed to her. She looked over this list and spoke about several of the people, but Prince Qing suggested some others, saying, although these people whose names have been submitted to your majesty should receive appointments, those that I have suggested are better fitted for the positions. Her majesty said, All right, I leave it all to you. Then I heard her majesty say to the emperor, Is that correct? And he replied, Yes. This finished the audience for the morning, and the ministers and grand councillors took their leave. We came out from behind the screen to her majesty, and she said that she wanted to go for a walk to get some fresh air. The servant's girls brought her a mirror, placed it on a table, and her majesty took off her heavy headdress, leaving the simple knot on the top of her head, which was quite becoming. She wanted to change some of the flower jewels, and I opened a box which one of the eunuchs had brought, and took out some very dainty flowers made of pearls. I handed her one, which she placed at the side of this knot. Then she selected a jade dragonfly, which she placed on the other side. She said these small flowers were favorites of hers, and she liked to wear them when she took off her heavy headdress. I was watching her very closely, and wondered what I was going to do with the flowers she had taken off. I had not brought the boxes to put them in, as I did not know she was going to change again after the audience, and felt a little nervous as to what was the right thing to do, or as to what she would say. However, I saw eunuch come in, carrying these boxes, and I felt much relieved. I quickly placed the things in the boxes where they belonged. End of Chapter 6 Rents by J. C. Guan, January 2009