Two Years in the Forbidden City
T >>
The Princess Der Ling >> Two Years in the Forbidden City
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 | 11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19
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 sittings for the portrait, so that they will be on hand in
case anything is wanted." Her Majesty then said: "I noticed that
Mrs. Conger 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. Conger
didn't, and that is all that is necessary." I told her that
perhaps Mrs. Conger 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 know the artist yourself I would not have
consented in any case. It is not the painting of the portrait that
I mind, but it might give rise to serious results."
The next morning I received a letter from Mrs. Conger 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
reply 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."
I therefore replied to Mrs. Conger'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 bye she said: "I hope that Mrs.
Conger 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 to Her Majesty. Some of them were of the
opinion that it was very much like me, while the 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 had 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 marvellously like you, and I do not hesitate to
say that none of our Chinese painters could get the expression
which appears on 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 manner. Don't wear any more such dresses, please.
It has quite shocked me. What a funny kind of civilization this is
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, balls, 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
she 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 enquired: "Do you think that this Artist 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 the truth, 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. Conger had already
written to her to come up to Peking, to make the necessary
preparations. One week later I received a letter from Miss Carl
informing me that she proposed coming up to Peking 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.
Conger to know. I mean that there might be certain things which I
shall have to say to Miss Carl, which, if Mrs. Conger 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 Ching informed
Her Majesty that the artist had arrived at Peking and was staying
with Mrs. Conger 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 two
fifth moons in that year. When Prince Ching asked Her Majesty to
name the day on which Miss Carl should commence her work, she
replied: "I will give her my answer to-morrow. I must first
consult my book, as I don't want to start this portrait on an
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 she had to
consult the book again in order to fix on the exact hour, finally
fixing on 7 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 lights 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 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 10 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 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 the 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 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 sometime, 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 explained 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 Manchu officials to hold certain positions 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 rule. 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 Peking 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 enquired
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 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 head or feet?"
So we 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 make 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 are 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 a camera ready, 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 jewelry. 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
those 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 it 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 a 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 watched 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 see 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 summer
time, 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 would 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 mirror 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
next. 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 boats, Her Majesty, accompanied by the
Court, proceeded to the Western Gate of the city, and on arrival
at the last bridge, disembarked. Chairs were awaiting us and we
rode to the gate of the Sea Palace. There we again entered the
boats 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
have also another; good idea, and that is, I want to have one
taken as `Kuan Yin' (Goddess of Mersy). 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 peculiarities was a 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 our
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
chairs and ride as well. The only exception to this rule was when
Her Majesty, being tired walking, ordered her stool to rest on. We
were not allowed to sit in her presence, but had to stand all the
time. Her Majesty liked her Sea Palace better than her Palace in
the Forbidden City. It was far prettier, and had the effect of
making her good tempered.
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 it 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.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 | 11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19