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

Her Majesty gave the head eunuch the list of the plays she wished
to be performed, which were for the most part dramatised fairy
tales, and we had a performance the next day.

After Her Majesty had gone to rest in the afternoon, during the
theatrical performance I met the Emperor returning to his own
Palace. I was surprised to see only one eunuch in attendance. This
was the Emperor's own private eunuch and he trusted him
implicitly. He asked me where I was going and I told him I was
going to my room to rest a while. He remarked that he had not seen
me for quite a long time, which made me laugh as I saw him every
morning at the audience. He said: "I don't get as much chance of
chatting with you as formerly since this portrait painting began.
I am afraid I am not making much progress with my English as I
have nobody to help me now that your time is occupied with this
lady artist. You appear to enjoy her company very much. All the
same I suppose it is very monotonous. Has she found out yet that
you are there simply to keep an eye upon her?" I told him that I
was very careful not to betray myself in any way and that I did
not think she suspected she was being watched.

The Emperor then said: "I understand there is a rumor to the
effect that when this lady has finished Her Majesty's portrait she
is going to paint mine. I should very much like to know who says
so." I told him this was the first I had heard about it so could
not say. I asked him whether he would like to have his portrait
painted but he only answered: "That is rather a difficult question
for me to answer. You know best whether I ought to have it painted
or not.

"I see Her Majesty having so many photographs taken and even the
eunuchs are in the picture." I understood at once what he meant,
so I asked him if he wished me to take him with my little kodak.
He looked surprised and asked: "Can you take pictures, too? If it
is not too risky for us, we might try it some day when we have an
opportunity. Don't forget, but I think we must be very careful."

He then changed the conversation by saying: "Well, now that we
have time to talk I want to ask you a question and I expect you to
answer me truly. What is the general opinion amongst the
foreigners regarding myself? Do they consider me a man of
character and do they think me clever? I am very anxious to know."
Before I could say anything in answer to this question he
continued: "I know very well that they regard me as nothing more
than a boy, and as being of no consequence at all. Tell me, is not
this so?" I replied that many foreigners had asked me about
him--as to what kind of man he was, but that they had never
expressed any opinion of their own regarding him excepting that
they understood he was in the best of health. "If any wrong
impression does exist regarding myself and my position at the
Court," continued the Emperor, "it is owing to the very
conservative customs of the Chinese Court. I am not expected to
either say or do anything on my own initiative, consequently
outsiders never hear much about me and I am regarded as being
nothing more than a figure-head. I know this is so. Whenever they
ask you about me in the future just explain to them exactly what
my position here is. I have plenty of ideas regarding the
development of this country but you know I am not able to carry
them out as I am not my own master. I don't think the Empress
Dowager herself has sufficient power to alter the state of things
existing in China at present, and even if she has, she is not
willing to. I am afraid it will be a long time before anything can
be done towards reform."

The Emperor went on to say how nice it would be if he were allowed
to travel about from place to place the same as the European
monarchs, but of course such a thing was out of the question for
him. I told him that several Princesses had expressed a wish to
visit the St. Louis Exposition and said I thought it would be a
good thing if that could be arranged as they would see for
themselves the difference between their own country and customs
and foreign countries and customs. The Emperor expressed doubts as
to this permission being granted as such a thing had never been
heard of before.

We talked for quite a long time, mostly about foreign customs, and
the Emperor remarked that he would very much like to visit Europe
and see for himself how things were carried on there.

Just then one of my eunuchs came and said that Her Majesty was
awake, so I had to hurry off to her room.

We now arrive at the tenth moon.

The first day it snowed, and the head eunuch enquired of Her
Majesty whether it was her intention to celebrate her birthday at
the Summer Palace as usual. As previously explained the Summer
Palace was Her Majesty's favorite place of abode; so she replied
in the affirmative and arrangements were accordingly made for the
celebration to be held there as usual. The head eunuch then
brought Her Majesty a list giving the names and ranks of all the
Princesses and the names of the wives and daughters of the Manchu
officials, and she selected those whom she wished to be present at
the celebrations. On this occasion she selected forty-five ladies,
who were duly informed that she desired their presence at the
Palace. I was standing behind Her Majesty's chair all this time,
and she turned and said: "Usually I do not ask many people to my
birthday celebrations, but on this occasion I have made an
exception as I want you to see the way they dress and how ignorant
they are of Court etiquette."

The celebrations commenced on the sixth day of the tenth moon.
Miss Carl, having returned to the American Legation in Peking for
the time being, my mother, my sister and myself went back to the
Palace again. Early on the morning of the sixth, the eunuchs
decorated the verandas with different colored silks and hung
lanterns all over the place and amongst the trees. At about seven
o'clock in the morning the visitors began to arrive and I quite
agreed with what Her Majesty had told me about them. The eunuchs
introduced them to all the Court ladies, but they seemed to have
very little to say, appearing very shy. They were then conducted
to the waiting room, but there were so many of them that we Court
ladies had to stand outside on the veranda. Some of them were very
expensively dressed, but their colors were, for the most part,
very old fashioned, and their manners very awkward. We watched
them for quite a while and then went off to report to Her Majesty.

On such occasions as this Her Majesty was generally in pretty good
spirits. She commenced asking us a lot of questions. Amongst other
things she asked whether we had noticed an elderly lady among the
visitors, dressed as a bride. She explained that this lady was the
only Manchu lady present who was married to a Chinese official,
and had been invited because of her previous connection with the
Court. Her Majesty said she had never seen her herself, but
understood that she was a very clever woman. We had not noticed
such a person, and suggested that perhaps she had not yet arrived.

Her Majesty dressed very quickly, and as soon as she was ready she
came into the hall, where the head eunuch brought in the visitors
and presented them to Her Majesty. We Court ladies were all
standing in a row behind the Throne. As they came in, some
kowtowed; others courtesied, while others did not do anything at
all, in fact nobody appeared to know what to do with herself. Her
Majesty spoke a few words of welcome and thanked them for the
presents they had sent her.

I would like to say here that, contrary to the general idea which
exists, Her Majesty always expressed her thanks for any present or
service rendered, no matter how insignificant.

Her Majesty could see plainly that everybody was embarrassed and
ordered the head eunuch to show them to their respective rooms,
and told them to make themselves at home and to go and take a
rest. They hesitated a moment, not knowing whether to go or not,
until Her Majesty said to us: "Take them and present them to the
Young Empress."

When we arrived at the Palace of the Young Empress they were duly
presented and were not nearly so shy as before. The Young Empress
informed them that in case they desired to know anything or to be
put right on any point of Court etiquette, the Court ladies would
be pleased to give them all necessary information and she decided
that the best way would be for each Court lady to have charge of
so many of the visitors, as it would not be nice to have any
mistakes occur during the ceremony, on the tenth. So we each were
allotted so many guests and had to look after them and instruct
them how to act on the different occasions.

During Her Majesty's afternoon rest I paid a visit to the guests I
was to take charge of. Among them was the bride referred to by Her
Majesty. So I went and made myself agreeable to her and found her
very interesting. She had evidently received a good education,
unlike the majority of Manchu ladies, as I found she could read
and write Chinese exceptionally well. I then explained to all of
them what they would have to do, and how to address Her Majesty,
should it be necessary to do so. I don't know whether I have
mentioned it previously, but whenever anybody spoke to Her
Majesty, they always addressed her as "Great Ancestor," and when
referring to themselves, instead of the pronoun "I," they would
say "Your slave." In all Manchu families a similar rule is
observed, the pronouns "You" and "I" being dispensed with and the
titles "Mother" and "Father" and the son's or daughter's first
name being substituted.

Her Majesty was very particular about this rule being strictly
observed.

For the next four days, until the day of the ceremony, these
visitors passed their time in learning the Court etiquette and
going to the theatre.

Every morning, as usual, we waited on Her Majesty and reported
anything of interest which had occurred during the previous day.
Then we all preceded Her Majesty to the theatre, where we awaited
her arrival standing in the courtyard. On Her Majesty appearing,
we would all kneel down until she had passed into the building
opposite the stage, kneeling in rows --first the Emperor, behind
him the Young Princess, next the Secondary wife, then the
Princesses and Court ladies, and last of all the visitors. The
first two days everything went of all right, but on the third
morning the Emperor, from whom we received the signal, suddenly
turned and said: "Her Majesty is coming." Down we all went on our
knees, the Emperor alone remaining standing and laughing at us. Of
course there was no sign of Her Majesty and everybody joined in
the laugh. He was never so happy as when he could work off a joke
like this.

On the evening of the ninth, none of the Court ladies went to bed,
as we all had to be up betimes on the morning of the tenth. The
visitors were told to proceed by chair to Her Majesty's special
Audience Hall on the top of the hill, where they were to await our
arrival. They arrived at the Audience Hall at three o'clock in the
morning, and we followed soon afterwards, arriving there about
daybreak. By and bye Her Majesty arrived and the ceremony
commenced. This ceremony in no way differed from the one
previously described in connection with the Emperor's birthday, so
there is no need to give particulars, except one thing. Very early
on the morning of the tenth, we had to bring another present to
her and each of us brought a hundred birds of various kinds. Each
year, on her birthday, Her Majesty did a very peculiar thing. She
would buy 10,000 birds with her own money, from her private purse
and set them free. It was a very pretty sight to see those huge
cages hung in the courtyard of the Audience Hall. Her Majesty
would select the most lucky hour and order the eunuchs to carry
the cages and to follow her. The hour selected was four o'clock in
the afternoon. Her Majesty took the whole Court with her to the
top of the hill, where there was a Temple. First she burnt sandal
wood and offered up prayers to the Gods, then the eunuchs, each
with a cage of birds, knelt in front of Her Majesty and she opened
each cage one after another and watched the birds fly away, and
prayed to the Gods that these birds should not be caught again.
Her Majesty did this very seriously and we asked each other in
whispers which bird we thought was the prettiest and would like to
keep it for ourselves. Among this lot there were a few parrots.
Some were pink; others were red and green; all were chained on
stands, and when the eunuchs broke the chains, the parrots would
not move. Her Majesty said: "How funny; each year a few parrots
will not go away at all and I have kept them until they died. Look
at them now. They won't go away." By this time the head eunuch
arrived. Her Majesty told him what had happened and he immediately
knelt down and said: "Your Majesty's great luck. These parrots
understand Your Majesty's kindness and would rather stay here and
serve Your Majesty." This ceremony is called "Fang Sheng." It is
considered a very meritorious action and will not fail of reward
in Heaven.

One of the Court ladies asked me what I thought of the parrots
that would not fly away, and I told her that it was really very
strange. She said: "It is very simple and not strange at all.
These eunuchs, ordered by the head one, have bought these parrots
long ago and trained them. During Her Majesty's afternoon rest,
these parrots were brought to the top of the very same hill every
day to accustom them to the place. The object of this is just to
please and otherwise fool Her Majesty, to make her feel happy and
believe that she is so merciful that even such dumb things would
rather stay with her." Continuing, she said: "The huge joke is
this: while Her Majesty is letting the birds free, there are a few
eunuchs waiting at the rear of the hill to capture them and sell
them again, and so, no matter how Her Majesty prays for their
freedom, they will be caught at once."

The celebrations were continued until the thirteenth day. Nobody
did any work and all was gaiety and enjoyment, the theatre being
open every day. Towards the close of the thirteenth day the
visitors were informed that the celebrations were at an end and
they made arrangements to leave early the next morning. They all
bade Her Majesty good-bye that evening and departed early the
following day.

For the next few days we were all busy preparing for removing to
the Sea Palace. Her Majesty consulted her book and finally
selected the 22d as being the most favorable day for this removal.
So at six o'clock on the morning of the 22d the whole Court left
the Summer Palace. It was snowing very heavily and the journey was
only accomplished with great difficulty. Of course we were all in
chairs, as usual, and the eunuchs who were not employed as
chair-bearers rode horseback. Many of the horses fell on the
slippery stones and one of Her Majesty's chair-bearers also
slipped and brought Her Majesty to the ground. All of a sudden I
thought something dreadful had happened, horses galloping and
eunuchs howling: "Stop! Stop!!" I heard someone saying: "See if
she is still alive." The whole procession stopped and blocked the
way. This happened on the stone road just before entering the
Western Gate. Finally we saw that Her Majesty's chair was resting
on the ground, so we all alighted and went forward to see what had
happened. A great many people were talking excitedly all at the
same time, and for a moment I was rather frightened (for just
about that time we heard a rumor that some of the revolutionists
were going to take the life of the whole Court, and, although we
heard that, we did not dare tell Her Majesty), so I immediately
went to her chair and found her sitting there composedly giving
orders to the chief eunuch not to punish this chair-bearer, for he
was not to blame, the stones being wet and very slippery. Li Lien
Ying said that would never do, for this chair-bearer must have
been careless, and how dare he carry the Old Buddha in this
careless way. After saying this, he turned his head to the beaters
(these beaters, carrying bamboo sticks, went everywhere with the
Court, for such occasions as this) and said: "Give him eighty
blows on his back." This poor victim, who was kneeling on the
muddy ground, heard the order. The beaters took him about a
hundred yards away from us, pushed him down and started to do
their duty. It did not take very long to give the eighty blows
and, much to my surprise, this man got up, after receiving the
punishment, as if nothing had happened to him. He looked just as
calm as could be. While we were waiting a eunuch handed me a cup
of tea, which I presented to Her Majesty, and asked her if she was
hurt. She smiled and said it was nothing, ordering us to proceed
on our journey. I must explain about this tea; the eunuchs had it
prepared all the time and always carried a little stove along with
hot water. Although this went every time when the Court moved, it
was seldom used.

As usual, all the Court ladies take a short cut to the Palace, so
as to be ready to receive Her Majesty, when she arrived. After
waiting in the courtyard for quite a long time, during which we
were nearly frozen, Her Majesty arrived, and we all knelt until
she had passed, and then followed her into the Palace. Her Majesty
also complained of the cold and ordered that fires should be
brought into the hall. These fires were built in brass portable
stoves lined with clay, and were lighted outside and brought into
the hall after the smoke had passed off somewhat. There were four
stoves in all. All the windows and doors were closed, there being
no ventilation of any description, and very soon I began to feel
sick. However, I went on with my work getting Her Majesty's things
in order until I must have fainted, for the next thing I
remembered was waking up in a strange bed and inquiring where I
was, but on hearing Her Majesty giving orders in the next room, I
knew it was all right. One of the Court ladies brought me a cup of
turnip juice which Her Majesty said I was to drink. I drank it and
felt much better. I was informed that Her Majesty had gone to
rest, and so I went off to sleep again myself. When I awoke, Her
Majesty was standing by my bedside. I tried to get up, but found
that I was too weak, so Her Majesty told me to lie still and keep
quiet and I would soon be all right again. She said that I had
better have a room close to her bedroom, and gave instructions for
the eunuchs to remove me there as soon as it was prepared. Every
few minutes Her Majesty would send to inquire how I was
progressing and whether I wanted anything to eat. It was the
custom to stand up whenever receiving a message from Her Majesty,
but it was out of the question for me to do so, although I tried,
with the result that I made myself worse than ever.

Towards evening the head eunuch came to see me and brought several
plates of sweetmeats. He was very nice, and told me that I was
very fortunate, as Her Majesty very rarely bothered herself about
any of the Court ladies and that evidently she had taken a fancy
to me. He sat talking for some little time, and told me to eat
some of the sweetmeats. Of course I was not able to eat anything
at all, let alone sweetmeats, so I told him to leave them and I
would eat them later. Before leaving he said that in case I wanted
anything I was to let him know. This visit was a great surprise to
me, as usually he took very little notice of any of us, but I was
told afterwards that the reason he was so nice was because Her
Majesty showed such an interest in me.

The next morning I was able to get up and resume my duties. I went
in to see Her Majesty and kowtowed to her, thanking her for her
kindness during my indisposition. Her Majesty said that the head
eunuch had told her the previous evening that I was much better
and that she was glad I was up and about again. She said it was
nothing serious, simply that I was unaccustomed to the fumes from
the fires, which had gone to my head.

As the snow had stopped falling, Her Majesty decided that the next
day we would go and choose a place for Miss Carl to continue the
painting. I suggested that perhaps it would be better if we waited
until Miss Carl arrived herself, so that she could choose a
suitable place for her work, but Her Majesty said that would not
do at all, because if it were left to Miss Carl, doubtless she
would choose some impossible place. Of course there were many
parts of the Palace which were kept quite private and Miss Carl
would not be allowed to go there. So the next day Her Majesty and
myself set out to find a place. After visiting many different
rooms, all of which were too dark, we finally fixed on a room on
the lake side of the Palace. Her Majesty said: "This is very
convenient, as you can go to and fro either by chair or by water.
I found that it took about three-quarters of an hour by chair to
get to the Palace Gate, and rather less than that by boat. I was
expecting to return to stay at the Palace with Her Majesty, but it
was finally decided that this would not do, as it would not be
policy to allow Miss Carl, who was staying at the American
Legation, to go in and out of the Palace Gate alone, so Her
Majesty said it would be better for me to stay at my father's
place in the city and bring Miss Carl to the Palace each morning,
returning with her in the evening. This was anything but pleasant,
but I had no other alternative than to obey Her Majesty's
instructions.

When Miss Carl arrived at the Palace the next day and saw the room
which had been selected for her to work in, she was not at all
pleased. In the first place she said it was too dark, so Her
Majesty ordered the paper windows to be replaced by glass. This
made the room too bright, and Miss Carl asked for some curtains so
as to focus the light on the picture. When I informed Her Majesty
of this request, she said: "Well, this is the first time I have
ever changed anything in the Palace except to suit myself. First I
alter the windows, and she is not satisfied, but must have
curtains. I think we had better take the roof off, then perhaps
she may be suited." However, we fixed up the curtains to Miss
Carl's satisfaction.

When Her Majesty examined the portrait to see how it was
progressing, she said to me: "After all the trouble we have had
over this picture, I am afraid it is not going to be anything very
wonderful. I notice that the pearls in my cape are painted in
different colors; some look white, some pink, while others are
green. You tell her about it." I tried to explain to Her Majesty
that Miss Carl had simply painted the pearls as she saw them,
according to the different shades of light, but Her Majesty could
not understand that at all and asked if I could see anything green
about them, or pink either. I again explained that this was simply
the tints caused by the light falling on the pearls, but she
replied that she could not see any shade except white. However,
after a while she did not seem to trouble any further about the
matter.

Situated in a room near Her Majesty's bedroom in the Sea Palace
was a Pagoda, about ten feet in height, made of carved sandalwood.
This contained various images of Buddha, which Her Majesty used to
worship every morning. The ceremony consisted of Her Majesty
burning incense before the Pagoda, while a Court lady was told off
each day to kowtow before the images. Her Majesty told me that
this Pagoda had been in the Palace for more than a hundred years.
Among the different images was one representing the Goddess of
Mercy. This image was only about five inches in height and was
made of pure gold. The inside was hollow and contained all the
principal anatomical parts of the human body, made out of jade and
pearls. This Goddess of Mercy was supposed to possess wonderful
powers and Her Majesty often worshiped before it when in any
trouble, and maintained that on many occasions her prayers had
been answered. She said: "Of course, when I pray to the image, I
pray earnestly, not the same as you girls, who simply kowtow
because it is your duty and then get away as quickly as possible."
Her Majesty went on to say that she was quite aware that many of
the people in China were discarding the religion of their
ancestors in favor of Christianity, and that she was very much
grieved that this was so.

Her Majesty was a firm believer in the old Chinese superstitions
connected with the Sea Palace, and during one of our conversations
she told me I was not to be surprised at anything I saw. She said
it was quite a common occurrence for a person walking beside you
to suddenly disappear altogether, and explained that they were
simply foxes who took human shape to suit their purpose. They had
probably lived in the Sea Palace for thousands of years and
possessed this power of changing their form at will. She said that
no doubt the eunuchs would tell me they were spirits or ghosts,
but that was not true: they were sacred foxes and would harm
nobody. As if to confirm this superstition, one evening, a few
days later, my fire having gone out, I sent my eunuch to see if
any of the other Court ladies were awake, and if so, to try to get
me some hot water. He went out taking his lantern along with him,
but he returned almost immediately with a face as white as chalk.
On inquiring what was the matter, he replied: "I have seen a
ghost: a woman, who came up to me, blew the light out and
disappeared." I told him that perhaps it was one of the servant
girls, but he said "No"; he knew all the women attached to the
Palace and he had never seen this one before. He stuck to it that
it was a ghost. I told him that Her Majesty had said there were no
ghosts, but that it might be a fox which had taken human shape. He
replied: "It was not a fox. Her Majesty calls them foxes, because
she is afraid to call them ghosts." He went on to tell me that
many years previously the head eunuch, Li Lien Ying, while walking
in the courtyard back of Her Majesty's Palace, saw a young servant
girl sitting on the edge of the well. He went over to ask her what
she was doing there, but on getting closer he found that there
were several other girls there also, and on seeing him approach,
they all deliberately jumped down the well. He immediately raised
the alarm, and on one of the attendants coming forward with a
lantern, he explained what had occurred. The attendant showed him
that it was impossible for anybody to jump into the well, as it
was covered with a large stone. My eunuch said that a long time
before this several girls did actually commit suicide by jumping
down this well, and that what Li Lien Ying had seen were the
ghosts of these girls, and nothing more. It is believed by the
Chinese that when a person commits suicide their spirit remains in
the neighborhood until such time as they can entice somebody else
to commit suicide, when they are free to go to another world, and
not before. I told him that I did not believe such things and that
I would very much like to see for myself. He replied: "You will
only want to see it once; that will be sufficient."

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19