Two Years in the Forbidden City

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Things went along in the usual way until the first day of the
eleventh moon, when Her Majesty issued orders to the Court that as
the eleventh moon contained so many anniversaries of the deaths of
previous rulers of China, the usual theatrical performance would
be eliminated and the Court dress would in addition be modified to
suit the occasion. On the ninth day the Emperor was to go and
worship at the Temple of Heaven. So, as was customary on all these
occasions, he confined himself to his own private apartments for
three days before the ninth, during which time he held no
communication whatsoever with anybody excepting his private
eunuchs. Not even the Young Empress, his wife, was allowed to see
him during these three days.

This ceremony did not differ very materially from the other
sacrifices, except that pigs were killed and placed on the
numerous altars of the Temple, where they remained for a time,
after which they were distributed among the different officials.
The eating of the flesh of these pigs, which had been blessed, was
believed to bring good luck and prosperity, and the officials who
were presented with them considered themselves greatly favored by
Her Majesty. Another difference was that the Emperor could not
appoint a substitute to officiate for him; but must attend in
person, no matter what the circumstances might be. The reason for
this was, that according to the ancient law, the Emperor signs the
death warrant of every person sentenced to death, record of which
is kept in the Board of Punishments. At the end of the year the
name of each person executed is written on a piece of yellow paper
and sent to the Emperor. When the time for worshiping at the
Temple arrives, he takes this yellow paper and burns it in order
that the ashes may go up to Heaven and his ancestors know that he
has been fearless and faithful, and has done his duty according to
the law.

As this ceremony of worshiping at the Temple of Heaven was to take
place in the Forbidden City, in spite of Her Majesty's dislike to
the place, she commanded that the whole of the Court be
transferred there, her reason for this being that she did not wish
to be away from the Emperor's side even for an hour. So we all
moved to the Palace in the Forbidden City. After the ceremony was
over, the Court was to return to the Sea Palace, but as the
thirteenth day was the anniversary of the death of the Emperor
Kang Hsi, it was decided that we should remain in the Forbidden
City, where the ceremony was to be held. The Emperor Kang Hsi
ruled over the Chinese Empire for sixty-one years, the longest
reign of any Chinese Ruler up to the present time, and Her Majesty
told us that he was the most wonderful Emperor China had ever had
and that we must respect his memory accordingly.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THE AUDIENCE HALL

ON the fourteenth day of the eleventh moon, after the morning
audience, Her Majesty informed us that there was a likelihood of
war breaking out between Russia and Japan and that she was very
much troubled, as although it actually had nothing whatever to do
with China, she was afraid they would fight on Chinese territory
and that in the long run China would suffer in some way or other.
Of course we did not bother ourselves about it much at the moment,
but the next morning the head eunuch reported to Her Majesty that
fifty eunuchs were missing. As there was no apparent reason for
this, everybody was much excited. There was no rule against any of
the eunuchs going into the city after their duties were ended,
providing they returned before the Palace Gate was closed, but
when on the following morning it was reported that another hundred
eunuchs had also disappeared, Her Majesty at once said: "I know
now what the trouble is; they must have heard what I said about
this war coming on and are afraid there may be a repetition of the
Boxer trouble, and so they have cleared out." It was the custom
whenever a eunuch was missing to send out search parties and have
him brought back and punished, but in the present instance Her
Majesty gave instructions that nothing was to be done about
recapturing them. One morning, however, one of Her Majesty's
personal attendants was missing, which made her furious. She said
that she had been very kind to this particular eunuch in many
ways, and this was all the thanks she got; he ran away at the
first sign of trouble. I myself had noticed how good she had been
to this eunuch, but I was not really sorry that he had left, as he
used to take advantage of every opportunity of getting some of the
Court ladies into trouble.

These disappearances continued from day to day until Her Majesty
decided that it would be safer for us to remain in the Forbidden
City until the following spring at any rate.

On inquiring from my eunuch the cause of these disappearances, he
said that it was just as Her Majesty suspected; they were afraid
of getting mixed up in another such affair as the Boxer trouble,
and added that he was not a bit surprised at Her Majesty's
favorite eunuch going along with the rest. He further told me that
even Li Lien Ying himself was not to be absolutely relied upon, as
at the time of Her Majesty's leaving Peking for Shi An during the
Boxer movement, he had feigned sickness, and followed a little
later, so that in the event of anything happening, he would be
able to return and make his escape. While talking about Li Lien
Ying, my eunuch told me in confidence that he was responsible for
the death of many innocent people, mostly eunuchs. He had
unlimited power at the Court, and it was very easy for him to get
anybody put away who offended him or to whom, for some reason or
another, he took a dislike. Furthermore, the eunuch informed me
that, although not generally known, Li Lien Ying was addicted to
opium-smoking, which habit he indulged in very freely. Even Her
Majesty was unaware of this, as opium-smoking was strictly
forbidden in the Palace.

Each morning there was fresh news regarding the trouble between
Russia and Japan, and of course everybody gradually became very
much excited at the Palace. One day Her Majesty summoned the whole
of the Court to a special audience and there informed us that
there was no need for us to get excited at all; that if any
trouble did occur, it was none of our business and we should not
be interfered with, as the spirits of our ancestors were watching
over us, and she did not want to hear any more talk and gossip on
the subject. However, she summoned all of the Court ladies to her
apartment and there commanded us to pray to the spirits of our
ancestors to protect us, which plainly showed that she was just as
much worried as we were ourselves. In spite of what she had said
with reference to gossiping about this trouble, Her Majesty often
spoke about it herself, and during one of our conversations she
said she wished she could get information each day as to what was
actually occurring, so I suggested that it would be very easy to
get all the latest news by taking the foreign papers and also
Reuter's specials. Her Majesty jumped at the suggestion and told
me to have these sent each day to my father's house in his name,
and have them brought to the Palace, where I could translate them
for her. I told her that my father received all these papers as
they were published, so I arranged that they should be brought
along as directed by Her Majesty. Each morning during the audience
I translated into Chinese all the war news, but the telegrams
began to arrive so rapidly that it soon became quite impossible
for me to write them all out in Chinese, so I told Her Majesty
that I would read and translate them into Chinese as they arrived.
This was much quicker and interested Her Majesty so much that she
insisted on my not only translating the war news, but everything
else of interest in the papers. Especially was she interested in
all news appertaining to the movements, etc., of the crowned heads
of Europe, and was very plainly astonished when she learned that
their every movement was known. She said: "Here, at any rate, it
is more private, for nobody outside the Palace ever knows what is
going on inside, not even my own people. It would be a good thing
if they did know a little more, then perhaps all these rumors
about the Palace would stop."

Of course, during our stay in the Forbidden City, Miss Carl
attended each morning to work on the portrait. We had given her a
nice room, which seemed to suit her very well, and Her Majesty had
instructed me to let her have every convenience possible to assist
her, as she was getting tired of the business and would like to
see it finished quickly. Her Majesty hardly ever went near the
place herself, but when she did go, she would be most affable and,
really, one would think that it was the greatest pleasure of her
life to go and inspect the portrait.

Things went very slowly during this eleventh moon on account of
the Court being in mourning, so one day Her Majesty suggested that
she should show us round the Forbidden City. First we proceeded to
the Audience Hall. This differs somewhat from the Audience Hall of
the Summer Palace. To enter, one must mount some twenty odd steps
of white marble, with rails on either side of the steps made of
the same material. At the top of the steps a large veranda,
supported by huge pillars of wood, painted red, surrounded the
building. The windows along this verandah were of marvellously
carved trellis-work, designed to represent the character "Shou"
arranged in different positions. Then we entered the hall itself.
The floor is of brick, and Her Majesty told us that all these
bricks were of solid gold and had been there for centuries. They
were of a peculiar black color, doubtless painted over, and were
so slippery that it was most difficult to keep on one's feet. The
furnishing was similar to that in the Audience Halls in the Summer
Palace and in the Sea Palace, with the exception that the throne
was made of dark brown wood inlaid with jade of different colors.

The Hall was only used for audience on very rare occasions, such
as the birthday of the Empress Dowager and New Year's Day, and no
foreigner has ever entered this building. All the usual audiences
were held in a smaller building in the Forbidden City.

After spending some little time in the Audience Hall, we next
visited the Emperor's quarters. These were much smaller than those
occupied by Her Majesty, but were very elaborately furnished.
There were thirty-two rooms, many of which were never used, but
all were furnished in the same expensive style. In the rear of
this building was the Palace of the Young Empress, which was
smaller still, having about twenty-four rooms in all, and in the
same building three rooms were set apart for the use of the
Secondary wife of the Emperor. Although close together, the
Palaces of the Emperor and his wife were not connected by any
entrance, but both buildings were surrounded by verandas
connecting with Her Majesty's apartments, which were quite a
distance away. There were several other buildings, which were used
as waiting rooms for visitors. In addition to the above, there
were several buildings which were not used at all; these were
sealed and nobody seemed to know what they contained, or whether
they contained anything at all. Even Her Majesty said she had
never been inside these buildings, as they had been sealed for
many years. Even the entrance to the enclosure containing these
buildings was always closed, and this was the only occasion that
any of us ever even passed through. They were quite different in
appearance from any other buildings in the Palace, being very
dirty and evidently of great age. We were commanded not to talk
about the place at all.

The apartments of the Court ladies were connected with those of
Her Majesty, but the rooms were so small one could hardly turn
round in them; also they were very cold in winter. The servants'
quarters were at the end of our apartments, but there was no
entrance and they could only be reached by passing along our
veranda, while the only entrance we ourselves had to our rooms was
by passing along Her Majesty's veranda. This was Her Majesty's own
idea, in order that she could keep an eye on all of us and could
see when we either went out or came in.

Her Majesty now conducted us to her own Palace, and pausing a
little said: "I will now show you something which will be quite
new to you." We entered a room adjoining her bedroom, which was
connected by a narrow passage some fifteen feet in length. On
either side the walls were painted and decorated very beautifully.
Her Majesty spoke to one of the eunuch attendants, who stooped
down and removed from the ground at each end of this passage two
wooden plugs which were fitted into holes in the basement. I then
began to realize that what I had hitherto regarded as solid walls
were in reality sliding panels of wood. These panels when opened
revealed a kind of grotto. There were no windows, but in the roof
was a skylight. At one end of this room or grotto was a large
rock, on the top of which was a seat with a yellow cushion, and
beside the cushion an incense burner. Everything had the
appearance of being very old. The room contained no furniture of
any description. One end of this room led into another passage
similar to the one already described, having sliding panels, which
led into another grotto, and so on; in fact the whole of the
palace walls were intersected by these secret passages, each
concealing an inner room. Her Majesty told us that during the Ming
dynasty these rooms had been used for various purposes,
principally by the Emperor when he wished to be alone. One of
these secret rooms was used by Her Majesty as a treasure room
where she kept her valuables. During the time of the Boxer
trouble, she hid all her valuables here before she fled. When she
returned and opened this secret room she found everything intact,
not one of the vandals who ransacked the Palace even suspecting
there was such a place.

We returned to our veranda, and on looking around for the rooms we
had just vacated, could see nothing excepting black stone walls,
so well were they hidden. One of the principal reasons for Her
Majesty's dislike to the Forbidden City was the mysteries which it
contained, many of which she did not know of herself. She said: "I
don't even talk about these places at all, as people might think
that they were used for all kinds of purposes."

While at the Palace in the Forbidden City I met the three
Secondary wives of the previous Emperor Tung Chi, son of the
Empress Dowager, who, since the death of the Emperor, had resided
in the Forbidden City and spent their time in doing needlework,
etc., for Her Majesty. When I got to know them I found that they
were highly educated, one of them, Yu Fai, being exceptionally
clever. She could write poetry and play many musical instruments,
and was considered to be the best educated lady in the Empire of
China. Her knowledge of western countries and their customs
surprised me very much; she seemed to know a little bit of
everything. I asked how it was that I had never seen them before,
and was informed that they never visited Her Majesty unless
commanded by her to do so, but that when Her Majesty stayed in the
Forbidden City, of course they had to call and pay their respects
each day. One day I received an invitation to visit them in their
Palace. This was separated from all the other buildings in the
city. It was rather a small building, and very simply furnished,
with just a few eunuchs and servant girls to wait upon them. They
said they preferred this simple life, as they never received any
visitors and had nobody to please but themselves. Yu Fai's room
was literally packed with literature of all descriptions. She
showed me several poems which she had written, but they were of a
melancholy character, plainly showing the trend of her thoughts.
She was in favor of establishing schools for the education of
young girls, as only very few could even read or write their own
language, and she suggested that I should speak to Her Majesty
about it at the first opportunity. In spite of her desire to see
western reforms introduced into China, however, she was not in
favor of employing missionary teachers, as these people always
taught their religion at the expense of other subjects, which she
feared would set the Chinese against the movement.

Toward the end of the eleventh moon Her Majesty granted an
audience to the Viceroy of Chihli, Yuan Shih Kai, and as this
particular day was a holiday and Miss Carl was absent, I was able
to attend. Her Majesty asked him for his opinion of the trouble
between Russia and Japan. He said that although these two
countries might make war against each other, China would not be
implicated in any way, but that after the war was over, there was
sure to be trouble over Manchuria. Her Majesty said she was quite
aware of that, as they were fighting on Chinese territory, and
that the best thing for China to do would be to keep absolutely
neutral in the matter, as she had quite enough of war during the
China-Japan war. She said it would be best to issue orders to all
the officials to see that the Chinese did not interfere in any
way, so as not to give any excuse for being brought into the
trouble.

She then asked his opinion as to what would be the result in the
event of war--who would win. He said that it was very hard to say,
but that he thought Japan would win. Her Majesty thought that if
Japan were victorious, she would not have so much trouble over the
matter, although she expressed doubts as to the outcome, saying
that Russia was a large country and had many soldiers, and that
the result was far from certain.

Her Majesty then spoke about the condition of things in China. She
said that in case China were forced into war with another nation,
we should be nowhere. We had nothing ready, no navy and no trained
army, in fact nothing to enable us to protect ourselves. Yuan Shih
Kai, however, assured her there was no need to anticipate any
trouble at present so far as China was concerned. Her Majesty
replied that in any event it was time China began to wake up and
endeavor to straighten things out in some way or other, but she
did not know where to begin; that it was her ambition to see China
holding a prominent position among the nations of the world and
that she was constantly receiving memorials suggesting this reform
and that reform, but that we never seemed to get any further.

After this audience was over, Her Majesty held an audience with
the Grand Council. She told them what had been said during her
interview with Yuan Shih Kai, and of course they all agreed that
something should be done. Several suggestions were discussed with
regard to national defense, etc., but a certain Prince said that
although he was in perfect sympathy with reform generally, he was
very much against the adoption of foreign clothing, foreign modes
of living, and the doing away with the queue. Her Majesty quite
agreed with these remarks and said that it would not be wise to
change any Chinese custom for one which was less civilized. As
usual, nothing definite was decided upon when the audience was
over.

For the next few days nothing was talked of but the war, and many
Chinese generals were received in audience by Her Majesty. These
audiences were sometimes very amusing, as these soldiers were
quite unaccustomed to the rules of the Court and did not know the
mode of procedure when in the presence of Her Majesty. Many
foolish suggestions were made by these generals. During one of the
conversations Her Majesty remarked on the inefficiency of the navy
and referred to the fact that we had no trained naval officers.
One of the generals replied that we had more men in China than in
any other country, and as for ships, why we had dozens of river
boats and China merchant boats, which could be used in case of
war. Her Majesty ordered him to retire, saying that it was
perfectly true that we had plenty of men in China, but that the
majority of them were like himself, of very little use to the
country. After he had retired, everybody commenced to laugh, but
Her Majesty stopped us, saying that she did not feel at all like
laughing, she was too angry to think that such men held positions
as officers in the army and navy. One of the Court ladies asked me
why Her Majesty was so angry with the man for mentioning the river
boats, and was very much surprised when I informed her that the
whole of them would be worse than useless against a single war
vessel.

Just about the end of the eleventh moon Chang Chih Tung, Viceroy
of Wuchang, arrived, and was received in audience. Her Majesty
said to him: "Now, you are one of the oldest officials in the
country, and I want you to give me your unbiased opinion as to
what effect this war is going to have on China. Do not be afraid
to give your firm opinion, as I want to be prepared for anything
which is likely to happen." He answered that no matter what the
result of the war might be, China would in all probability have to
make certain concessions to the Powers with regard to Manchuria
for trade purposes, but that we should not otherwise be interfered
with. Her Majesty repeated what had been discussed at the previous
audiences on this subject and also regarding reform in China.
Chang Chih Tung replied that we had plenty of time for reform, and
that if we were in too great a hurry, we should not accomplish
anything at all. He suggested that the matter be discussed at
length before deciding upon anything definite. In his opinion it
would be foolish to go to extremes in the matter of reform. He
said that ten or fifteen years ago he would have been very much
against any reform whatsoever, but that he now saw the need for it
to a certain extent, as circumstances had changed very much. He
said that we should adhere strictly to our own mode of living and
not abandon the traditions of our ancestors. In other words, he
simply advised the adoption of western civilization where it was
an improvement on our own, and nothing more. Her Majesty was
delighted with the interview, for Chang Chih Tung's opinions
coincided exactly with her own.

During the whole of these audiences the Emperor, although present
each time, never opened his lips to say a word, but sat listening
all the time. As a rule, Her Majesty would ask his opinion, just
as a matter of form, but he invariably replied that he was quite
in accord with what Her Majesty had said or decided upon.

Of the many religious ceremonies in connection with the Buddhist
religion the "La-pachow" was the most important. This was held on
the 8th day of the twelfth moon each year. According to the common
belief, on this eighth day of the twelfth moon, many centuries
ago, a certain Buddhist priest Ju Lai set out to beg for food, and
after receiving a good supply of rice and beans from the people,
he returned and divided it with his brother priests, giving each
an equal share, and he became celebrated for his great charity.
This day was therefore set apart as an anniversary to commemorate
the event. The idea was that by practising self-denial on this
day, one would gain favor in the sight of this Buddha Ju Lai,
therefore the only food eaten was rice, grain and beans, all mixed
together in a sort of porridge, but without any salt or other
flavoring. It was not at all pleasant to eat, being absolutely
tasteless.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS

WE now reached the time set apart for cleaning the Palace in
preparation for the New Year festivals. Everything had to be taken
down and thoroughly overhauled, and all the images, pictures,
furniture and everything else were subjected to a thorough
scrubbing. Her Majesty again consulted her book in order to choose
a lucky day on which to commence these operations, finally
choosing the twelfth day as being most favorable. As we had all
received our orders previously, we commenced early on the morning
of the twelfth. Several of the Court ladies were told off to take
down and clean the images of Buddha and prepare new curtains for
them. The rest of the cleaning was done by the eunuchs. I asked
Her Majesty whether I was to clean her jewelry, but she answered
that as nobody but herself ever wore it, it didn't need cleaning.

After everything had been cleaned to Her Majesty's satisfaction,
she prepared a list of names of the people she desired to attend
the ceremony of Tzu Sui. This ceremony was held on the last day of
each year and was something like the midnight services usually
held in Europe on the last night of each old year--just a farewell
ceremony to bid the old year adieu. The guests were invited about
a fortnight ahead, so as to give them plenty of time to get ready.
Her Majesty also ordered new winter clothing for the Court ladies.
The only difference between these new garments and those we were
then. wearing was that they were trimmed with the fur of the
silver fox instead of the gray squirrel.

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