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
"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
marvelled 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 meat balls, 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 chickens
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 rule 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 moulds such
as dragons, butterflies, flowers, etc., and one kind was made with
mincemeat 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 bird seed), 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 fairy
tales, but they were not near as interesting as the first play
that we had seen. Her Majesty sat on her long couch in the bedroom
and the eunuch brought her some tea and she ordered some brought
for us. My reader can imagine how delighted I was to be treated in
this way. In China the 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 favors 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 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 Keng (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 the custom to kowtow
when Her Majesty gives presents and we kowtowed 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 ladies
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 Ler Shou Tong (Ever
Happy Palace) 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 Empress and the Court ladies, and after 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 a table in the center of the room and kowtowed
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 taels 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 a Russian lady, Madame Plancon, wife of the Russian
Minister to China, who was bringing a miniature portrait of the
Czar and Czarina and family as a present from the Czar 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 theatre and the engagement
ceremony of Her Majesty's nephew, Ter Ju. The engagement ceremony,
according to the Manchu 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 Ru Yee, 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 place
two gold rings on her fingers, on which is carved the characters
Ta Hsi (Great Happiness). The meaning of the symbol or sceptre Ru
Yee 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 FIVE
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 yokes of the same color chiffon. My
mother wore her gray crepe de chine embroidered 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
fairies 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 Mdme. Plancon, 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 Dien, where she was received by Her
Majesty, who was sitting on her big throne on the raised dais. 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 gold finger nail
protectors. Her hair was dressed in the same style as usual.
When Mdme. Plancon entered the hall, my sister brought her to the
steps of the dais and she courtesied to Her Majesty. I then went
forward and brought her up onto the dais 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 Czar and Czarina. I interpreted this speech in
French to Mdme. Plancon, as she could not speak English. After
this, Her Majesty told me to take Mdme. Plancon 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 Mdme. Plancon 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 the bowls of food, one at
a time, in the center 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 sharkfins,
birds' 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 Mdme.
Plancon was entertained by the Imperial Princess 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 Mdme. Plancon was, 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: "They seem to think we are only
Chinese and do not know anything, and look down upon us. I notice
these things very quickly and am 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 Plancon. When I gave it to her, she 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 Mdme. Plancon
said, whether she liked the jade and whether she enjoyed her
luncheon, etc.
Her Majesty was very well 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. Conger 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 this marriage question worried me,
for nothing was farther 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 Mdme. Plancon 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
rest, that she would not need us any more that day. We courtesied
to her according to the custom when saying good night, and
retired.
CHAPTER SIX
IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY
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 fourth 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 Li, 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
Fo Yeh (The great old Buddha), as the eunuchs 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 ebonywood
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 winter time. 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 Li 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 with a start and asked what the matter was and a 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 peony
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 courtesied
to her as a good morning salute. The Emperor's Secondary wife was
there also, but we had been ordered not to courtesy 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
Sze Gurgur, fourth daughter of Prince Ching and a young widow
twenty-four years of age, Yuen Da Nai Nai, 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
courtesied to her and said: "Lao Tsu Tsung Chi Hsiang" (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, 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 heeled 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.
Pages:
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19