Two Years in the Forbidden City
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The Princess Der Ling >> Two Years in the Forbidden City
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I stood all the time while she was eating. She got up from the
table and handed me her napkin (this napkin was made of a piece of
silk a yard square, woven in many colors). One corner was turned
in, and a golden butterfly was fastened to it. It had a hook at
the back of this butterfly so as to hook on her collar. She said:
"I am sure you must be hungry. Go and tell the Young Empress and
the rest of the people to come and eat. You can eat anything you
want from these tables, so eat all you can." I was very, very
hungry. Just imagine, I had been up since 5:00 o'clock and had
only a light breakfast, and had walked a great deal. It was almost
noon when Her Majesty sat down at her table. She ate so slowly,
too. While I stood there talking to her I thought she would never
finish. She ate a good meal. The Young Empress stood at the head
of the table, and we all stood on either side. We did not like to
be forward, so we stood at the other end of the table. The food
was very much the same as the first day we were there. Her Majesty
came out from the inner room, had just finished washing her face
and hands, and had changed into another gown. This one was simple,
but very pretty. It was woven with pink and gray raw silks, which
gave it a changeable light whenever she moved. She came out and
said: "I want to see you people eat; why is it that you are
standing at the end of the table, the best dishes are not there?
All of you come over here and eat near the Young Empress." So we
moved from our end of the table to the other. Her Majesty stood
near me, and pointed to a smoked fish and wanted me to try it, as
it was her favorite, and said: "Make yourselves at home. You know
you have to fight your own battles here with this crowd. Of course
you can come and tell me if anyone does not treat you fair." Her
Majesty then went out, saying that she would walk a bit. I noticed
that some of the court ladies did not look pleased, seeing that
Her Majesty paid so much attention to us. I could see they were a
little jealous of me, but that did not worry me in the least.
After we got through our luncheon, I followed the Young Empress,
for it was all so new to me, and I did not know what I must
do--whether to join Her Majesty or not. After seeing that they
were jealous of me, I paid strict attention to everything, so as
not to make any mistake in doing my work and let them have the
satisfaction of laughing at me. I would not give them the chance.
I heard Her Majesty talking to the eunuchs who looked after the
garden, about some branches which ought to be cut down, saying
they were lazy. So we went to her. She said to us: "You see I have
to look after everything myself, if not, my flowers would be
ruined. I can't depend on them at all. I wonder what they are good
for. They ought to look around every day and cut down the dead
branches and leaves. They have not been punished for several days
and they are looking forward to it." She laughed and said: "I will
not disappoint them, but give them all they wish to have." I
thought these people must be idiots, looking forward to a
whipping, and wondered who would whip them. Her Majesty turned to
me and said: "Have you ever witnessed such an operation?" I told
her that I had, having seen the convicts being whipped at a
Magistrate's Yamen when I was a little girl living at Shansi (on
the Yangtsze). She said: "That is nothing. The convicts are not
half so wicked as these eunuchs. Of course they deserve a heavier
punishment when they are bad." Her Majesty said that I should
learn to play dice with her, as she never had enough people to
play with, so we went back to the same room where she had taken
her lunch. A square table was in the middle of this large room and
a little throne of Her Majesty's, facing south (her favorite
direction). Her Majesty sat on her throne and said to me: "I will
show you how to play this game. Do you think you know enough
Chinese to read this map?" I noticed a large map, the same size as
the table, and laid upon it, drawn in different colors. In the
center of the map was written the direction of the game. It said:
"This game is called the `Eight Fairies Travel across the Sea.'
The names are Lu Hsien, Chang Hsien, Li Hsien, Lan Hsien, Hang
Hsien, Tsao Hsien and Hain Hsien. These seven were masculine
fairies. Hor Hsien was the only lady fairy." This map was the map
of the Chinese Empire, and the names of the different provinces
were written on the drawing. There were eight pieces of round
ivory, about one inch and a half in diameter and a quarter of an
inch thick. The names of these fairies were engraved upon them.
This game could be played either by eight people or four people,
when each person had to take two fairies' places, instead of one.
A porcelain bowl was placed in the center of the map, to compare
the point by throwing six dice into the bowl. For instance, four
people play. One throws these six dice into the bowl and counts
the points on them. The highest that one could get was 36, and
should 36 be thrown the fairy should go to Hangehow to enjoy the
beautiful scenery. This person threw dice for Lu Hsien and had 36
points and placed this ivory piece of Lu Hsien on Hangehow upon
the map. The same person has to throw another time for another
fairy, so each person throws twice if four people play the game,
and once if played by eight. These different points count
different provinces. They are counted thus:--Six dice alike. One
pair in six dice, to three pairs. The lowest was the double 1, 2,
3. If any unfortunate fairy got this he should go on exile and be
left out altogether. Any one of the fairies that travelled round
the map to reach the Imperial Palace, the first, was the winner.
I read this to Her Majesty. She seemed to be quite pleased, and
said: "I had no idea that you could read so well. This game was my
own invention and I taught three Court ladies to play. I had a
very hard time teaching them. I also taught them how to read
Chinese in order to play the game, but it took them so long to
learn anything that I got quite discouraged before I got through
with them. I am sure you know how to play it now." I was very much
surprised to hear that these Court ladies were as ignorant as
this. I thought they must be excellent scholars, so did not dare
to show my knowledge of Chinese literature. We began to play the
game. Her Majesty was lucky. The two fairies held by her were way
ahead of ours. One of the Court ladies said to me: "You will be
surprised to see that Lao Tsu Tsung is always the winner." Her
Majesty smiled and said to me: "You will never be able to catch my
fairies." She said: "You are the first day here to play this game
and if any of your fairies beat any of mine I will give you a nice
present, so hurry up." I thought I could never get ahead of her
fairies, for they were so far ahead of mine, but I tried hard, as
Her Majesty told me to call out for the points I wanted. I did,
but it came out something so different that it amused her a great
deal. I had no idea how long we were playing this game. We counted
who came next, and that was one of my fairies, so Her Majesty said
to me: "I was sure you could not beat me, as no one could. Seeing
that yours are next to mine, I will give you the present just the
same." While she was saying this she told a servant girl to bring
her some embroidered handkerchiefs. This girl brought several
colored ones to her, and she asked me what color I preferred. She
handed me a pink one and a pale blue one, all embroidered with
purple wisteria, and said: "These two are the best, and I want you
to take them." I was just going to thank her by bowing to the
ground, but I found that my legs could not move. I tried hard and
succeeded finally, with difficulty. Her Majesty laughed very
heartily at me and said: "You see you are not accustomed to
standing so long and you cannot bend your knees any more."
Although my legs were sore I thought I had better not show it, but
smiled and told her that it was nothing, only my legs were a
little stiff, that was all. She said: "You must go and sit on the
veranda and rest a minute." I was only too glad to sit down, so I
went to the veranda and found the Young Empress sitting there with
several Court ladies. The Young Empress said: "You must be tired
standing so long. Come and sit near me." My legs were very stiff
and my back was tired. Of course Her Majesty did not know how
uncomfortable we were while she was sitting on her cozy throne.
Foreign attire is out of the question for the Imperial Palace of
Peking. I had hoped that Her Majesty would tell us to change into
our Manchu gowns. I noticed that she asked many questions every
day about foreign costumes, and she said: "The foreign costume is
not any prettier than ours and I should say they must be quite
uncomfortable round one's waist. I wouldn't be squeezed that way
for anything." Although she was saying such things she did not
suggest that we should give them up, so we had to wait patiently
for her orders. The Young Empress took her watch out of her
pocket, and said to me: "This game has lasted just two hours." I
said to her that it seemed to me longer than that. While we were
talking I saw our own eunuchs bringing four round boxes, made of
thin board, carried at each end of bamboo poles. They put them
down near where we sat, and one of them brought me a cup of tea.
When my mother and sister came the same eunuch brought another two
cups, and there were several Court ladies talking with us. This
eunuch did not give them any. I noticed at the other end of this
long veranda there were another two boxes, exactly the same as
these, and a big tall eunuch made tea and brought it to the Young
Empress in a yellow porcelain cup, with a silver saucer and a
silver top cover. He did not give any to the others.
I was puzzled when one of the Court ladies sitting next to me
said: "Would you mind telling Wang (our head eunuch) to give me a
cup of your tea, just to save me the trouble to go and get it from
the small room at the end of this long veranda?" I gave her such a
surprised look, for I did not know that this was our tea, but I
thought I'd just tell Wang to bring her a cup, and find out
afterwards the reason, for I would give anything in the world
rather than appear ignorant before those people. While we were
talking Her Majesty came out. Before she reached the veranda I got
up and told the Young Empress that Her Majesty was coming. I saw
her first because I sat facing her back hall. Her Majesty said to
us all: "It is almost three o'clock now, and I am going to rest a
while. Let us leave here." We all stood in a line for her to enter
her chair, and then we went to ours. It was quite a fast ride and
we got out of our chairs before arriving at the courtyard of her
own Palace. We walked ahead of her chair and formed into another
line for her to alight. She walked to her bedroom and we all
followed. A eunuch brought her a cup of hot water and another
brought a bowl of sugar. She took her golden spoon and took two
teaspoonfuls of sugar and put it into her cup of hot water, and
drank it very slowly. She said: "You know before one goes to sleep
or ever lies down, sugar water will quiet one's nerves. I always
take it, and find it very good indeed." She took the flowers off
from her headdress and I fixed them back in their boxes at once,
and placed them in the jewel-room. When I came out of this
jewel-room she was in bed already, and said to us: "You all go and
rest a while. I don't need you now."
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE COURT LADIES
WE retired from her room, but I noticed that two of the Court
ladies did not come out with us. One of them said to me: "I am
glad that I can rest a bit to-day, for I have been sitting three
afternoons in succession." At first I did not know what she meant.
Then she said: "Oh, your turn has not come yet. We don't know
whether you received the order or not. You know two of us must
stay with Her Majesty during her afternoon siesta, to watch the
eunuchs and the servant girls." I thought that was the funniest
thing I had ever heard of, and wondered how many people would be
in her room. The Young Empress said: "We had better go at once and
rest ourselves, otherwise Her Majesty will be up again before we
get the chance." Of course I had not the least idea how long she
slept. So we went back to our rooms. I did not realize how tired I
was until I sat down in my room. I felt finished and awfully
sleepy at the same time, for I was not used to getting up at 5
o'clock. Everything was so new to me. As I sat there my thoughts
wandered to Paris, and I thought how strange it was that I used to
go to bed at 5 o'clock after the dances, and here I had to get up
at such a time. All the surroundings seemed new to me, seeing the
eunuchs running here and there waiting on us, as if they were
chambermaids. I told them that I didn't need them any more. I
wanted them to go out of the room so that I could lie down a bit.
They brought us tea and different kinds of candies, and asked what
else was wanted. I was just going to change into a comfortable
dress, when the eunuch came in and informed me that "Yo ker lila"
(visitors have come), and two Court ladies came, and another girl
of about seventeen came in. I had seen her that very morning when
I came to the Palace, busy working, but I was not introduced to
her. These two girls said: "We have come to see you and also to
find out if you are comfortable." I thought they were kind to come
and see me that way, but I did not like their faces. They
introduced this mean-looking girl to me and told me her name was
Chun Shou (Graceful Long Life). She did not look as if her life
would last long, being so thin and delicate. She looked sick and
worn out to me. I did not know who she was. She courtesied to me
and I returned to her, in a sort of half way. (I will explain
about the courtesy.)
(To Her Majesty, the Emperor and the Young Empress, we went down
and bent our knees, while we stood upright to the people of lower
rank than ourselves. In this case one must always wait while the
inferior courtesies first, and bend the knees a little bit in
return. This was the way I returned Chun Shou's courtesy to me.)
The two girls then said "Chun Shou's father is only a small
official, so she has not much standing at the Court. She is not
exactly a Court lady, but she is not a servant girl either." I
almost laughed right out, to hear such a funny statement, and
wondered what she must be. I saw her sitting down with the Court
ladies that very morning, so of course I asked her to sit down,
too. These two Court ladies asked me if I felt tired, and how I
liked the Empress Dowager. I told them that Her Majesty was the
most lovely lady I had ever seen, and that I already loved her
very much, although I had only been there a few days. They looked
at Chun Shou and exchanged smiles. They did that in such a
peculiar way that it annoyed me. They asked: "Do you think you
would like to live in this place, and how long do you intend to
stay?" I said I would love to stay long, and would do my best to
wait on Her Majesty, and be useful to her, for she had been so
kind towards us in the short time we had been there, and besides,
it was my duty to serve my sovereign and country. They laughed and
said: "We pity you, and are sorry for you. You must not expect any
appreciation here, no matter how hard you work. If you are really
going to do as you have said just now, you will be disliked by
everybody."
I did not know what they were talking about, or what their
conversation referred to. I thought this was so strange that I had
better put a stop to it, so I immediately changed the subject. I
asked them who dressed their hair, and who made their shoes for
them, as they had asked me. They answered my questions by saying
that their maids did everything for them. Chun Shou said to these
two girls: "Tell her everything about this Palace, and I am sure
she will change her mind when she actually sees things for
herself." I didn't like this Chun Shou, and her face didn't
impress me. She was a little bit of a thing, tiny head with thin
lips. When she laughed one could only hear the noise she made; no
expression was on her face at all. I was just going to say
something to them, so as not to give them the opportunity of
gossiping, but found they were too cunning. They noticed that I
tried every way to stop them, so they said: "Now let us tell you
everything. No one else will know. We like you very much and we
want to give you some warning, so as to be able to protect
yourself whenever you are in trouble." I told them that I would
take great care to do my work and didn't think that I would ever
get into trouble. They laughed and said: "That makes no
difference. Her Majesty will find fault." I could not believe
these things that they said, and intended to tell them that I
refused to hear such statements, but I thought I had better listen
to what they had to say first and not to offend them, for I never
believed in making enemies. I then told them that it would be
impossible for so sweet and kind-hearted a person like Lao Tsu
Tsung (the old ancestor) to find fault with such helpless girls as
we were, for we were her people, and she could do anything she
liked with us. They said: "You don't know, and have no idea how
wicked this place is; such torture and suffering one could not
imagine. We are sure that you think you must be happy to be with
the great Empress Dowager, and proud to be her Court Lady. Your
day hasn't come yet, for you all are new to her. Yes, she is
extremely kind to you just now, but wait until she gets tired of
you and then see what she will do. We have had enough, and know
what the Court life is. Of course you must have heard that Li Lien
Ying (the head eunuch) rules this Palace behind Lao Tsu Tsung's
back. We are all afraid of him. He pretends that he cannot
influence Lao Tsu Tsung, but we always know the result after a
long conversation consulting how to punish anyone. If any of us do
anything wrong, we always go to him and beg him to help us out.
Then he says he has no power to influence Her Majesty, and also
that he dare not tell her much, for she would scold him. We hate
all the eunuchs, they are such bad people. We can see very plainly
they are awfully polite to you because they can see that you are
in favor. To receive such rudeness from them, constantly, as we
do, is unbearable.
"Lao Tsu Tsung is very changeable. She may like one person to-day,
to-morrow she hates this same person worse than poison. She has
moods, and has no appreciation whatsoever. Even Chu Tzu, the Young
Empress (Chu Tzu means Mistress, that is to say she was mistress
of us all, for the Manchus were considered by the sovereign as
slaves) is afraid of Li Lien Ying, and has to be very nice to him.
In fact, we all have to be polite to him." They talked so long
that I thought they would never finish. About this time Wang came
in and brought tea for us. Suddenly I heard people howling in the
distance, so I asked Wang what was the matter. The girls were
listening also and a eunuch came flying in and told us Lao Fo Yeh
chin la (The Great Buddha wakes up). The girls got up and said we
must all go to see her, so they went. I was not at all pleased
with their visit, and wished they hadn't come, especially as they
told me such horrible things. It made me quite sad to listen to
the awful way they talked about Her Majesty. I loved her the first
day I was there, and made up my mind to forget everything they had
told me.
I was cross also because I didn't have time to change my clothes,
and had to go up to Her Majesty at once. I went into her bedroom,
and found her sitting upon the bed cross-legged, with a small
table placed on the bed in front of her. She smiled and asked:
"Have you had a good rest? Did you sleep at all?" I said that I
was not sleepy, and could not sleep in the daytime. She said:
"When you are old like me, you will be able to sleep at any time.
Just now you are young, and fond of play. I think you must have
been on the hills to gather flowers, or walked too much, for you
look tired." I could only say "Yes." The two Court ladies who had
just been talking nonsense about Her Majesty came in, to assist in
handing her the toilet articles. I looked at them, and felt
ashamed for them to face her, after having said so many
disagreeable things. Her Majesty washed her face and combed her
hair, and a servant girl brought her fresh flowers, of white
jasmine and roses. Her Majesty stuck them in her hair and said to
me: "I am always fond of fresh flowers--better than jade and
pearls. I love to see the little plants grow, and I water them
myself. I have been so busy ever since you came that I haven't
been able to visit my plants. Tell them to get the dinner ready
and I will take a walk afterwards." I came out of her room and
gave the eunuch the order. As usual we brought little dainties to
her. By this time Her Majesty was dressed and was sitting in the
large hall, playing solitaire with her dominoes. The eunuch laid
the tables as usual, and Her Majesty stopped play, and commenced
to eat. She asked me: "How do you like this kind of life?" I told
her that I very much enjoyed being with her. She said: "What kind
of a place is this wonderful Paris I have heard so much about? Did
you enjoy yourself while you were there, and do you wish to go
back again? It must be hard for you people to leave China for
three or four years, and I suppose you were all pleased when you
received the order to come back, after your father's term was
finished."
The only thing I could say was "Yes," because it wouldn't be nice
to tell her that I was awfully sorry to leave Paris. She said: "I
think we have everything in China, only the life is different.
What is dancing? Someone told me that two people hold hands and
jump all over the room. If that is the case I don't see any
pleasure in it at all. Do you have to jump up and down with men?
They told me that old women, with white hair, dance, too." I
explained to her about the balls given by the President, and all
the private dances, and also all about the masquerade balls, etc.
Her Majesty said: "I don't like this masquerade ball because you
don't know whom you are dancing with if they are wearing a mask."
I explained to her how carefully the people issued their
invitations, and that anyone who behaved badly could never enter
into high society. Her Majesty said: "I would like to see how you
jump, can you show me a little?" I went in search of my sister,
and found her busy talking to the Young Empress. I told her that
Her Majesty wished to see how people dance, and that we must show
her. The Young Empress and all the Court ladies heard this, and
all said that they also wished to see. My sister said that she had
noticed a large gramophone in Her Majesty's bedroom, and that
perhaps we could find some music. I thought that was a good idea,
and went to ask her for the gramophone. She said: "Oh, must you
jump with music?" I almost laughed when she said that, and told
her it was much nicer with music, as otherwise one could not keep
in time. She ordered the eunuchs to have the gramophone brought to
the hall, and said: "You jump while I take my dinner." We looked
over a lot of records, but they were all Chinese songs, but at
last we found a waltz, so we started to dance. We could see that a
lot of people were looking at us, who perhaps thought that we were
crazy. When we had finished we found Her Majesty laughing at us.
She said: "I could never do that. Are you not dizzy turning round
and round? I suppose your legs must be very tired also. It is very
pretty, and just like the girls used to do centuries ago in China.
I know that it is difficult and one ought to have any amount of
grace to do it, but I don't think it would look nice to see a man
dancing with a girl like that. I object to the hand around the
girl's waist; I like to see the girls dance together. It would
never do for China for a girl to get too close to a man. I know
the foreigners don't seem to think about that at all. It shows
that they are broader minded than us. Is it true that the
foreigners don't respect their parents at all-that they could beat
their parents and drive them out of the house?" I told her that it
was not so, and that someone had given her wrong ideas about
foreigners. Then she said: "I know that perhaps sometimes one
among the commonest class do that, and that people are apt to take
it wrong, and conclude that all foreigners treat their parents
that way. Now I see just the same thing done by the common people
in China." I wondered who had told her such nonsense and made her
believe it.
After we had taken our dinner it was just half-past five, and Her
Majesty said she would take a walk along the long veranda, so we
followed her. She showed me her flowers, and said that she had
planted them herself. Whenever Her Majesty went anywhere there was
always a lot of attendants following her, exactly the same as when
she went to the morning audiences. When we reached the end of this
long veranda, which took us a quarter of an hour to walk, Her
Majesty ordered her stool to be brought into one of the summer
houses. These summer houses were built of nothing but bamboo, all
the furniture being made of different shaped bamboo. Her Majesty
sat down, and one of the eunuchs brought tea and honeysuckle
flowers. She ordered the eunuchs to give us tea also. Her Majesty
said: "This is my simple way of enjoying life. I love to see the
country scenery. There are a great many pretty places which I will
show you and I am sure that after you have seen them you will not
like foreign countries any more. There is no scenery in the world
which can beat the Chinese. Some returned Ministers from abroad
said to me that the trees and mountains in foreign countries
looked ugly and savage. Is that true?" I concluded right away that
someone had wished to please her by saying things about
foreigners, so I told her that I had been in almost every country,
and had found lovely scenery, but of course it was different from
China. While we were talking Her Majesty said that she felt chilly
and asked: "Are you cold? You see you have your own eunuchs, they
are all standing around, and have nothing to do. Next time tell
them to carry your wraps along with you. I think that foreign
clothes must be quite uncomfortable either too warm or too cold. I
don't see how you can eat, having your waist squeezed that way."
Her Majesty got up and we all went on walking slowly towards her
own Palace. She sat down on her favorite little throne in the hall
and started to play solitaire. We came out on the veranda, and the
Young Empress said to us: "You must be tired, for I know you are
not used to doing such hard work all day long without stopping.
You had better wear Manchu clothes, because they are comfortable
and easy to work in. Look at your long train; you have to take it
up in your hands while walking."
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