Two Years in the Forbidden City
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The Princess Der Ling >> Two Years in the Forbidden City
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When she retired that afternoon I went to see the Young Empress,
who was always very nice and kind, and asked me to sit near her.
Her eunuch brought me a cup of tea. Her rooms were furnished
exactly the same as Her Majesty's, but everything looked extremely
dainty, and showed very good taste. We talked about the life at
the Palace for a long time, and she told me that she was very fond
of us, and so was Her Majesty. I told her that Her Majesty had
mentioned to us about going home for two or three days and that I
was surprised to see how thoughtful she was. She said that someone
had reminded Her Majesty to let us go home, for we had been at the
Court for more than two months. I found out afterwards that it was
the head eunuch Li who had heard that we were anxious to go. The
Young Empress said to me: "I want to teach you to be wise, that
is, you are ordered to leave the Court to-morrow, but Her Majesty
did not mention any particular hour. You must not talk about it to
anyone, and don't show that you are excited to go home. Don't
dress as if you are going out to-morrow, but be natural and do
your work as if you don't care about going at all. Don't you
remind her, in case she forgets to tell you to go, and come back
on the second day, which is the custom. It will show that you are
anxious to see Her Majesty, so you come back one day earlier than
the appointed time." I was so happy to get this information and
asked her if it would be all right to bring Her Majesty some
presents when we returned to the Court. She said that was just the
proper thing to do. The next day we did the same work, and went to
the Audience Hall with Her Majesty, as usual. After the audience
was over Her Majesty ordered her luncheon to be served at the
country teahouse. This teahouse was built in country style, and
right on top of her peony mountain, with bamboo and straw, and all
the furniture was made of bamboo also. They were beautifully made,
and the frames of the windows were carved into a line of
characters --Shou (long life), and butterflies, with pink silk
curtain hangings. At the rear of this exquisite little building
was a bamboo shade, with railings all around, hung with red silk
lanterns. The seats were built against the railings, so that one
could sit on them comfortably. This was supposed to be used by the
Court ladies as their waiting room. We played dice with Her
Majesty when luncheon was over. We played a very long time, and I
won the game that day. Her Majesty laughed and said to me: "You
have luck to-day. I think you are so happy to go home that your
fairies have helped you to win the game." As I mentioned before,
this game was called "Eight Fairies Going across the Sea." "I
think it is time for you to go now." While saying this she turned
and asked one of the eunuchs what the time was, and he answered
that it was half-past two. We kowtowed to Her Majesty, and stood
waiting for more orders. Then she said: "I am sorry to see you go
although I know you are coming back within two or three days. I
know I shall miss you." To my mother she said: "Tell Yu Keng to
take care of his health and get well soon. I have ordered four
eunuchs to accompany you, and am sending some of my own rice for
him." We had to kowtow again in thanking Her Majesty for her
kindness and finally she said: "Nemen tzowba" (you can go now).
We withdrew, and found the Young Empress on the veranda. We
courtesied to her, and said good-bye to the Court ladies and came
to our rooms to get ready to start. Our eunuchs were very good,
and had everything packed up ready for us. We gave ten taels to
each of our eunuchs, for that was the custom, and gave four taels
to each chair bearer of the Palace. When we arrived at the Palace
Gate our own chairs were waiting for us. We said good-bye to our
eunuchs. Strange to say they seemed attached to us and told us to
come back soon. The four eunuchs ordered by Her Majesty to see us
home were there, and as soon as we got into our chairs I saw them
riding on horseback beside us. It seemed to me just like a dream
the two months I had spent at the Court, and I must say I felt
very sorry to leave Her Majesty, but at the same time I wanted
very much to see my father. We got home after a two hours' ride,
and found him looking much better, and one can imagine how happy
he was to see us. The four eunuchs came into our parlor, and
placed the yellow bag of rice on the table. My father thanked Her
Majesty by kowtowing to the ground. We gave these eunuchs each a
little present, and they departed.
I told my father about my life at the Palace, and how very kind
Her Majesty was to me. He asked me if I could influence Her
Majesty to reform some day, and hoped he would live to see it.
Somehow or other I had the idea that I could and promised him that
I would try my best.
Her Majesty sent two eunuchs to see us the next morning, and also
sent us food and fruits. They told us that Her Majesty missed us,
and had told them to ask if we missed her. We told these eunuchs
that we were returning to the Court the next day. We stayed at
home only two days and a great many people came to see us, and
kept us busy all the time. My father suggested that we should
start from the house at about 3:00 A. M., so as to get to the
Summer Palace before Her Majesty was up. We left our house at 3:00
A. M. in total darkness, just like we had two months before. What
a change. I thought I was the happiest girl in the world. I was
told by many people, especially by the Young Empress, that Her
Majesty was extremely fond of me. I had also heard that she did
not care for young people at all. Although I was happy, I noticed
that some of the Court ladies did not like me, and they made me
uncomfortable on many occasions by not telling me just the way Her
Majesty wanted the work to be done. They smiled to each other
whenever Her Majesty was saying to my mother that she liked me,
and that I was always careful in doing anything that pleased her.
I knew I was going to see those people again. However, I made up
my mind to fight my battles alone. I only wished to be useful to
Her Majesty, and would not take any notice of them.
It was a little after five o'clock when we reached the Summer
Palace. Our own eunuchs were very happy to see us again and told
us that Her Majesty was not up yet and that we had time to go to
our rooms, where they had some breakfast prepared for us. We went
to see the Young Empress first, and found she was ready to go to
Her Majesty's Palace. She was also very glad to see us, and told
us that our Manchu costumes were all ready, and that she had seen
them and they were perfectly lovely. We were very hungry, and
enjoyed our breakfast immensely. After that we went to see Her
Majesty. She was awake, so we went into her bedroom. We greeted
her the same way that we did every morning, and kowtowed to her
and thanked her for all the things she had sent us while we were
at home. She sat up on the bed, smiled, and said: "Are you glad to
come back? I know everyone who comes to me and stays for a while
does not like to go away from here any more. I am glad to see you
(to my mother). How is Yu Keng?" My mother told her that my father
was much better. She asked us what we did for those two days,
staying at home. She also wanted to know whether we still
remembered which day she had chosen for us to change into our
Manchu costume. We told her we knew the date, and were looking
forward to it. The eunuchs brought in three large yellow trays,
full of beautiful gowns, shoes, white silk socks, handkerchiefs,
bags for nuts, in fact the whole set, including the gu'un dzan
(Manchu headdress). We kowtowed to her, and told her we were very
much pleased with everything she had given us. Her Majesty told
the eunuchs to bring everything out for us to see. She said to us:
"You see I give you one full official dress, one set of Chao Chu
(amber heads), two embroidered gowns, four ordinary gowns for
everyday wear, and two gowns for Chi Chen wear (the anniversary of
the death of an Emperor or Empress), one sky blue, the other
mauve, with very little trimming. I also have a lot of underwear
for you." I was excited and told Her Majesty that I would like to
commence to dress up at once. She smiled, and said: "You must wait
until the day comes, the lucky day I have selected for you. You
must try to fix your hair first, which is the most difficult thing
to do. Ask the Young Empress to teach you." Although she told me
to wait, I knew she was pleased to see that I showed so much
enthusiasm. She asked me the first day when we came to the Court
why my hair was so curly. I showed her that I curled it with
paper, and she teased me ever afterwards. She also said that I
could not pull my hair straight in time to wear Manchu clothes,
that everyone would laugh at me, and how ugly I would look. That
night one Court lady came over to me while I was sitting on the
veranda and said: "I wonder if you will look nice in Manchu
dress?" I told her I only wanted to look natural. "You have lived
so many years abroad we consider you are a foreigner to us." I
told her that as long as Her Majesty considered I was one of her
own, I would be satisfied and that she need not worry herself
about me. I knew they were jealous of us, so I went in search of
the Young Empress and left this girl alone. We were talking with
the Young Empress in the waiting room, and this girl came in and
sat near me, smiling to herself most of the time. One of the
servant girls was fixing some fresh flowers for Her Majesty. She
looked at her and asked her why she was smiling. The Young Empress
saw, and asked her the same question. She would not answer, but
kept on smiling all the time. At this moment a eunuch came and
said that Her Majesty wanted me. I afterwards tried to find out
what she had told the Young Empress but could not. Several days
passed very quietly. Her Majesty was happy, and so was I. One day
the Young Empress reminded us that we should make all preparations
in order to be able to dress ourselves properly on the eighteenth,
as the time was getting short--only two days left. That night,
after Her Majesty had retired, I went to my own room and fixed my
headdress on and went to see the Young Empress. She said that I
looked very nice, and that she was sure Her Majesty would like me
better in Manchu costume. I told her that I used to wear Manchu
dress when I was a little girl, before we went to Europe, and of
course I knew how to put it on. I also told her that I could not
understand why these girls looked upon me as a foreigner. She said
that they only showed their ignorance, and that they were jealous
of me and I should not pay any attention to them at all.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
OUR COSTUMES
THE next day we got up earlier than usual and dressed ourselves
in our new gowns. I could not believe my own eyes, and asked
several times whether that was myself or not. I found that I
looked all right, although I hadn't been wearing this sort of
costume for so long. They seemed to think that we would look
awkward. Our own eunuchs were delighted to see us dressed that
way. The Young Empress came in while passing our rooms on her way
to the Empress Dowager's Palace, and waited for us to go with her.
When we arrived at the waiting room a lot of people came in and
looked at us, and talked so much about us, that it made me feel
rather shy. Everyone told us that we looked much better that way
than in foreign clothes, except the Emperor Kwang Hsu. He said to
me: "I think your Parisian gowns are far prettier than this." I
smiled and said nothing. He shook his head at me, and went into
Her Majesty's bedroom. Li Lien Ying came and saw us, and was very
much excited and told me to go and see Her Majesty at once. I told
him that everyone was looking at us, as if we were curios. He
said: "You don't know how nice you look now, and I wish that you
would not wear foreign clothes at all." Her Majesty laughed so
loud when she saw us that it made me uncomfortable, for I was
afraid we looked unnatural to her. She said: "I cannot believe you
are the same girls. Just look at yourselves in this looking-
glass." She pointed to a large mirror in her room. "See how you
have changed. I feel that you belong to me now. I must have some
more gowns made for you." Then Li Lien Ying said that the
twenty-fourth would be the first day of the Summer. On that day
everyone would begin to wear jade hairpins instead of gold, and we
had none. Her Majesty said to Li: "I am very glad you told me
that. I must give them each a jade hairpin after having asked them
to change into Manchu dress." Li went away and came back with a
box of hairpins of pure green jade. Her Majesty took a beautiful
one and handed it to my mother and told her that that pin had been
worn by three Empresses. She took two very nice ones, and gave one
to me and one to my sister. She told us that these two were a
pair, and that the other Empress Dowager (the East Empress
Dowager) used to wear one, and that the other was worn by herself
when she was young. I felt ashamed that Her Majesty had given us
so many presents and I had done nothing for her in any way.
However, we thanked her most sincerely, and showed our
appreciation. She said: "I look upon you as my own people, and the
gowns I have made for you are the very best. I have also decided
to let you wear the full Court dress, the same as one of the
Princesses. You are my Court lady, so you are equally ranked
here." Li stood there behind her and made a sign to us to kowtow
to her. I cannot remember how many times I kowtowed that day. The
headdress was very heavy, and I was not quite used to it; I was
afraid it might fall off. Her Majesty also said that she would
make our rank known to the Court on her seventieth birthday. I
will explain this. On every decade from the time of her birth Her
Majesty used to give special favors to anyone she liked, or to
anyone who had done something for her, and had been useful to her.
She could promote anyone at any time, but on these occasions it
was something special. The Young Empress congratulated us, and
said that Her Majesty was looking for a young Prince to marry me.
She was also very fond of teasing. I wrote to my father about all
the favors that had been given to me. He wrote me he hoped that I
deserved them all, and that I must do all I could to be useful and
loyal to Her Majesty as long as she lived.
I was very happy. Life was perfectly lovely at the Palace. Her
Majesty was always nice and kind. I noticed the difference in the
way she had treated us since (as she said) we had become Manchus
once more. One day Her Majesty asked me while we were sailing on
the lake in the moonlight, if I wanted to go to Europe any more.
It was a superb night, and several boats were sailing behind us.
In one boat several eunuchs were playing a kind of sweet music on
the flute and an instrument very much like the mandolin, called
Yeuh Chin (small harp, like the shape of the moon), with Her
Majesty singing very softly to herself. I told her I was satisfied
to be with her, and did not wish to go anywhere at all. She said
that I must learn to sing poetry and that she would teach me every
day. I told her that my father had made me study all kinds of
poetry and I had composed some myself. She looked surprised and
said: "Why didn't you tell me that before? I love poems. You must
read to me sometimes. I have many books here containing poems of
different dynasties." I told her that my knowledge of Chinese
literature was very limited, and I dared not let her see how
little I knew. I had only studied eight years. Her Majesty told me
that the Young Empress and herself were the only ones who were
familiar with Chinese literature at the Court. She told me that
she tried to teach the Court ladies to read and write some time
ago, but having found them so lazy she gave them up. My father
told me to be very careful not to show them what I could do until
I was asked, so I kept it to myself. After they found this out,
some of the Court ladies were very disagreeable to me, and this
went on day after day.
Except for this unpleasantness the fourth moon passed very
agreeably. The first day of the fifth moon was a busy day for us
all, as from the first to the fifth of the fifth moon was the
festival of five poisonous insects, which I will explain
later--also called the Dragon Boat Festival. All the Viceroys,
Governors and high officials, besides the Imperial Family, Court
ladies and eunuchs, all offer Her Majesty beautiful presents. I
never saw such a lot of things as came into the Palace during this
festival. Each person who sent in presents must accompany them
with a sheet of yellow paper, and at the right lower corner the
sender's name must be written and also the word Kuai Jin, meaning
to present their gifts kneeling, also to write what the presents
were. The eunuchs took big yellow trays to bring them in. During
these five days everyone was busy, especially the eunuchs. I could
not count just how many people sent presents to Her Majesty. The
presents were of every kind, such as things for the household;
silks and jewelry of all kinds and description. A large part of
the presents were foreign goods of the ordinary kind. I also saw
lovely carved thrones and embroideries. Her Majesty ordered them
to be put away, and the foreign things to be kept in her Palace,
for those were new to her.
The third day of the fifth moon was the day for just the people of
the Palace to make presents. It was a most beautiful sight to see.
We were busy all night making preparations, and had to go and help
the Young Empress. The next morning we placed our presents in the
big courtyard in these big yellow trays. The Young Empress had her
trays in the first row. The presents from the Young Empress to the
Empress Dowager were made by her own hands. There were ten pairs
of shoes, silk embroidered handkerchiefs, little bags for betel
nuts, and bags for tobacco, all exquisitely done. The Secondary
wife of the Emperor Kwang Hsu presented about the same to Her
Majesty. The Court ladies' presents were all different, as we
could ask permission to go out shopping before the Feast. We could
not go out together, for one or two of us must be there at all
times, and it was very exciting to tell each other what we had
bought. We ourselves did not ask permission to go out of the
Palace, for we had our presents ready long before. Everyone seemed
to be talking about presents, whether Her Majesty would like them
or not. My mother, my sister and myself had written to Paris to
get some lovely French brocades, one set of furniture, French
Empire style. We had learned Her Majesty's taste already during
our short stay there, so including those presents we also gave her
fans, perfumes, soaps and some other French novelties. Her Majesty
always looked over everything, and noticed some of the presents
were of very poor quality, and wanted to know the sender's name.
The eunuchs and servant girls also made her good and useful
presents. Her Majesty would select the articles she liked the
best, and order the rest to be put away, and she might never see
them again. I must say that Her Majesty liked and admired some
foreign things very much, she especially loved the French fancy
brocades, for she was making new gowns almost every day. She was
also pleased with soaps and powder that would beautify the skin.
She always thanked us in a very nice way and said how very
thoughtful we were in selecting beautiful articles for her. Her
Majesty would also say something nice to the eunuchs and girls,
and that made everyone feel pleased.
The fourth day of the fifth moon was the day that Her Majesty gave
presents to us all, the different Princes, high officials, servant
girls and eunuchs. Her memory was something extraordinary, for she
could remember every one of the presents that had been given to
her the day before, and the names of the givers also. That was a
busy day for us. Her Majesty gave people presents according to the
way they gave her. We had yellow sheets of paper and wrote out the
names of those to whom she wished to give. That day Her Majesty
was very angry with one of the wives of a certain Prince because
her presents were the poorest. Her Majesty told me to keep that
tray in her room and said she would go over them and see what they
were. I knew she was not pleased, for she had a telltale face. She
told us to measure the silks and ribbons in that tray, and leave
it in the hall. The ribbons were all of different lengths, all too
short to trim a gown, and the dress materials were not of good
quality. Her Majesty said to me: "Now you look for yourself. Are
these good presents? I know very well all these things were given
to them by other people and they of course would select the best
for themselves, and give me what was left. They know they are
obliged to send me something. I am surprised to see how careless
they are. Probably they thought as I receive so many presents I
would not notice. They are mistaken, for I notice the poorest the
first, in fact I can remember everything. I can see those who gave
me things in order to please me, and those who gave because they
were obliged to. I will return them the same way." She gave the
Court ladies each a beautiful embroidered gown and a few hundred
taels, the same to the Young Empress and the Secondary wife. The
presents which she gave us were a little different, consisting of
two embroidered gowns, several simple ones, jackets and sleeveless
jackets, shoes, and flowers for the Manchu headdress. She said
that we had not so many gowns, and instead of giving us the money,
she had things made for us. Besides that, she gave me a pair of
very pretty earrings, but none to my sister, for she noticed that
I had a pair of ordinary gold earrings, while my sister had a pair
set with pearls and jade. Her Majesty said to my mother: "Yu Tai
Tai. I can see you love one daughter better than the other.
Roonling has such pretty earrings and poor Derling has none."
Before my mother could answer her she had turned to me while I was
standing at the back of her chair: "I will have a nice pair made
for you. You are mine now." My mother told her that I did not like
to wear heavy earrings. Her Majesty laughed and said: "Never mind,
she is mine now, and I will give her everything she needs. You
have nothing to do with her." The earrings she gave me were very
heavy. Her Majesty said that if I would wear them every day I
would get used to them, and so it proved that after some time I
thought nothing of it.
Now about this Feast. It is also called the Dragon Boat Feast. The
fifth of the fifth moon at noon was the most poisonous hour for
the poisonous insects, and reptiles such as frogs, lizards,
snakes, hide themselves in the mud, for that hour they are
paralyzed. Some medical men search for them at that hour and place
them in jars, and when they are dried, sometime use them as
medicine. Her Majesty told me this, so that day I went all over
everywhere and dug into the ground, but found nothing. The usual
custom was that at noon Her Majesty took a small cup filled with
spirits of wine, and added a kind of yellow powder (something like
sulphur). She took a small brush and dipped it into the cup and
made a few spots of this yellow paint under our nostrils and ears.
This was to prevent any insects from crawling on us during the
coming summer. The reason why it was also called the Dragon Boat
Festival was because at the time of the Chou Dynasty the country
was divided into several parts. Each place had a ruler. The
Emperor Chou had a Prime Minister named Chi Yuan, who advised him
to make alliance with the other six countries, but the Emperor
refused, and Chi Yuan thought that the country would be taken by
others in the near future. He could not influence the Emperor, so
he made up his mind to commit suicide and jumped into the river,
taking a large piece of stone with him. This happened on the fifth
day of the fifth moon, so the year afterwards, the Emperor got
into a Dragon boat to worship his soul, and throw rice cakes,
called Tzu Tsi, into the river. On that day the people have
celebrated this feast ever since. At the Palace the theatre played
first this history, which was very interesting, and also played
the insects trying to hide themselves before the most poisonous
hour arrived. On that day we all wore tiger shoes, the front part
of which was made of a tiger's head, with little tigers made of
yellow silk to wear on the headdress. These tigers were only for
the children to wear, and signified that they would be as strong
as a tiger, but Her Majesty wanted us to wear them also. The wives
of the Manchu officials came to the Court, and when they saw us
they laughed at us. We told them it was by Her Majesty's orders.
A register recording the birthdays of all the Court ladies was
kept by the head eunuch, and a few days before my own birthday
came around, the tenth day of the fifth moon, he informed me that
the custom of the Court was to make a present to Her Majesty and
said that the present should take the form of fruit, cakes, etc.,
so I ordered eight boxes of different kinds.
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