7. CHAPTER SEVEN
SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT
MY first day with Her Majesty was very trying
as I did not know just what she wanted or
how she wanted things done, and no one seemed
willing to tell me; but by watching very closely
I was soon able to grasp the situation. After I
had finished putting the things in the boxes I
did not know whether to take them back to the
jewel room or not, or whether to wait until Her
Majesty ordered me, and again I was in a quandary.
I saw she was talking to my mother, so
I waited a little time and finally made up my
mind I would risk it and take them back, which
I did. As I was returning I met Her Majesty
in the big courtyard. She had just changed her
gown again and looked much shorter as she had
also changed her shoes for ones with lower heels.
This gown was made of heavy sky-blue crêpe
with no embroidery at all, just trimmed with
pale pink ribbons, and she looked very nice in
it. When Her Majesty saw me, she asked me:
"Where have you been?'' I told her that I had
just been putting her jewels away. Then she
said: "Has anyone told you to put them away
as soon as I am finished with them? I forgot
to tell you this morning, although I had meant
to.'' I said that no one had told me anything,
that I was afraid to have the eunuchs taking such
valuable things here and there, that I was sure
that she did not want to use them any more, so
I thought it would be safer to put them away in
the jewel room again. Her Majesty looked at
me and said: "I can see that these girls don't tell
you anything and I am very glad to see that you
have done just the right thing. That is why I
thought someone must have told you what to do.
Anything you want to know you can ask me, but
don't talk to these mean people here.'' I could
see from this that there must be some jealousy
among them and decided that I was well able to
find my own way, as I knew Her Majesty liked
me and would help me out.
Her Majesty walked along a little way, then
laughed and said to me: "Don't I look more
comfortable now? I am going for a long walk and
take lunch on the top of the hill. There is a nice
place up there and I am sure you will like it.
Come, let us go.''
The Emperor had gone back to his own Palace,
and the head eunuch had also disappeared.
As we were walking along, Her Majesty was
talking and smiling as if she had never a care
or trouble in the world, or any important questions
of state to settle. I thought from what I
had seen so far that she had a very sweet disposition.
She looked back and said: "Just see how
many people are following us.'' I turned and
saw the same crowd that had accompanied Her
Majesty earlier in the day to the Audience Hall.
After passing out of the large courtyard on
the West side, we came to a large, long veranda
running in a zig-zag fashion along the front of
the lake, and it was so long that I could not see
the end of it. It was very prettily made of solid
carved work from one end to the other. Electric
lights were hanging from the ceiling at intervals,
and when they were lighted at night, made a
beautiful sight.
Her Majesty was a very fast walker and we
had to step lively to keep up with her. The
eunuchs and the servant girls walked on the right
side and only one of the eunuchs was allowed to
walk behind us, and he was the one who carried
Her Majesty's yellow satin stool, which, like her
dog, went everywhere she did. This stool she
used to rest on when taking a walk. We walked
for quite a long while and I began to feel tired,
but Her Majesty, as old as she was, was still
walking very fast and did not appear to be the
least bit tired. She asked me if I liked the Palace
and whether I would be satisfied to live with
her, etc. I told her that it was a great pleasure
for me to serve her, that it had been my dream
for years, and now that my dream had come true,
I could not help but be satisfied.
We finally arrived at the place where the marble
boat was kept, and I was about finished. I
never saw such vitality in an old woman in my
life as Her Majesty had, and it was no wonder
that she had ruled this vast Empire of China so
successfully for so many years.
This boat was magnificent, being one mass of
carved work, but the inside was all spoiled. Her
Majesty showed us all over the boat, and whilst
we were looking at the ruin, she said: "Look at
those colored glasses in the windows and these
beautiful paintings. They were all spoiled by
the foreign troops in 1900. I don't intend to
have it repaired as I don't want to forget the
lesson I have learned and this is a good reminder.''
After we had been standing there a
few minutes, a eunuch who had been carrying
the famous satin stool, came forward, and Her
Majesty sat down to rest. While we were talking
I noticed two large and very fancy-looking
boats approaching us, with several smaller ones
coming along behind. As they came nearer I
saw that they were also very beautifully made,
and looked like floating pagodas of beautifully
carved natural wood. The windows of the
pagodas were hung with red gauze curtains and
all was trimmed with silk. Her Majesty said:
"There are the boats. We must go over to the
west side of the lake and have luncheon.'' Her
Majesty got up and walked to the edge of the
lake, two eunuchs supporting her, one at each
side. She stepped into the boat and we all followed
her example. The inside of the boat was
very nicely furnished with carved ebony furniture
with blue satin cushions, one with many pots
of flowers on both sides of the window. There
were two more cabins behind this sitting room.
Her Majesty told me to go in to see those two
rooms. One little room was a dressing room
full of toilet articles. The other one had two
couches and several small chairs for Her
Majesty to rest whenever she felt tired. Her
Majesty sat on her throne and ordered us to sit
on the floor. The eunuchs brought in red satin
cushions for us to sit upon. To sit on the floor
is all right for Chinese clothes, but of course it
was out of the question with Paris gowns, and
I felt very uncomfortable, but did not like to
say so. I wanted to change into Manchu clothes,
for I knew they were comfortable and easy to
work in, but having received no order from Her
Majesty, I did not dare to suggest it. Her
Majesty noticed how very uncomfortable we
looked sitting on the floor. She said: "You can
stand up if you want to and just watch those
boats following us.'' I put my head out of the
window and noticed the Young Empress and
several other Court ladies were in the other boat.
They waved to me, and I waved back. Her
Majesty laughed and said to me: "I give you
this apple to throw to them.'' While saying this
she took one from the big plates that stood upon
the center table. I tried very hard, but the
apple did not reach the other boat, but went to
the bottom of the lake. Her Majesty laughed
and told me to try again, but I failed. Finally,
she took one and threw it herself. It went
straight to the other boat and hit one of the
ladies' head. We all laughed quite heartily.
Then I began to enjoy myself. There were
several open boats full of eunuchs, and another
one of servant girls, amahs and the rest with
Her Majesty's luncheon. The lake was beautiful
and looked so green in the sun. I told Her
Majesty that this color reminded me of the sea.
She said: "You have travelled so much, and yet
you have not had enough, but are still thinking
of the sea. You must not go abroad any more,
but stay with me. I want you to enjoy this
sailing on this lake instead of the rough sea.''
I promised her that I would be only too happy
to stay with her. I must say the truth, I did
enjoy the lovely scenery, the beautiful weather,
superb sunshine, with Her Majesty so kind to
me and talking to me in such a motherly way
made me love her more and more every minute
I was there. I was so extremely happy there
that even Paris pleasures had gone out of my
memory entirely.
At last we arrived at another part of the lake.
This was more of a stream, very narrow, just
wide enough for one boat to pass. On both
sides of the bank were planted drooping willow
trees that reminded me of the Chinese Fairy
tales I have read. This time I saw the servant
girls, amahs, and also eunuchs carrying boxes,
walking on both sides of the shore. Only two
boats were going then, the Young Empress' and
ours. Her Majesty said: "We will arrive at
the bottom of the hill in a few minutes.'' When
we came near the shore I saw her yellow chair
and several red chairs waiting. We landed and
walked to the chairs. I watched Her Majesty
get into hers and noticed this was not the same
chair she used this morning. This little one was,
of course, of yellow, with yellow poles, and two
eunuchs carried it, with yellow rope across their
shoulders, and four eunuchs supported the poles,
one on each corner of the chair. They were just
going to raise her chair up when she said: "Yü
tai tai (Lady Yü) I give you and your daughters
special favor and give you a red chair with
red cord that I have given to only a few people.''
The Young Empress looked at us, which I understood
at once was meant for us to kowtow to
her, which we did, and waited until the Empress
got into hers. Then we went to search for ours.
To my surprise our own eunuchs were standing
waiting beside our chairs. On the poles I noticed
that my name was written and I asked our
eunuch the reason. He said that Her Majesty
gave the order the night before. It was a lovely
ride going to the top of the hill. I saw Her
Majesty's chair in front, and the Young Empress'.
They looked to me quite dangerous in
ascending that way, and the men at the back
of the chair had to raise the poles above their
heads so as to make the chair the same level
in ascending. I was quite nervous and was
very much afraid that they might fall off and
injure me. Our eunuchs were walking beside
our chairs. I said to one of them that I was
afraid the chair bearers might slip. He told
me to look back of my chair, which I did, and
to my surprise they had the poles raised up also
above their heads, and I did not feel it at all.
He told me that these chair bearers practice for
such purposes and that there was no danger at
all. It made my heart stop beating looking back
and seeing the other Court ladies in their chairs
way below mine, the eunuchs and servant girls
walking, for fear I might fall off at any time.
At last we arrived at the top of the hill. We
helped Her Majesty to alight and followed her
into the most lovely building I ever saw, the best
one in the Summer Palace to my idea (name of
this pavilion, Ching Fo Ker). This Palace
had only two rooms, with windows on every side.
One could see everywhere. Her Majesty used
one large one to take her luncheon in and the
other as a toilet room. I noticed that wherever
we went we found Her Majesty's toilet room.
Her Majesty took us around the compound and
showed us the lovely flowers planted everywhere.
One of the young eunuchs told me that Her
Majesty's dainties were ready. That was my
first day of real work. I went out and found
two large yellow boxes of different kinds of candies
and fruits, as I have before mentioned. I
carried two plates at a time, and finished in nine
times, placing them on a square table near her.
She was talking to my mother then about flowers.
I noticed that although she was talking, she
was watching me at the same time. I placed the
plates upon the table very carefully, and already
having noticed the day before what were her
favorite dishes, and placed these near her. She
smiled at me and said: "You have done it very
nicely. And how do you know that these are
my favorites and have placed them near me?
Who told you?'' I replied that no one had told
me anything and that I had noticed the day
before what Lao Tsu Tsung liked (according to
the Manchu custom one must address a superior
or one's parents in the third person). Her
Majesty said: "I can see you use your heart in
everything (in China people say heart instead
of head) and are not like the crowd I have here;
they haven't the brains of a bird.'' She was soon
busy eating, and gave me some candies, and told
me to eat right there in her presence. Of course
I never forgot to thank her, for I thought I had
rather thank her too much than too little. She
told me: "Whenever I give you small things
you need not kowtow. Just say: `Hsieh Lao Tsu
Tsung Shang' (Thank the old ancestor), that is
enough.'' After a little while she finished eating,
and told me to take the dishes away. She
said: "To-day is your day, so these things are
yours. Take them out and sit down on the
veranda and enjoy yourself. You see I could
not eat all. There are lots of things left. If
you like you can tell your own eunuch to send
them to your room.'' I placed the little dishes
back in the boxes and took them to the veranda.
There I placed them upon the table and told the
Young Empress to eat some. I did not know
whether it was right to offer them to her or not
and thought I could not do her any harm, even
if I tried. She said all right, that she would eat
some. I took a piece of candy and had just put
it into my mouth when I heard Her Majesty
calling my name. I hurried in and found her
sitting at her table ready to take her lunch. She
said: "What else did Mdme. Plançon say
yesterday? Was she really pleased? Do you think
they, the foreigners, really like me? I don't
think so; on the contrary I know they haven't
forgotten the Boxer Rising in Kwang Hsu's 26th
year. I don't mind owning up that I like our
old ways the best, and I don't see any reason
why we should adopt the foreign style. Did
any of the foreign ladies ever tell you that I
am a fierce-looking old woman?'' I was very
much surprised that she should call me in and
ask me such questions during her meal. She
looked quite serious and it seemed to me she was
quite annoyed. I assured her that no one ever
said anything about Her Majesty but nice
things. The foreigners told me how nice she
was, and how graceful, etc. This seemed to
please her, and she smiled and said: "Of course
they have to tell you that, just to make you feel
happy by saying that your sovereign is perfect,
but I know better. I can't worry too much, but
I hate to see China in such a poor condition.
Although the people around me seem to comfort
me by telling that almost every nation feels very
friendly towards China, I don't think that is
true. I hope we will be strong some day.''
While she was saying this I noticed her worried
expression. I did not know what to say, but
tried to comfort her by saying that that time will
come, and we are all looking forward to it. I
wanted to advise her on some points, but seeing
that she was angry, I thought I had better not
make any suggestions that day, but wait until
I had another opportunity. I felt sorry for her,
and would have given anything in the world to
help her by telling what the general opinion of
her was so as to let her know the truth, which no
one dared to tell her. Something told me to be
silent. I kept thinking all the time she was talking
to me, and finally made up my mind that
the time was not yet ripe for me to make any
suggestion. I had grown to love her very much,
so I wanted to take care not to offend her; that
would probably finish my ambition. I wanted to
study her first thoroughly and then try to influence
her to reform China.
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.''