8. 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 gossipping, 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 crosslegged, 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.''
I told her that I would be only too pleased to
change the clothes, but that not having received
an order from Her Majesty I could not make
any suggestions. The Young Empress said:
"No, don't ask anything, and I am sure Her
Majesty will tell you to change by and by. Just
now she wishes to see your Paris gowns, because
she wants to know how foreign ladies dress on
different occasions. She thought that some of
the ladies came to the Garden Party dressed in
woolen clothes. We thought that foreign ladies
were not so extravagant as we are until we met
Mdme. Plançon the other day. Do you remember
what Her Majesty said to you? `That
Mdme. Plançon was so different from many ladies
she had met, and also dressed differently.' ''
It was a chiffon dress, with hand paintings, which
Mdme. Plançon wore, which pleased Her Majesty
very much. While I was talking with the
Young Empress all the electric lights turned up,
so I went to Her Majesty to see if she needed
anything. She said: "Let us play a game of
dice before I go to bed.'' We began to play the
same thing as we had done in the afternoon.
Her Majesty won another game, this time it took
only an hour to finish the game. Her Majesty
said to me: "Why can't you win once?'' I knew
she wanted to tease, so I said that my luck was
bad. She laughed and said: "To-morrow you
try to put your stocking on wrong side out; that
is a sure sign of winning.'' I told her that I
would, and I knew that pleased her. During the
short time I was there I kept studying her most
of the while. I could see nothing would make
her happier than for me to obey her orders.
Her Majesty said that she felt tired, and that
we must bring her milk. She said to me: "I
want you to burn incense sticks and bow to the
ground every night to the Buddha in the next
room before I go to bed. I hope you are not
a Christian, for if you are I can never feel as
if you are mine at all. Do tell me that you are
not.'' I did not expect that question at all, and
I must say that it was a very difficult question
to answer. For my own protection I had to say
that I had nothing to do with the Christians. I
felt guilty at having deceived her that way, but
it was absolutely necessary, and there was no
other way out of it. I knew that I had to
answer her question at once, because it would
never do for her to see any hesitation, which
would arouse her suspicions. Although my face
showed nothing, my heart stopped beating for a
while. I felt ashamed to have fooled her. The
earliest training I had was never to be ashamed
to tell the truth. When Her Majesty heard me
say that I was not a Christian, she smiled and
said: "I admire you; although you have had so
much to do with foreigners, yet you did not adopt
their religion. On the contrary, you still keep
to your own. Be strong and keep it as long
as you live. You have no idea how glad I am
now, for I suspected you must believe in the
foreign God. Even if you don't want to, they
can make you believe it. Now I am ready for
bed.''
We helped her to undress, and I, as usual, put
away her jewels, and noticed she wore only one
pair of jade bracelets to sleep. She changed
into her bed clothes and lay down between the
silk covers and said to us: "You can go now.''
We courtesied to her and withdrew from her
bedroom. Out in the hall there was on the cold
stone floor six eunuchs. They were the watchmen
and must not sleep at all during the night.
In her bedroom were two eunuchs, two servant
girls, two old women servants and sometimes two
Court ladies. These people also must not sleep.
The two girls massaged her legs every night, and
the two women were there to watch the girls, the
two eunuchs to watch the two old women, and
the two Court ladies to watch them all, in case
they did any mischief. They all took turns, and
that was the reason why sometimes two Court
ladies must sit overnight when it happened that
the eunuchs were not reliable. Her Majesty
trusted the Court ladies the most. I was never
more surprised in my life than when one of these
six eunuchs told me in the hall, for I had asked
what they were all doing there.
Later on one of the Court ladies said to me
that it was customary for them to take turns to
attend at Her Majesty's bedchamber in the
morning to wake her up, and that I should take
my turn the next morning and my sister the following
morning. While saying this she smiled in
a most peculiar way. I did not understand at
the time, but found out later. I asked her what
I should do to wake Her Majesty, and she said:
"There is no particular way, you will have to
use your own judgment; but be careful not to
make her angry. It was my turn this morning.
I knew that she was very tired, having had a very
trying time the day before, so I had to make a
little more noise than usual when waking her.
She was very angry and scolded me dreadfully
when she arose, as it was rather late. This very
often happens when Her Majesty gets up late,
as she always says that we do not make enough
noise to wake her. However, I don't think she
will do this to you, just now, as you are new
here; but wait until you have been here a few
months.'' What this Court lady said to me worried
me quite considerably; but from what I had
seen of Her Majesty so far, I could not believe
that she would be angry with anyone who was
doing her duty properly.
