12. CHAPTER TWELVE
THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER
ON the twenty-sixth day of the fifth moon,
during the morning audience, Prince Ching told
Her Majesty that Mrs. Conger, the wife of the
American Minister to Peking, had asked for a
private audience, and would Her Majesty please
mention a day. She told him not to give any
answer until the next day, just to give her time
to think it over. I was sitting behind the large
screen, listening, but the other Court ladies
made too much noise, so Her Majesty ordered
them not to say a word during audience. I
was very glad myself, because I could listen
to some of the interesting conversations between
the Empress Dowager and her Ministers. After
the audience, Her Majesty ordered her lunch to
be served on the top of the hill at Pai Yuen Dien
(Spreading Cloud Pavilion). She said that she
preferred to walk, so we followed her very slowly.
To get to this place we had to mount two hundred
and seventy-two steps, besides ten minutes'
climbing over rough stones. She did not seem
to mind the climbing part at all. It was the
funniest thing to see two little eunuchs on either
side, to support her arms, trying to keep pace
with her. I noticed that she was very much
preoccupied, and did not speak to any of us.
When we arrived at our destination we were
very tired and quite exhausted. Her Majesty,
who was a good walker herself, laughed at us.
She was always very much pleased when she
excelled in games of skill or endurance. She
said: "You see I am old, and can walk much
faster than you young people. You are all no
use. What is the matter with you?'' Her
Majesty was very fond of receiving compliments.
I had been there long enough to know and had
learned to say things which would please her.
She also hated anyone to pay her compliments at
the wrong moment, so one had to be very careful
even in paying her compliments.
This "spreading cloud'' pavilion was a beautiful
Palace. It had an open space in front of
the building, just like one of the courtyards, with
pink and white oleanders all over the place.
There was a porcelain table and several porcelain
stools. Her Majesty sat on her own yellow
satin stool and was drinking her tea in silence.
It was very windy that day, although the sky
was blue with warm sunshine. Her Majesty sat
there just for a few minutes, and then said it was
too windy and went into the building. I was
more than glad to go in, too, and whispered to the
Young Empress that I thought the wind might
blow off my headdress. The eunuchs brought
the luncheon and placed everything upon the
table. The Young Empress made a sign for us
to follow her, which we did. When we came to
the back veranda we sat down on the window
seats. I will explain about these seats. All the
windows were built low at the Palace, and on the
veranda there was something like a bench built
along the window, about a foot wide. There
were no chairs to be seen excepting Her
Majesty's thrones. The Young Empress asked
me whether I had noticed that Her Majesty had
something on her mind. I told her that perhaps
she was thinking about the private audience which
Prince Ching had mentioned that morning. She
said that I had guessed right, and asked: "Do
you know anything about this audience? When
will it take place?'' I said that Her Majesty
had not yet given her answer.
By this time Her Majesty had finished eating
and was walking up and down the room, watching
us eating. She came over to my mother and
said: "I am just wondering why Mrs. Conger
asks for a private audience. Perhaps she has
something to say to me. I would like to know
just what it is so I can prepare an answer.''
My mother said that probably Mrs. Conger had
someone visiting her who wished to be presented
to Her Majesty. "No, it can't be that, because
they must give the list of names of those who
wish to come to the Palace. I don't mind the
formal audiences, but I don't think that I should
have private ones at all. I don't like to be questioned,
as you all know. The foreigners are, of
course, very nice and polite, according to their
own way, but they cannot compare with us, so far
as etiquette is concerned. I may be conservative
in saying that I admire our custom and will
not change it as long as I live. You see our
people are taught to be polite from their earliest
childhood, and just look back at the oldest teachings
and compare them with the new. People
seem to like the latter the best. I mean that the
new idea is to be Christians, to chop up their
Ancestral Tablets and burn them. I know many
families here who have broken up because of the
missionaries, who are always influencing the
young people to believe their religion. Now I
tell you why I feel uneasy about this audience
is because we are too polite to refuse anyone who
asks any favors in person. The foreigners don't
seem to understand that. I'll tell you what I
will do. Whenever they ask me anything, I'll
simply tell them that I am not my own boss, but
have to consult with my Ministers; that although
I am the Empress Dowager of China, I must
also obey the law. To tell the truth, I like
Madame Uchida (wife of the Japanese Minister
to Peking) very much. She is always very nice
and doesn't ask any silly questions. Of course
the Japanese are very much like ourselves, not
at all forward. Last year, before you came to
the Court, a missionary lady came with Mrs.
Conger, and suggested that I should establish a
school for girls at the Palace. I did not like to
offend her, and said that I would take it into
consideration. Now, just imagine it for a moment.
Wouldn't it be foolish to have a school
at the Palace; besides, where am I going to get so
many girls to study? I have enough to do as it
is. I don't want all the children of the Imperial
family studying at my Palace.''
Her Majesty laughed while she was telling us
this, and everyone else laughed, too. She said:
"I am sure you will laugh. Mrs. Conger is a
very nice lady. America is always very friendly
towards China, and I appreciate their nice
behavior at the Palace during the twenty-sixth
year of Kwang Hsu (1900), but I cannot
say that I love the missionaries, too. Li Lien
Ying told me that these missionaries here give
the Chinese a certain medicine, and that after
that they wish to become Christians, and then
they would pretend to tell the Chinese to think
it over very carefully, for they would never force
anyone to believe their religion against their own
will. Missionaries also take the poor Chinese
children and gouge their eyes out, and use them
as a kind of medicine.'' I told her that that was
not true; that I had met a great many missionaries,
and that they were very kind-hearted and
willing to do anything to help the poor Chinese.
I also told her what they had done for the poor
orphans — given them a home, food and clothing;
that sometimes they went into the interior and
found the blind children who might be useless to
their parents, and when they get them they have
to support them. I know several cases like that.
These country people offer their deformed children
to the missionaries, as they are too poor
to feed and take care of them. I told her about
their schools, and how they helped the poor people.
Her Majesty then laughed, and said: "Of
course I believe what you say, but why don't
these missionaries stay in their own country and
be useful to their own people?'' I thought it
would be of no use for me to talk too much,
but at the same time I would like her to know
of the dreadful times some of the missionaries
had in China. Some time ago, two of them
were murdered at Wu Shuih, in June, 1892 (a
little below Hankow), the church being burnt
down by the mob. My father was appointed by
Viceroy Chang Chih Tung to investigate the
matter. After much trouble he caught three of
the murderers and, according to the Chinese law,
they were put to death by hanging in wooden
cages, and the Government paid an indemnity
to the families of the murdered missionaries.
The year after, 1893, a Catholic church was
burnt down at Mar Cheng, on the Yangtse,
near Ichang. The mob said they saw many
blind children at the church, who were made to
work after having their eyes gouged out. The
Prefect of Ichang Province said it was true
that missionaries did get the Chinese childrens'
eyes for making medicine, so my father suggested
having those blind children brought into
the Yamen and ask them. The Prefect was
a most wicked man, and was very anti-foreign
also. He gave the poor children plenty of food,
and taught them to say that the missionaries did
gouge their eyes out, but when they were brought
in the next day they said that the missionaries
treated them very kindly and gave them a nice
home, good food and clothing. They said they
were blind long before they became Catholics,
and also said that the Prefect had taught them
to say that the missionaries were cruel to them,
which was not true. The blind children begged
to go back to the school and said that they were
very happy there.
Her Majesty said: "That may be all right for
them to help the poor and relieve their suffering.
For instance, like our great Buddha Ju Lai, who
fed the hungry birds with his own flesh. I would
love them if they would leave my people alone.
Let us believe our own religion. Do you know
how the Boxer rising began? Why, the Chinese
Christians were to blame. The Boxers were
treated badly by them, and wanted revenge.
Of course that is always the trouble with the
low class of people. They went too far, and at
the same time thought to make themselves rich
by setting fire to every house in Peking. It
made no difference whose house. They wanted
to burn so long as they could get money. These
Chinese Christians are the worst people in China.
They rob the poor country people of their land
and property, and the missionaries, of course,
always protect them, in order to get a share
themselves. Whenever a Chinese Christian is taken
to the Magistrate's Yamen, he is not supposed
to kneel down on the ground and obey the Chinese
law, as others do, and is always very rude to his
own Government Officials. Then these missionaries
do the best they can to protect him, whether
he is wrong or not, and believe everything he
says and make the magistrate set the prisoner
free. Do you remember that your father established
rules in the twenty-fourth year of
Kwang Hsu, how the Chinese officials should
treat the Bishops whenever they had dealings
with each other? I know the common class of
people become Christians — also those who are in
trouble — but I don't believe that any of the high
officials are Christians.'' Her Majesty looked
around and whispered: "Kang Yue Wai (the reformer
in 1898) tried to make the Emperor believe
that religion. No one shall believe as long
as I live. I must say that I admire the foreigners
in some ways. For instance, their navies and
armies, and engineers, but as regards civilization
I should say that China is the first country by
all means. I know that many people believe
that the Government had connections with the
Boxers, but that is not true. As soon as we
found out the trouble we issued several Edicts,
and ordered the soldiers to drive them out, but
they had gone too far already. I made up my
mind not to go out of the Palace at all. I am
an old woman, and did not care whether I died
or not, but Prince Tuang and Duke Lan suggested
that we should go at once. They also
suggested that we should go in disguise, which
made me very angry, and I refused. After the
return of the Court to Peking, I was told that
many people believed that I did go in disguise,
and said that I was dressed in one of my servant's
clothes, and rode in a broken cart drawn by a
mule, and that this old woman servant of mine
was dressed as the Empress Dowager, and rode
in my sedan chair. I wonder who made that
story up? Of course everyone believed it, and
such a story would get to the foreigners in Peking
without any trouble.
"Now to come back to the question of the
Boxer Rising. How badly I was treated by my
own servants. No one seemed anxious to go with
me, and a great many ran away before the Court
had any idea of leaving the Capital at all, and
those who stayed would not work, but stood
around and waited to see what was going to
happen. I made up my mind to ask and see
how many would be willing to go, so I said
to everyone: `If you servants are willing to go
with me, you can do so, and those who are not
willing, can leave me.' I was very much surprised
to find that there were very few standing
around listening. Only seventeen eunuchs, two
old women servants and one servant girl, that was
Sho Chu. Those people said they would go with
me, no matter what happened. I had 3,000
eunuchs, but they were nearly all gone before
I had the chance of counting them. Some of
the wicked ones were even rude to me, and threw
my valuable vases on the stone floor, and smashed
them. They knew that I could not punish them
at that important moment, for we were leaving.
I cried very much and prayed for our Great
Ancestors' Souls to protect us. Everyone knelt
with me and prayed. The Young Empress was
the only one of my family who went with me. A
certain relative of mine, whom I was very fond
of, and gave her everything she asked, refused
to go with me. I knew that the reason she would
not go was because she thought the foreign soldiers
would catch up the runaway Court, and kill
everyone.
"After we had been gone about seven days, I
sent one eunuch back, to find out who was still in
Peking. She asked this eunuch whether there
were any foreign soldiers chasing us, and whether
I was killed. Soon after the Japanese soldiers
took her Palace, and drove her out. She thought
she was going to die anyway, and as I was not
yet assassinated, she might catch up with the
Court, and go with us. I could not understand
how she traveled so fast. One evening we were
staying at a little country house, when she came in
with her husband, a nice man. She was telling
me how much she had missed me, and how very
anxious she had been all that time to know
whether I was safe or not, and cried. I refused
to listen to what she was saying and told her
plainly that I did not believe a word. From that
time she was finished for me. I had a very hard
time, traveling in a sedan chair, from early
morning, before the sun rose, until dark and in
the evening had to stop at some country place. I
am sure you would pity me, old as I am, that
I should have had to suffer in that way.
"The Emperor went all the way in a cart,
drawn by a mule, also the Empress. I went
along, and was praying to our Great Ancestors
for protection, but the Emperor was very quiet,
and never opened his mouth. One day something
happened. It rained so much and some
of the chair carriers ran away. Some of the
mules died suddenly. It was very hot, and the
rain was pouring down on our heads. Five small
eunuchs ran away also, because we were obliged
to punish them the night before on account of
their bad behavior to the Magistrate, who did
all he could to make me comfortable, but of course
food was scarce. I heard these eunuchs quarreling
with the Magistrate, who bowed to the
ground, begging them to keep quiet, and promised
them everything. I was of course very angry.
Traveling under such circumstances one
ought to be satisfied that one was provided for.
"It took us more than a month before we
reached Shi An. I cannot tell you how fatigued
I was, and was of course worrying very much,
which made me quite ill for almost three months.
So long as I live I cannot forget it.
"We returned to Peking early in the twenty-eighth
year of Kwang Hsu and I had another
dreadful feeling when I saw my own Palace
again. Oh! it was quite changed; a great many
valuable ornaments broken or stolen. All the
valuable things at the Sea Palace had been taken
away, and someone had broken the fingers of my
white jade Buddha, to whom I used to worship
every day. Several foreigners sat on my throne
and had their photos taken. When I was at the
Shi An I was just like being sent into exile,
although the Viceroy's Yamen was prepared for
us, but the building was very old, damp and
unhealthy. The Emperor became ill. It would
take a long time to tell you everything; I thought
I had enough trouble, but this last was the worst.
When I have time, I will tell you more about it.
I want you to know the absolute truth.
"Now let us come back to the question of Mrs.
Conger's private audience. There must be something
special, but I hope that she will not ask
for anything, for I hate to refuse her. Can you
guess what it is?'' I told Her Majesty that there
could not be anything special; besides, Mrs.
Conger considered herself to be a person who
knew Chinese etiquette very well, and I didn't
believe she would ask for anything at all. Her
Majesty said: "The only objection I have is that
Mrs. Conger always brings one of the missionaries
as her interpreter, when I have your mother,
your sister and yourself, which I think should
be sufficient. I don't think it is right for her
to do that; besides, I cannot understand their
Chinese very well. I like to see the ladies of the
Diplomatic body sometimes, but not the missionaries.
I will stop that when the opportunity
comes.''
The next morning Prince Ching told Her
Majesty that the American Admiral, and Mrs.
Evans, and suite wished to be presented to her.
The American Minister asked two private audiences.
He said he had made a mistake by telling
her that Mrs. Conger had asked an audience
for herself, the day before.
After the regular morning audience was over
Her Majesty laughed and said: "Didn't I tell
you yesterday that there must be a reason for
asking an audience? I rather would like to meet
the American Admiral and his wife.'' Turning
to us she said: "Be sure and fix everything up
pretty, change everything in my bedroom, so as
not to show them our daily life.'' We all said
"Jur'' (yes), but we knew it was going to be a
hard task to turn the Palace upside down.
It was just the night before the appointed
audience. We started to work taking off the
pink silk curtains from every window, and
changing them for sky blue (the color she hated);
then we changed the cushions on the chairs to
the same color. While we were watching the
eunuchs doing the work, several of them came
into the room, carrying a large tray full of clocks.
By this time her Majesty had come into the room,
and ordered us to remove all her white and green
jade Buddhas and take some of the jade ornaments
away, for those things were sacred, and
no foreigners should see them, so we replaced
them with these clocks, instead. We also took
away the three embroidered door curtains, and
changed them for ordinary blue satin ones. I
must explain that these three curtains were sacred,
too. They were embroidered to represent
five hundred Buddhist deities, on old gold
satin, and had been used by Emperor Tou
Kwang. Her Majesty believed that by hanging
these curtains at her door they would guard
against evil spirits entering her room. The
order was that one of us should remember to
place them back again when the audience was
over. We fixed every piece of furniture in her
bedroom. Her toilet table was the most important
thing. She would not let anyone see it —
not even the wives of the Officials who came in, so
of course we had to put it in a safe place, and lock
it up. We changed her bed from pink color into
blue. All her furniture was made of sandalwood,
also carvings on her bed. This sandalwood,
before it was made into furniture, was
placed in different temples, to be sanctified, so of
course no foreigner could see it. As we could not
take this carving from her bed, we covered it up
with embroidered hangings. While we were
working Her Majesty came in and told us not to
hurry in her bedroom, because the audience the
next day would only be for Admiral Robley
Evans and his staff, and they would not visit the
private rooms. The audience for Mrs. Evans
and the other ladies would be the day after. She
said it was important to see that the Audience
Hall was fixed up properly. She said: "Place
the only carpet we have here in the hall. I don't
like carpets anyway, but it cannot be helped.''
After we had finished, Her Majesty started
to tell us what to wear for the ladies' audience.
She said to me: "You need not come to the throne
to-morrow, there will only be gentlemen. I will
get one of the Ministers from Wai-Wu-Pu
(Bureau of Foreign Affairs). I don't want you
to talk to so many strange men. It is not the
Manchu custom. These people are all strangers.
They might go back to America and tell everybody
what you look like.'' At the same time
Her Majesty gave orders for the Imperial Yellow
Gown to be brought in next day, for the
gentleman's audience. She said that she must
dress in her official robe for this occasion. This
robe was made of yellow satin, embroidered with
gold dragons. She wore a necklace composed
of one hundred and eight pearls, which formed
part of this official dress. She said: "I don't like
to wear this official robe. It is not pretty, but I
am afraid I will have to.'' She said to all of us:
"You need not dress especially.''
The next morning Her Majesty got up early,
and was busier than ever. It seemed to me that
whenever we had an audience we always had so
much trouble. Something was sure to go wrong
and make Her Majesty angry. She said: "I
want to look nice, and be amiable, but these people
always make me angry. I know the American
Admiral will go home and tell his people
about me, and I don't want him to have a wrong
impression.'' It took her almost two hours to
dress her hair, and by that time it was too late for
her usual morning audience, so she proposed holding
that after the foreigners had gone away.
She looked at herself in the looking-glass, with
her Imperial robe on, and told me that she did not
like it, and asked me whether I thought the foreigners
would know that it was an official robe.
"I look too ugly in yellow. It makes my face
look the same color as my robe,'' she said. I
suggested that as it was only a private audience,
if she wished to dress differently, it would not
matter at all. She seemed delighted, and I was
afraid lest I had not made a proper suggestion,
but anyway I was too busy to worry. Her
Majesty ordered that her different gowns should
be brought in, and after looking them over she
selected one embroidered all over with the character
"Shou'' (long life), covered with precious
stones and pearls, on pale green satin. She tried
it on, and said that it was becoming to her, so
she ordered me to go to the jewel-room and get
flowers to match for her hair. On one side of
the headdress was the character (shou) and on
the other side was a bat (the bat in China is considered
to be lucky). Of course her shoes, handkerchiefs
and everything else were embroidered
in the same way. After she was dressed, she
smiled and said: "I look all right now. We had
better go to the audience hall and wait for them,
and at the same time we can play a game of
dice.'' Then to us all she said: "All of you will
stay at the back of the screen during the audience.
You can see all right, but I don't wish
that you should be seen.'' The eunuchs had laid
the map down on the table and were just going
to commence playing dice, when one of the high
rank eunuchs came into the Hall and, kneeling
down, said that the American Admiral had
arrived at the Palace Gate, together with the
American Minister — ten or twelve people altogether.
Her Majesty smiled and said to me:
"I thought it was just going to be the American
Minister and the Admiral, and one or two of
his staff. Who can the rest of the people be?
However, never mind, I will receive them
anyway.'' We helped her to mount her throne
upon the dais, fixed her clothes, and handed her
the paper containing the speech she was to give.
Then we went back of the screen, with the Young
Empress. It was so very quiet, not a sound
anywhere, that we could hear the boots of
the visitors as they walked over the stones in
the courtyard. We were peeping from behind
the screen, and could see several of the Princes
mounting the steps, conducting these people to
the Hall. The Admiral and the American Minister
came in, and stood in a line. They bowed
three times to the Empress Dowager. The
Emperor was also on his throne, sitting at her
left hand. His throne was very small, just like
an ordinary chair. Her Majesty's speech was
simply to welcome the Admiral to China. They
then came up to the dais and shook hands with
their Majesties, ascending on one side, and
retiring down the other. Prince Ching took them
into another Palace building, where they had
lunch, and the audience was over. It was very
simple and formal.
After the audience was over Her Majesty said
that she could hear us laughing behind the screen,
and that maybe the people would talk about it,
and did not like it at all. I told her that it
was not myself who laughed. She said: "The
next time when I have men in audience you need
not come into the Audience Hall at all. Of
course it is different when I have my own people
at the morning audiences.''
Her Majesty did not go to her bedroom that
afternoon. She said she wanted to wait until
these people had gone and hear what they had
to say. After a couple of hours Prince Ching
came in and reported that they had lunched, and
that they were very pleased to have seen Her
Majesty, and had gone away. I must here
explain that the Admiral had entered by the left
gate of the Palace. The middle gate was only
used for Their Majesties, with one exception,
viz.: in the case of anyone presenting credentials.
Then they entered by the center gate. The
Admiral left by the same gate he had entered.
Her Majesty asked Prince Ching whether he
had showed them around the Palace buildings
or not (this was in the Summer Palace), and
what they had thought about it. Did they say
anything, and were they pleased or not. She
said to Prince Ching: "You can go now, and
make the necessary preparations for the ladies'
audience next day.'' That same evening Her
Majesty said to us: "You must all dress alike
to-morrow, and wear your prettiest clothes.
These foreign ladies who are coming to the Palace
may never see us again, and if we don't show
them what we have now, we will not have another
opportunity.'' She ordered us all, including the
Young Empress, to wear pale blue, also the
Secondary wife of the Emperor. She said to me:
"If the ladies ask who the Secondary wife is, you
can tell them; but if they don't ask, I don't want
you to introduce her to them at all. I have to
be very careful. These people at the Palace
here are not used to seeing so many people and
they might not have nice manners, and the foreigners
will laugh at them.'' Then she said to
us again: "I always give presents when ladies
come to the Court, but don't know whether I
will give this time or not, for at the last audience
I did not give anything at all.'' Addressing me,
she said: "You can prepare some pieces of jade,
in case I need them. Put them in a nice box
and have them all ready. Don't bring them to
me until I ask for them.'' She said: "We have
talked enough now, and you can all go to
rest.'' We courtesied good night. I was only
too glad to go to my own room.
The next morning everything went on very
nicely and there was no trouble at all. Her
Majesty was well satisfied, for we had all taken
great care in fixing ourselves up. She said to
me: "You never put enough paint on your face.
People might take you for a widow. You will
have to paint your lips, as that is the custom.
I don't need you yet, so go back and put some
more paint on.'' So I went back to my room
and painted myself just like the rest of them,
but I could not help laughing at seeing myself
so changed. By the time I got to her room
again, she said: "Now you look all right. If
you think that powder is expensive, I will buy
some for you.'' She said that with a laugh, for
she always liked to tease me.
By the time Her Majesty had finished her
toilet, one of the ladies brought a number of
gowns for her to select one from. She said she
would wear pale blue that day. She looked over
twenty or thirty gowns, but found nothing which
suited her, so she gave orders for some more to
be brought in. Finally she chose a blue gown
embroidered with one hundred butterflies, and
wore a purple sleeveless jacket, which was also
embroidered with butterflies. At the bottom
of this gown were pearl tassels. She wore
her largest pearls, one of which was almost as
large as an egg, and was her favorite jewel.
She only wore this on special occasions. She
wore two jade butterflies on each side of her
headdress. Her bracelets and rings were also
all designed in butterflies, in fact everything
matched. Among her beautiful jewels, she always
wore some kind of fresh flowers. White
jessamine was her favorite flower. The Young
Empress and the Court ladies were not allowed
to wear fresh flowers at all unless given to them
by Her Majesty as a special favor. We could
wear pearls and jade, etc., but she said that the
fresh flowers were for her, her idea being that we
were too young, and might spoil fresh flowers if
we wore them. After she was dressed we went
into the Audience Hall. She ordered her cards
to be brought in as she wanted to play solitaire.
She talked all the time she was playing, and said
that we must all be very nice and polite to the
American ladies, and show them everywhere.
She said: "It doesn't matter now, for we have
everything changed.'' She said: "I want to laugh
myself. What is the use of changing everything?
They will imagine we are always like
this. By and bye, if they question you about
anything, just tell them that it is not so, and
that we change everything at each audience, just
to give them a bit of surprise. You must tell
it some day, otherwise no one will know it at all,
and the trouble would not be worth the while.''
It was a private audience for ladies, and Her
Majesty did not use the big throne, but was sitting
on her little throne at the left side of the
Audience Hall, where she received her own Ministers
every morning; the Emperor was standing.
A eunuch came in, the same as the day
before, and announced that the ladies had arrived
at the Palace Gate, nine in all. Her
Majesty sent some of the Court ladies to meet
them in the courtyard, and bring them to the
Audience Hall, which they did. I was standing
at the right side of Her Majesty's chair, and
could see them mounting the steps. Her
Majesty whispered to me, and asked: "Which
one is Mrs. Evans?'' As I had never seen the
lady, I answered that I could not tell, but when
they got nearer I saw a lady walking with the
American Minister's wife, and concluded that
she must be Mrs. Evans, and told Her Majesty.
As they got nearer, Her Majesty said: "Again
that missionary lady with Mrs. Conger. I think
she must like to see me. She comes every time.
I will tell her I am very glad to see her always,
and see if she understands what I mean.''
Mrs. Conger shook hands with Her Majesty
and presented Mrs. Evans and also the wives
of the American officers. I was watching Her
Majesty and saw that she was very nice and
amiable, with such a pleasant smile — so different
from her everyday manner. She told them she
was delighted to see them. Her Majesty
ordered the eunuchs to have chairs brought in
for the ladies, and at the same time other eunuchs
brought in tea. Her Majesty asked Mrs. Evans
whether she liked China; what she thought of
Peking; how long she had been there; how long
she was going to stay, and where she was staying.
I was so accustomed to Her Majesty's
questions that I knew exactly what she would
ask. Mrs. Conger told her interpreter to tell
Her Majesty that she had not seen her for such
a long time, and enquired about Her Majesty's
health. Her Majesty said to me: "You tell Mrs.
Conger that I am in good health and that I am
delighted to see her. It is a pity that I cannot
hold an audience more frequently, otherwise I
could see more of her.'' She continued: "The
Imperial Princess (her adopted daughter —
daughter of Prince Kung) will accompany them
to lunch.'' This ended the audience.
Lunch was served at the back of her own Palace
building (Yang Yuen Hsuen — the place
where the clouds gather to rest). This room was
specially furnished as a banqueting room where
refreshments could be served. All the Court
ladies went to the lunch, except Her Majesty,
the Young Empress and the Secondary wife. It
had taken me two hours to fix the table for the
luncheon. Her Majesty ordered that a white
foreign tablecloth should be used, as it looked
cleaner. The eunuch gardeners had decorated
the table with fresh flowers, and Her Majesty
gave instructions as to how the seats were to be
placed. She said: "Mrs. Evans is the guest of
honor. Although Mrs. Conger is the wife of the
American Minister, she is more of a resident, so
Mrs. Evans must have the principal seat.'' She
also told me to arrange to seat everybody according
to their respective ranks. The Imperial
Princess and Princess Shun (Her Majesty's
niece, sister of the Young Empress) were hostesses,
and were to sit opposite each other. We
placed golden menu holders and little gold plates
for almonds and watermelon seeds; the rest all
silver ware, including chopsticks. Her Majesty
ordered that foreign knives and forks should be
provided also. The food was served in Manchu
style, and was composed of twenty-four courses,
besides sweetmeats — candies and fruits. Her
Majesty instructed us that only the best champagne
was to be served. She said: "I know that
foreign ladies love to drink.''
I think I was the only one who was really
happy to meet these ladies, more so than the rest
of the Court ladies, the reason being that Her
Majesty lectured them too severely, telling them
how to behave, so that they had grown to hate
the very mention of a foreign audience. While
we were eating, a eunuch came in and told me
that Her Majesty was waiting at her private
Palace, and that I should bring these ladies there
after the lunch was over. So when we had finished
we entered her own Palace and found her
waiting there for us. She got up and told me to
ask Mrs. Evans whether she had had anything
to eat — that the food was not very good. (This
is a custom with the Chinese when entertaining,
always to underrate the food.) She said that she
would like to show Mrs. Evans her private apartments,
so that she could form some idea of the
way we lived, so she took Mrs. Evans to one of
her bedrooms. She invited Mrs. Evans and Mrs.
Conger to sit down, and the eunuchs brought in
tea, as usual. Her Majesty asked Mrs. Evans
to stay a little while in Peking, and to visit the
different temples. She said: "Our country,
although very old, has not such fine buildings as
there are in America. I suppose you will find
everything very strange. I am rather too old
now, otherwise I would like to travel around the
world. I have read much about different countries,
but of course there is nothing like visiting
the different places and seeing them yourself.
However, one cannot tell. I may be able to go
after all, by and bye, but I am afraid to leave my
own country. By the time I returned I should
not know the place any more, I'm afraid. Here
everything seems to depend on me. Our Emperor
is quite young.''
She then turned and ordered us to take these
ladies to visit the different buildings of the Palace,
also the famous temple of the King of
Dragons. This is on a little island in the center
of the lake of the Summer Palace. Mrs. Conger
said that she had something to ask Her
Majesty, and told the Missionary lady to proceed.
While Mrs. Conger was speaking to this
lady Her Majesty became rather impatient as
she wanted to know what they were talking
about, so she asked me. It was very hard for
me to listen to both of the ladies and to Her
Majesty at the same time. The only words I
heard were: "The portrait,'' so I guessed the
rest. Before I had a chance to tell Her Majesty
this Missionary lady said: "Mrs. Conger has
come with the special object of asking permission
to have Her Majesty's portrait painted by an
American lady artist, Miss Carl, as she is desirous
of sending it to the St. Louis Exhibition, in order
that the American people may form some idea
of what a beautiful lady the Empress Dowager
of China is.'' Miss Carl is the sister of Mr. F.
Carl who was for so many years Commissioner of
Customs in Chefoo.
Her Majesty looked surprised, for she had
been listening very carefully whilst this lady was
talking. She did not like to say that she did not
quite understand, so she turned to me, as had
been previously arranged, — a sign for me to interpret.
I did not, however, do so immediately,
so Mrs. Conger told her missionary friend to
repeat the request in case Her Majesty had not
quite understood it. Her Majesty then said to
me: "I cannot quite understand what this lady
says. I think perhaps you can tell me better.''
So I explained everything, but I knew that Her
Majesty did not know what a portrait was like,
as, up to that time she had never even had a
photograph taken of herself.
I must here explain that in China a portrait is
only painted after death, in memorium of the
deceased, in order that the following generations
may worship the deceased. I noticed that Her
Majesty was somewhat shocked when the request
was made known to her. I did not want Her
Majesty to appear ignorant before these foreign
ladies, so I pulled her sleeve and told her that I
would explain everything to her later. She replied:
"Explain a little to me now.'' This was
spoken in the Court language, which the visitors
were unable to understand, it being somewhat different
from the ordinary Chinese language. This
enabled Her Majesty to form some idea of the
conversation, so she thanked Mrs. Conger for her
kind thought, and promised to give her answer
later. She said to me: "Tell Mrs. Conger that
I cannot decide anything alone, as she is probably
aware that I have to consult with my Ministers
before deciding anything of an important
character. Tell her that I have to be very careful
not to do anything which would give my
people an opportunity to criticize my actions.
I have to adhere to the rules and customs of my
ancestors.'' I noticed that Her Majesty did not
seem inclined to discuss the subject further at the
moment.
Just then the head eunuch came in and, kneeling
down, informed Her Majesty that the boats
for the ladies were ready to take them across the
lake, to see the temple. This action on the part
of the eunuch was owing to his having received a
signal from one of the Court ladies, which implied
that Her Majesty was getting tired of the
conversation, and wished to change the subject.
I must explain that on every occasion when a
foreign audience was taking place, one of the
Court ladies was always told off to watch Her
Majesty, and whenever she appeared to be displeased
or tired of any particular subject under
discussion, she, the Court lady, would give the
signal to the head eunuch, who would break in
upon the conversation in the above manner, and
thus save the situation from becoming embarrassing.
So Her Majesty said good-bye to the
ladies, as she thought it would be too late for
them to have to return to say good-bye, besides
which it would give them more time to see the
various sights.
The ladies then proceeded to the island in the
Empress Dowager's pleasure boat known as the
Imperial barge, previously described, and visited
the temple. This temple is built on top of a
small rock, in the center of which is a natural
cave, and it was generally supposed that no human
being had ever been inside of this cave. The
Empress Dowager believed the popular superstition
that this hole was the home of the King
of Dragons — from which the temple derives its
name.