15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL
ON the fifteenth day of the eighth moon came
the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival,
sometimes called the Moon Festival.
This name is derived from the belief which the
Chinese hold that the moon is not permanently
round when full, but that on this particular day
it is a perfect circle. The ceremony which is
gone through is conducted entirely by the Court
ladies and consists of worshiping the moon as
soon as it appears in the sky. In other respects
the celebrations are exactly the same as in the
Dragon Boat Festival, presents were exchanged
between Her Majesty and the Court officials.
The festival concluded with a theatrical
performance which describes a scene in the moon.
The belief is that a beautiful maiden lives in the
moon, her only companion being a white rabbit,
called a Jade Rabbit. According to the play
this rabbit escapes from the moon to the Earth
and becomes a young and beautiful girl. A
golden rooster which lives in the sun, becoming
aware of the rabbit's descent to the earth, himself
descends from the sun and changes into a handsome
prince. Of course they very naturally
meet and immediately fall in love. Now, on
the earth lived another rabbit — a red one, who,
on finding out what was going on, changed himself
into a prince also and set about making love
to the beautiful maiden with the object of cutting
out the rooster. However, he was seriously
handicapped inasmuch as he was unable to change
the color of his face, which remained red, therefore
his love making met with no success and the
rooster prince had it all his own way. At this
point, the beautiful maiden in the moon, on
discovering her loss, sent the soldiers of Heaven to
re-capture her rabbit, with the result that she
was taken back to the moon and the rooster being
left alone, had no alternative but to reluctantly
return to his home in the sun.
During this performance the head eunuch
brought a young man into the courtyard, who
kowtowed to Her Majesty. This was such an
unusual occurrence that everybody noticed it.
I could see that he was a stranger and did not
belong to the Court and I wondered who he
could be. At the other end of the veranda I
saw two or three of the Court ladies whispering
together and smiling. They finally came over to
me and asked if I knew who he was. I told
them that he was a stranger to me and they ought
to know better than I did as they had been at the
Court much longer. Anyhow I gave it as my
opinion that he was decidedly ugly. That same
evening Her Majesty asked me whether I had
noticed this young man, and told me that he was
the son of a very high Manchu official; that his
father was dead and that he had succeeded to
the title and to a large amount of money. I was
surprised that Her Majesty should give such a
lengthy explanation about this young man, but
I told her that I did not think him very handsome.
Her Majesty was talking in a very serious
manner but I did not think anything of the
occurrence at the time but a few days later
while I was posing for the portrait I heard Her
Majesty whispering to my mother at the other
end of the room. I saw that Her Majesty was
holding a photograph in her hands which she
showed to my mother, at the same time asking
whether my mother considered him good looking.
My mother answered "not very.'' On Her
Majesty replying that beauty was not everything
I began to suspect that there was something
going on which directly concerned me. I began
to think of some excuse in order to get out
of what I could plainly see was a proposed
marriage between myself and this gentleman. I
knew that if Her Majesty had made up her
mind that I was to marry him I could not help
myself, but, at the same time, I made up
my own mind that rather than marry anyone
whom I did not like, especially one I had
never seen before, I would leave the Court
altogether. When Her Majesty retired for her
usual afternoon rest she told me she wanted to
see me for a moment. After beating about the
bush for some time, she asked me whether I would
like to stay with her always or whether I would
like to go away again to some foreign country.
I at once answered that I was quite satisfied to
stay with her as long as she cared to have me but
that when she was tired of me she could then
send me away. Her Majesty informed me that
it had been her intention to marry me to this
young gentleman and asked my opinion. I told
her that I did not want to get married at all,
especially seeing that my father was sick at this
time, and leaving home to go to live apart from
my family would break his heart and perhaps
be the cause of his premature death. Her Majesty
said that was no excuse as I should not have
to go out of China but would be able to see my
father and family any time I wished. I told
Her Majesty that I would much rather stay
with her altogether and that I did not want
to marry anybody. Her Majesty then said:
"I won't listen to any excuse. I have already
explained everything to your mother, but much
to my surprise she said it would be better to
mention it to you first, on account of your having
been brought up differently from the rest of the
Court ladies. Had it not been for this fact I
would simply have arranged everything with
your mother and the matter would have been
settled so far as you were concerned.'' I could
not say anything in answer to this, so commenced
to cry. I told Her Majesty that I was not like
the rest of the Court ladies who pretended they
did not want to marry, when all the time they
were simply looking forward to getting married,
if only for the change from the monotony of
Court life. I promised that I would stay with
her forever, and that I had no desire to go away
from China again. I explained that I should
not have gone away at all had it not been that
my father was transferred to Paris. Her Majesty
said: "Oh, well, I am very glad that you
did go away as you are more useful to me than
you would have been had you stayed in China
all your life.'' After a lot more discussion Her
Majesty said: "Well, I will leave you to think
the matter over. If you don't like the young
man I have chosen there are plenty of others,''
which remark did not help me very much as I
could see that she meant to marry me off anyway.
However, I had managed to get out of it
this time, and thought I would be able to arrange
matters satisfactorily should the question come
up again. Nothing further was said about
the matter until nearly a month later when I
heard that a marriage had been arranged between
this gentleman and the daughter of one
of the princes. So everything ended very
satisfactorily from my point of view.
The twenty-sixth day of the eighth moon was
the occasion of another celebration. At the time
the Manchu Dynasty began, Emperor Shung
Chih, who had fought very hard to gain the
throne, found himself on the twenty-sixth day
of the eighth moon, absolutely out of provisions
of every kind and it was necessary for
him and his army to live on the leaves of trees,
which was the only form of food obtainable at
the time. Thus the anniversary of this day,
even up to the present time, is always celebrated
by the Manchu people, who deny themselves
all luxuries, especially at the Court. We
did not eat any meat on that day, but only rice
wrapped in lettuce leaves. Chopsticks were also
discarded and the food was conveyed to the
mouth by the hands alone. Even the Empress
Dowager was no exception to this rule. This is
done in order to remind the present generation
of the privation suffered by their ancestors who
established the Manchu Dynasty.
Towards the close of the eighth moon Her
Majesty's gourd plants, which had been planted
early in the spring, were ripening, and each day
she would take us all to see what progress they
were making. She would pick out those which
she considered to be the most perfect in form, i. e.,
those with the smallest waist and tie ribbons
around them so as not to lose sight of them.
She pointed to one of these plants one day, and
said to me: "This reminds me of yourself when
dressed in foreign clothes. Surely you feel more
comfortable in the clothes you are now wearing.''
When these gourds were quite ripe they
were cut down and Her Majesty would scrape
the outer skin with a bamboo knife, afterwards
wiping the fruit with a wet cloth. They were
then allowed to dry and after a few days they
would assume a brownish color, when they were
ready for hanging as ornaments in the Summer
Palace. In one room alone there were over
10,000 of these gourds, of different shapes. It
was the duty of the Court ladies to periodically
wipe these gourds with a cloth, in order to give
them a shiny appearance, and also to scrape any
new ones which were pulled and prepare them for
the Palace. None of us cared very much about
this work excepting Her Majesty. One day
whilst attending to these gourds I happened to
knock the top off one of the old ones which was
Her Majesty's particular favorite. I dared not
go and tell Her Majesty what had happened and
one of the Court ladies suggested throwing the
thing away altogether and saying nothing about
it as Her Majesty would not be likely to find
it out, having so many of them. However, I
finally decided to go and tell Her Majesty about
it, and take punishment if necessary. For
a wonder Her Majesty did not make much
bother about it. She said: "Well it was quite
an old one in any case and the top was ready to
drop off at any time; it so happens that you were
the one to wipe it, and of course it came off. It
can't be helped.'' I told Her Majesty that I
was very much ashamed at being so careless,
especially as I knew it was one of her favorites,
and there the matter ended. All the rest of the
Court ladies were in the waitingroom and were
anxious to know how I would get out of it, and
when I told them they said that had it been any
of them there would have been a fine row. They
laughed, and said it must be nice to be a favorite
which made me feel very uncomfortable. I told
the Young Empress exactly what had happened,
and she said I was quite right to tell Her Majesty
the truth and told me to be very careful as
there was much jealousy going on.
At the beginning of the ninth moon the
chrysanthemums commence to bud and it was the
duty of the ladies of the Court to go and trim
them each day by cutting away all the buds
except one on each stalk. This trimming gives
the flower a better chance of developing, a much
larger blossom being the result. Even Her
Majesty would help with this work. She was
very particular about these plants, and would
not allow any of us to meddle with them if our
hands were not perfectly cool, as to touch them
with hot hands would cause the leaves to shrivel
up. These flowers are generally in full bloom
about the end of the ninth moon or beginning of
the tenth moon. Her Majesty had a wonderful
gift of being able to tell what kind of flower
would bloom from each separate plant, even before
the buds appeared. She would say: "This
is going to be a red flower,'' and we would place
a bamboo stick in the flower pot, with the name
written on it. Then another, Her Majesty
would declare to be a white one and we would
place a similar bamboo stick in the flower pot,
with the description, and so on. Her Majesty
said: "This is your first year at the Palace and
no doubt you are surprised at what you have
just seen and heard me say, but I have never yet
made a mistake. For you will see when the
flowers commence to bloom.'' It was a fact as
everything turned out exactly as she had
predicted. None of us ever knew how she was
able to distinguish one from the other, but she
was always right. I did once ask her to explain
how she was able to tell but she answered that
it was a secret.
All this time the portrait was proceeding very
slowly and one day Her Majesty asked me how
long I thought it would be before it was finished
and what the custom in Europe was as regards
remuneration for such a portrait. I replied that
it was customary to pay very handsomely, but
she would not hear of such a suggestion, saying
that in China it was not the custom and that it
would be regarded as an insult to offer money
for such a service. She suggested decorating
Miss Carl as a reward for her services, which she
considered would be appreciated far more than
a money present. There was nothing for me to
say at this time but I determined to mention the
matter again when a favorable opportunity occurred.
During the ninth moon a Russian circus visited
Peking and of course everybody talked of
little else. Her Majesty, hearing so much
talk about this circus asked what it was like,
and after we had explained to her, she became
very interested and said that she would like to
see it. My mother thought it would be a good
idea to have the circus brought up to the Summer
Palace, where they could perform, so she asked
Her Majesty whether this might be done. Her
Majesty was delighted with the idea, and arrangements
were accordingly made for the performance.
While everything was being fixed,
the people belonging to the circus, and the
animals, were quartered near our own house and
we had to feed them at our own expense. However,
we wanted to show Her Majesty what a
circus was like so the expense did not matter.
It took them two days to erect the tent and
make all necessary preparations, and during this
time Her Majesty received reports as to what
was being done, and the progress they were making.
The day before the performance, we noticed
that Her Majesty, on coming from her audience,
looked very angry, and on our enquiring what
was the matter she informed my mother and myself
that some censors had raised objections
against having this circus in the Palace grounds,
as there had never been anything of this kind
allowed before and they had begged Her Majesty
to give up the idea. Her Majesty was very angry,
and said: "You see how much power I
have here; I cannot even have a circus without
somebody raising objections. I think we had
better pay them something and let them go
away.'' Of course we agreed to anything she
thought best. After considering for a time Her
Majesty jumped up and said: "They have the
tent up already; they will talk just the same
whether we have the circus or not; I will have
it anyway.'' So the performance duly took
place and Her Majesty and all the Court were
delighted. One item consisted of a young girl
walking and dancing on a large globe. This
especially pleased Her Majesty and she insisted
on the performance being repeated several times.
Another item of interest was the trapeze act.
Of course nobody present with the exception of
my mother, sister and myself had ever seen a circus
performance before, and Her Majesty was
very much afraid that the man would fall from
the trapeze and kill himself. Another thing
which interested Her Majesty was the bare-back
riding, which she thought simply wonderful.
The only objection to the whole show which she
raised was when it was suggested to bring in
the lions and tigers, etc. She said it was not
safe to bring wild beasts into the Palace and that
she would rather not see this part of the performance.
The proprietor of the circus, however,
brought in a small baby elephant which
performed several clever tricks. This delighted
Her Majesty more than anything else and when
the proprietor saw how pleased she was he offered
the elephant as a present, which she accepted.
However, after the performance was over we
tried to make him go through his tricks again
but he would not budge an inch, so we had to give
it up as a bad job and send him away to be
placed along with the other elephants belonging
to the Palace.
Altogether there were three performances
given by the circus, and before the final
performance, the circus Manager told me that he
would very much like to show the lions and
tigers: there was no chance of any accident and
it really would be worth seeing. So after a lot
of discussion Her Majesty finally consented to
allow them to be brought in but on the distinct
understanding that they should not be let out of
their cages.
When they were brought in the ring all the
eunuchs gathered around Her Majesty, and after
remaining in the ring for a few minutes Her
Majesty ordered them to be taken away again.
She said: "I am not afraid for myself, but they
might get loose and hurt some of the people.''
This item finished the whole of the performance
and the circus departed richer by some Taels
10,000 which Her Majesty had ordered to be
given to them.
For the next couple of days we discussed the
merits of the circus but afterwards, Her Majesty,
when referring to the subject, expressed
great disappointment with the whole thing.
She said she had expected something entirely
different and far more wonderful. This was another
characteristic of Her Majesty; nothing
pleased her for more than five minutes at a time.
She said to me: "I don't see anything at all
wonderful in foreign accomplishments. Take for
instance this portrait which this lady is painting.
I don't think it is going to be at all a good
picture, it seems so rough. (Her Majesty did not
understand oil painting). Then again why
should she always want to have the things before
her while painting them. An ordinary Chinese
artist could paint my dress, shoes, etc., after
seeing the things once. She cannot be very much
of an artist in my opinion, though you need not
tell her that I said so.'' Continuing, Her Majesty
said: "By the way, what do you talk about
when you are posing for this portrait of mine;
although I don't understand what she is saying,
still I can see she has a lot to say. Be sure not to
tell her anything connected with the Court life
and do not teach her any Chinese. I hear that
she often asks what different things are called
in Chinese, but don't tell her. The less she
knows the better for us. I can see that she has
seen nothing of our ordinary Court life, as yet.
I wonder what she would say if she were to see
one of the eunuchs being punished, or anything
like that. She would think that we were savages,
I suppose. I noticed the other day, when I was
angry, that you took this lady artist away. This
was very wise of you; it is better that she should
not see me in a temper, she might talk about it
afterwards. I wish this portrait was finished.
The cool weather is coming on and we have to
open up the boxes and get our winter clothes
ready. You girls need winter clothes I know
as you have none but foreign dresses. Then,
again, my birthday is next month and there
will be the usual celebrations. After that we
return to the Sea Palace, and what can we do
with this artist? I suppose she will have to go
back and stay at the American Legation and
come to the Sea Palace each day until the work
is finished. This will be a lot of trouble as it is
not ten minutes' drive as at present, but nearer
an hour's drive. And even if this can be satisfactorily
arranged, what about the Winter Palace
in the Forbidden City? Try and get to know
how long she expects to be before it is finished.''
This gave me an opportunity to tell Her Majesty
that Miss Carl was just as anxious to get
the work finished as she was to have it finished,
but explained that Miss Carl had very little time
to paint as Her Majesty could spare very little
time to give personal sittings, and again, when
Her Majesty went to lie down each afternoon,
Miss Carl had to stop painting as she was working
in the next room to Her Majesty's bedroom.
Her Majesty replied: "Well, if she expects me
to sit for her all day long I will give up the
whole thing at once,'' and then added: "I think
you yourself are getting tired of sitting, and
want me to take it up again, but I have already
had quite enough of it.'' Of course, I told her
that instead of being tired of it, I enjoyed sitting
on Her Throne, which I regarded as a great
honor. I explained to Her Majesty that Miss
Carl did not like me to pose in her place, as
she could not get along so quickly as if she were
to sit herself; but she simply said that I was
acting under her commands, and that should be
sufficient for me.
For the next ten days we were kept very busy
selecting materials for winter clothing and also
official robes for my sister and myself to be worn
during the forthcoming birthday celebrations.
These dresses were full winter Court dresses, of
red satin embroidered with golden dragons and
blue clouds, and were trimmed with gold braid
and lined with grey squirrel. The cuffs
and collars (which were turned down) were of
sable. While Her Majesty was giving one of
the eunuchs instructions as to how these were to
be made, the Young Empress beckoned to me,
and I went out. She said: "You go and kowtow
to Her Majesty as it is a great favor for
her to give you a dress trimmed with sable. This
is usually only worn by a Princess.'' So when I
returned to the room I availed myself of the first
opportunity to kowtow and thank Her Majesty
for the great favor she had granted me. She
answered: "You deserve it, and I see no reason
why you should not be treated as a Princess anyway;
many of the Princesses are not of the Imperial
family. Any title may be bestowed for
special services rendered to the country and you
have been of more help to me than any other
Court lady I have ever had, and I can see that
you are faithful in the discharge of your duties.
You may think I do not notice these things, but
I do. You are certainly entitled to be ranked
as a Princess, and in fact I never treat you different
from the Princesses, but rather better in
many ways.'' Turning to a eunuch she said:
"Bring my fur cap here.'' This cap was made
of sable, trimmed with pearls and jade and Her
Majesty explained that our caps would be something
after the same style except that the crown,
instead of being yellow as in the case of Her
Majesty's cap, would be red. I was naturally
delighted. In addition to the cap and full Court
dress Her Majesty had two ordinary dresses
made for everyday wear, one lined with sheepskin
and the other lined with grey squirrel.
Then she gave us four other dresses of finer material,
lined with black and white fox skin, and
all trimmed with gold braid and embroidered
ribbons. In addition there were two other
dresses, one of a pale pink color, embroidered
with one hundred butterflies and the other of a
reddish color embroidered with green bamboo
leaves. Several short jackets, also lined with
fur, were also included in Her Majesty's present,
and several sleeveless jackets went to complete
the lot.
On coming out of the room, one of the Court
ladies remarked that I was very lucky to receive
so many clothes from Her Majesty and said that
she had never received so many during the whole
time she had been at the Palace — nearly ten
years. I could see she was jealous. The young
Empress, overhearing this conversation, joined
us and told her that when I arrived at the Palace
I had nothing but foreign clothes and how was I
to manage if Her Majesty did not get me the
proper dresses. This incident was the beginning
of another unpleasant time for me with the
ladies of the Court. At first I took no notice
until one day one of the girls attached to the Palace
joined in the unkind remarks. She said that
before my arrival she had been Her Majesty's
particular favorite, but I gave her to understand
that she had no right to discuss me in any way
whatsoever. The Young Empress, who was
present, spoke to them about their treatment of
me and said that some fine day I would be telling
Her Majesty about it. This seemed to have a
good effect for they never troubled me much
afterwards with their talk.
