CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE SUMMER PALACE Two Years in the Forbidden City | ||
16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE SUMMER PALACE
JUST about the end of the ninth moon Her Majesty began to tire of doing nothing day after day, and said: "What is the use of waiting until the first of the month to have the theatrical performance? Let us have a performance to-morrow.'' So she gave instructions for the eunuchs to prepare for the play, which should be staged without the assistance of any outside actors. I might here mention that certain of the eunuchs were specially trained as actors and used to study their parts every day. Indeed, they were far cleverer than the professionals from outside.
Her Majesty gave the head eunuch the list of the plays she wished to be performed, which were for the most part dramatised fairy tales, and we had a performance the next day.
After Her Majesty had gone to rest in the afternoon, during the theatrical performance I met the Emperor returning to his own Palace. I was surprised to see only one eunuch in attendance. This was the Emperor's own private eunuch and he trusted him implicitly. He asked
The Emperor then said: "I understand there is a rumor to the effect that when this lady has finished Her Majesty's portrait she is going to paint mine. I should very much like to know who says so.'' I told him this was the first I had heard about it so could not say. I asked him whether he would like to have his portrait painted but he only answered: "That is rather a difficult question for me to answer. You know best whether I ought to have it painted or not.
"I see Her Majesty having so many photographs
He then changed the conversation by saying: "Well, now that we have time to talk I want to ask you a question and I expect you to answer me truly. What is the general opinion amongst the foreigners regarding myself? Do they consider me a man of character and do they think me clever? I am very anxious to know.'' Before I could say anything in answer to this question he continued: "I know very well that they regard me as nothing more than a boy, and as being of no consequence at all. Tell me, is not this so?'' I replied that many foreigners had asked me about him — as to what kind of man he was, but that they had never expressed any opinion of their own regarding him excepting that they understood he was in the best of health. "If any wrong impression does exist regarding myself and my position at the Court,'' continued the Emperor, "it is owing to the very conservative customs of the Chinese Court. I am not expected to either say or do anything on my own
The Emperor went on to say how nice it would be if he were allowed to travel about from place to place the same as the European monarchs, but of course such a thing was out of the question for him. I told him that several Princesses had expressed a wish to visit the St. Louis Exposition and said I thought it would be a good thing if that could be arranged as they would see for themselves the difference between their own country and customs and foreign countries and customs. The Emperor expressed doubts as to this permission being granted as such a thing had never been heard of before.
We talked for quite a long time, mostly about foreign customs, and the Emperor remarked that
Just then one of my eunuchs came and said that Her Majesty was awake, so I had to hurry off to her room.
We now arrive at the tenth moon.
The first day it snowed, and the head eunuch enquired of Her Majesty whether it was her intention to celebrate her birthday at the Summer Palace as usual. As previously explained the Summer Palace was Her Majesty's favorite place of abode; so she replied in the affirmative and arrangements were accordingly made for the celebration to be held there as usual. The head eunuch then brought Her Majesty a list giving the names and ranks of all the Princesses and the names of the wives and daughters of the Manchu officials, and she selected those whom she wished to be present at the celebrations. On this occasion she selected forty-five ladies, who were duly informed that she desired their presence at the Palace. I was standing behind Her Majesty's chair all this time, and she turned and said: "Usually I do not ask many people to my birthday celebrations, but on this occasion I have made an exception as I want you to see the way they dress and how ignorant they are of Court etiquette.''
The celebrations commenced on the sixth day of the tenth moon. Miss Carl, having returned
On such occasions as this Her Majesty was generally in pretty good spirits. She commenced asking us a lot of questions. Amongst other things she asked whether we had noticed an elderly lady among the visitors, dressed as a bride. She explained that this lady was the only Manchu lady present who was married to a Chinese official, and had been invited because of her previous connection with the Court. Her
Her Majesty dressed very quickly, and as soon as she was ready she came into the hall, where the head eunuch brought in the visitors and presented them to Her Majesty. We Court ladies were all standing in a row behind the Throne. As they came in, some kowtowed; others courtesied, while others did not do anything at all, in fact nobody appeared to know what to do with herself. Her Majesty spoke a few words of welcome and thanked them for the presents they had sent her.
I would like to say here that, contrary to the general idea which exists, Her Majesty always expressed her thanks for any present or service rendered, no matter how insignificant.
Her Majesty could see plainly that everybody was embarrassed and ordered the head eunuch to show them to their respective rooms, and told them to make themselves at home and to go and take a rest. They hesitated a moment, not knowing whether to go or not, until Her Majesty said to us: "Take them and present them to the Young Empress.''
When we arrived at the Palace of the Young Empress they were duly presented and were not
During Her Majesty's afternoon rest I paid a visit to the guests I was to take charge of. Among them was the bride referred to by Her Majesty. So I went and made myself agreeable to her and found her very interesting. She had evidently received a good education, unlike the majority of Manchu ladies, as I found she could read and write Chinese exceptionally well. I then explained to all of them what they would have to do, and how to address Her Majesty, should it be necessary to do so. I don't know whether I have mentioned it previously, but whenever anybody spoke to Her Majesty, they always addressed her as "Great Ancestor,'' and when referring to themselves, instead of the pronoun "I,'' they would say "Your slave.'' In all Manchu families a similar
Her Majesty was very particular about this rule being strictly observed.
For the next four days, until the day of the ceremony, these visitors passed their time in learning the Court etiquette and going to the theatre.
Every morning, as usual, we waited on Her Majesty and reported anything of interest which had occurred during the previous day. Then we all preceded Her Majesty to the theatre, where we awaited her arrival standing in the courtyard. On Her Majesty appearing, we would all kneel down until she had passed into the building opposite the stage, kneeling in rows — first the Emperor, behind him the Young Princess, next the Secondary wife, then the Princesses and Court ladies, and last of all the visitors. The first two days everything went of all right, but on the third morning the Emperor, from whom we received the signal, suddenly turned and said: "Her Majesty is coming.'' Down we all went on our knees, the Emperor alone remaining standing and laughing at us. Of course there was no sign of Her Majesty and everybody joined in the laugh. He was never
On the evening of the ninth, none of the Court ladies went to bed, as we all had to be up betimes on the morning of the tenth. The visitors were told to proceed by chair to Her Majesty's special Audience Hall on the top of the hill, where they were to await our arrival. They arrived at the Audience Hall at three o'clock in the morning, and we followed soon afterwards, arriving there about daybreak. By and bye Her Majesty arrived and the ceremony commenced. This ceremony in no way differed from the one previously described in connection with the Emperor's birthday, so there is no need to give particulars, except one thing. Very early on the morning of the tenth, we had to bring another present to her and each of us brought a hundred birds of various kinds. Each year, on her birthday, Her Majesty did a very peculiar thing. She would buy 10,000 birds with her own money, from her private purse and set them free. It was a very pretty sight to see those huge cages hung in the courtyard of the Audience Hall. Her Majesty would select the most lucky hour and order the eunuchs to carry the cages and to follow her. The hour selected was four o'clock in the afternoon. Her Majesty took the whole Court with her to the top
One of the Court ladies asked me what I thought of the parrots that would not fly away, and I told her that it was really very strange.
The celebrations were continued until the thirteenth day. Nobody did any work and all was gaiety and enjoyment, the theatre being open every day. Towards the close of the thirteenth day the visitors were informed that the celebrations were at an end and they made arrangements to leave early the next morning. They all bade Her Majesty good-bye that evening and departed early the following day.
For the next few days we were all busy
preparing for removing to the Sea Palace. Her
Majesty consulted her book and finally selected
the 22d as being the most favorable day for this
Emperor's Coffin Carried by "600" Pole-bearers
[Description: Black and white photograph of the emperor's coffin being carried by "600" pole-bearers.]Umbrella Carriers in the Funeral
[Description: Black and white photograph of umbrella carriers in the funeral.]
As usual, all the Court ladies take a short cut to the Palace, so as to be ready to receive Her Majesty, when she arrived. After waiting in the courtyard for quite a long time, during which
Towards evening the head eunuch came to see me and brought several plates of sweetmeats. He was very nice, and told me that I was very fortunate, as Her Majesty very rarely bothered herself about any of the Court ladies and that evidently she had taken a fancy to me. He sat talking for some little time, and told me to eat some of the sweetmeats. Of course I was not able to eat anything at all, let alone sweetmeats, so I told him to leave them and I would eat them later. Before leaving he said that in case I wanted anything I was to let him know. This visit was a great surprise to me, as usually he took very little notice of any of us, but I was told afterwards that the reason he was so nice was because Her Majesty showed such an interest in me.
The next morning I was able to get up and resume my duties. I went in to see Her Majesty and kowtowed to her, thanking her for her kindness during my indisposition. Her Majesty said that the head eunuch had told her the previous
As the snow had stopped falling, Her Majesty decided that the next day we would go and choose a place for Miss Carl to continue the painting. I suggested that perhaps it would be better if we waited until Miss Carl arrived herself, so that she could choose a suitable place for her work, but Her Majesty said that would not do at all, because if it were left to Miss Carl, doubtless she would choose some impossible place. Of course there were many parts of the Palace which were kept quite private and Miss Carl would not be allowed to go there. So the next day Her Majesty and myself set out to find a place. After visiting many different rooms, all of which were too dark, we finally fixed on a room on the lake side of the Palace. Her Majesty said: "This is very convenient, as you can go to and fro either by chair or by water. I found that it took about three-quarters of an hour by chair to get to the Palace Gate, and rather less than that by boat. I was expecting to return to stay at the Palace with Her Majesty, but it was finally decided that this would not do, as it would not be policy to allow Miss Carl,
When Miss Carl arrived at the Palace the next day and saw the room which had been selected for her to work in, she was not at all pleased. In the first place she said it was too dark, so Her Majesty ordered the paper windows to be replaced by glass. This made the room too bright, and Miss Carl asked for some curtains so as to focus the light on the picture. When I informed Her Majesty of this request, she said: "Well, this is the first time I have ever changed anything in the Palace except to suit myself. First I alter the windows, and she is not satisfied, but must have curtains. I think we had better take the roof off, then perhaps she may be suited.'' However, we fixed up the curtains to Miss Carl's satisfaction.
When Her Majesty examined the portrait to see how it was progressing, she said to me: "After all the trouble we have had over this picture, I am afraid it is not going to be anything very wonderful. I notice that the pearls in my
Situated in a room near Her Majesty's bedroom in the Sea Palace was a Pagoda, about ten feet in height, made of carved sandalwood. This contained various images of Buddha, which Her Majesty used to worship every morning. The ceremony consisted of Her Majesty burning incense before the Pagoda, while a Court lady was told off each day to kowtow before the images. Her Majesty told me that this Pagoda had been in the Palace for more than a hundred years. Among the different images was one representing the Goddess of Mercy. This image was only about five inches in height and was made of pure gold. The inside was hollow and contained all the principal anatomical parts of the human body, made out of jade and pearls.
Her Majesty was a firm believer in the old Chinese superstitions connected with the Sea Palace, and during one of our conversations she told me I was not to be surprised at anything I saw. She said it was quite a common occurrence for a person walking beside you to suddenly disappear altogether, and explained that they were simply foxes who took human shape to suit their purpose. They had probably lived in the Sea Palace for thousands of years and possessed this power of changing their form at will. She said that no doubt the eunuchs would tell me they were spirits or ghosts, but that was not true: they were sacred foxes and would harm nobody. As if to confirm this superstition, one evening, a few days later, my fire having gone out, I sent my
Things went along in the usual way until the first day of the eleventh moon, when Her Majesty issued orders to the Court that as the eleventh moon contained so many anniversaries of the deaths of previous rulers of China, the usual theatrical performance would be eliminated and the Court dress would in addition be modified to suit the occasion. On the ninth day the Emperor was to go and worship at the Temple of Heaven. So, as was customary on all these occasions, he confined himself to his own private apartments for three days before the ninth, during which time he held no communication whatsoever with anybody excepting his private eunuchs.
This ceremony did not differ very materially from the other sacrifices, except that pigs were killed and placed on the numerous altars of the Temple, where they remained for a time, after which they were distributed among the different officials. The eating of the flesh of these pigs, which had been blessed, was believed to bring good luck and prosperity, and the officials who were presented with them considered themselves greatly favored by Her Majesty. Another difference was that the Emperor could not appoint a substitute to officiate for him; but must attend in person, no matter what the circumstances might be. The reason for this was, that according to the ancient law, the Emperor signs the death warrant of every person sentenced to death, record of which is kept in the Board of Punishments. At the end of the year the name of each person executed is written on a piece of yellow paper and sent to the Emperor. When the time for worshiping at the Temple arrives, he takes this yellow paper and burns it in order that the ashes may go up to Heaven and his ancestors know that he has been fearless and faithful, and has done his duty according to the law.
As this ceremony of worshiping at the Temple of Heaven was to take place in the Forbidden
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE SUMMER PALACE Two Years in the Forbidden City | ||