THE EMPEROR’S BIRTHDAY
We went to the Palace early the day of His Majesty’s Birthday, and were
in the Empress Dowager’s Throne-room at six o’clock in the morning;
but long before that time, the outer court was filled with the red and
yellow chairs and carts of the visiting members of the Imperial Family,
who had come in from Peking and from the neighboring Palaces for the
day. The high eunuchs were in gala costume, wearing silken gowns of
great beauty, embroidered in the Double Dragon. The eunuchs of lower
rank were more simply gowned, as the representation of the Double
Dragon on the Court gown is only allowed to those of a certain rank.
Our chair-bearers were clad in the festive red, with brocaded figures,
representing the characters for Longevity.
We passed through the beautifully decorated courts, past the gaily
decked Palaces to the Throne-room of Her Majesty, where the Emperor
had come to receive the private congratulations of the Princesses of
the blood and the Ladies of the Court. It would have been against the
laws of Chinese etiquette for these Ladies to go into the Emperor’s
Palace to congratulate him, even on such an occasion as his Birthday.
When we entered the Throne-room, the Emperor was seated, or rather,
reclining upon a lounge in the most informal manner. He was not averse,
as was Her Majesty, to the reclining position when on the Throne. His
greater Orientalism was evidenced here, for the Oriental proverb says,
“’Tis better to be sitting than standing, to be lying than sitting,”
etc. He sat up a little straighter on our entrance, and the Ladies made
the formal Chinese bow, which he returned by a friendly nod and kindly
smile. I made the European reverence as usual.
His Majesty was dressed a little more elaborately than usual, in
a yellow gown, tightly belted in around his slender waist with a
handsome belt buckle of jade. At this morning salutation by the Ladies
of his family, his hat lay beside him on the couch, which showed it
was unceremonious, for ceremonies are carried on by the Emperor and
all Chinese with their hats on. The great Imperial Pearl, one of the
most precious of the Imperial jewels, formed the button of his hat
on his Birthday. The seven official ranks of Mandarins are shown by
the different colors of the buttons worn on their hats. The color of
these buttons denotes the rank acquired by their wearers, those of the
Manchu Princes, alone, being hereditary. The buttons of these latter
are generally of jewels or semi-precious stones. The Emperor, the most
simply dressed man I saw in China, wears, as a rule, a plain red silk
button, but the Pearl, which can only be worn by a reigning Emperor, is
used on state occasions.
After we had greeted His Majesty, we moved further into the Throne-room
to await the “lever” of the Empress Dowager. When she came out
of her sleeping apartments, the Ladies fell upon their knees and
simultaneously repeated the words of greeting used every morning to
Her Majesty, “Lao-Tzu-Tzung Chee-Siang” (Great Ancestress, be happy).
After acknowledging their salutations, she advanced and held out her
hand to me, and I took it and, as was now my custom, raised the tips
of her fingers to my lips. I, of course, never made any but a European
salutation to either Her Majesty or the Emperor. She was very gracious
and said I would be the first foreigner who had ever seen the birthday
celebration of any of the Sons of Heaven, and she hoped I would enjoy
it! She then commented on my dress and ornaments, examining the few
jewels I wore. After this she turned to the Ladies and, with a quick
glance, took in all the details of their Court costumes, calling their
attention to the way their official beads hung and signaling any little
deviation from traditional forms that she noticed in their attire. She
was extremely rigid as to all the details of Court dress.
The Court costume of the Ladies is magnificent. That worn at the
Emperor’s Birthday (the summer costume) was of the stiff transparent
silk I have described in the gown worn by Her Majesty for the portrait.
The Court costume of the married ladies is of dark red, embroidered
in golden dragons. The widows wear blue; the unmarried girls, bright
red--all with the Double Dragon embroidered thereon. The married ladies
and widows, when in Court attire, wear a magnificent court head-dress
with jeweled crown. The young girls, even in Court dress, wear the
ordinary Manchu coiffure, with the long red silk tassels falling to
their shoulders. The young Empress was charming on the Birthday. Her
head-dress was of golden filigree, thickly set with jewels. Across
the front, nine beautifully chased golden phenix, with jeweled tails
outspread, held in their bills strings of pearls that fell to her
shoulders and veiled her forehead. Square, conventionalized bunches of
flowers projected from either side of this curiously and elaborately
wrought head-dress. Her gown was of the Imperial yellow, embroidered
with the golden Double Dragon. She had, around her neck, a solid piece
of chased gold, like a huge open ring, with balls at the ends; and she
wore the official beads that are always worn in Court dress by Princes
and Officials and their wives. The Emperor and Empress Dowager are
the only members of the Court who wear, neither the Double Dragon on
their Court dress, nor the official beads. Suspended from the Empress’s
neck was a magnificently embroidered stole, about four inches wide,
which reached to the hem of her gown. This stole is only worn by the
wives of Emperors, during their husband’s lifetime. The young Empress
seemed unusually happy to-day, and this was the first time I had ever
seen her and the Emperor in conversation. Next to the young Empress
came the only secondary wife of the Emperor. She was dressed exactly
as the young Empress was; the same gown, the same head-dress, the same
embroidered stole, only her jewels were not so handsome, and her dress,
instead of being of the Imperial yellow, was of orange. Yellow can only
be worn by the first wife of an Emperor!
After the salutations to the Emperor and Empress Dowager in Her
Majesty’s private Throne-room, Her Majesty went out into the court and
took her place in her yellow chair of State, the Emperor following, on
foot, as was his custom. The cymbals clashed. The flutes sounded and
all the instruments of the Imperial Band played the curious minor air,
with its tragic undertone of sound, its rhythm like a Gregorian chant,
which is only played at the passing of Their Majesties for some great
ceremony or official function, and which I soon called the “Imperial
Hymn.” This is the only approach to a National air that I ever heard in
China.
Their Majesties went in ceremonious procession to the Great Audience
Hall, where the Princes, Nobles, and high Officials privileged to
enter Precincts, were to present their homage and congratulations to
the Son of Heaven on the happy occasion of his Birthday. Besides these
privileged visitors, there were a number of officials whose rank was
not high enough to allow them to enter the Great Hall of Ceremonies.
These kneel and make the prostrations in the outer courts.
The young Empress and Ladies of the Court did not follow Their
Majesties to the Great Hall, but stopped at the Palace of the young
Empress, to await there their turn for the official congratulations,
which were not to be made until after those of the Princes and Nobles.
The young Empress is a charming hostess, and her eunuchs and women
handed us tea and cigarettes while we were waiting. She also had her
dogs brought in for me to see. Her apartments opened on a sunny court,
full of flowering shrubs and fruit trees. Around the other three sides
of the court were built the pavilions for the use of her attendants
and ladies. We spent half an hour in her pavilion, waiting for the
congratulations of the Princes and Nobles to be finished.
The Emperor, for these official congratulations, was seated upon the
Dynastic Throne, erect and stiff as an archaic figure; no longer the
shy boy, but the Monarch clothed in all his power, and, for to-day,
alone upon his great ancestral Throne. He was attended by his Master
of Ceremonies, gorgeously attired, who stood in the rigid attitude
prescribed for this ceremony.
Each splendidly garbed Prince and Noble knelt and made the prostration
prescribed by the Book of Rites, and each presented His Majesty with
a jade emblem, called by the Chinese “ruyie,”[3] erroneously supposed
to be a scepter by most foreigners; but the “ruyie” is simply an
emblem of Good Luck, and may be presented on festive occasions to any
one whom the givers wish to honor, and is not an emblem of Imperial
authority. The Emperor held each of these “ruyie” in his hands for a
few seconds after their presentation, bowed profoundly to the kneeling
Prince, and then handed the emblem to an attendant eunuch, who placed
it on a Dragon table at the left of the Emperor. When the Princes
and Nobles had congratulated His Majesty and left the Throne-room,
the young Empress and secondary wife, followed by the Princesses and
Ladies, went in to make their official congratulations. The greeting
in Her Majesty’s Throne-room in the morning had been but a friendly
salutation, without any official signification. The young Empress knelt
and made her bow first and presented--as did each of the Ladies--a
“ruyie.” She made the same official salutation as did the others, but
her “ruyie” was of a much richer style than those presented by the
other Ladies.
[3] Generally written “jui,” but pronounced as I have written it.
After the ceremony of formal congratulations was over, Her Majesty,
the Emperor, and Empress, followed by the Ladies and attendants, went
in state to the Theater, with the same ceremonial and pomp with which
they had gone into the Hall of Ceremonies. The Empress Dowager, who
was always the most gorgeously attired person at Court, was, on His
Majesty’s Birthday, dressed with an extreme simplicity that amounted
almost to plainness, and she wore no jewels. This plainness of attire
was not an accident, but had been arranged with her usual forethought.
She wished the Emperor and Empress to be the central figures of this
day’s festivities, and did not wish to vie with the Empress even in her
attire.
The Princes and Nobles, who had come to the Palace for the official
congratulations, were invited to the theatrical performance. They
occupied the boxes that ran at right angles to the Imperial loge, which
I have already described as forming the other two sides of the court
of the Theater. A huge screen of painted silk, twelve feet high, was
stretched from the last of the boxes occupied by the Princes to the
stage--allowing the latter to be perfectly seen by the occupants of the
boxes, but cutting off their view of the Imperial loge, whence Their
Majesties, the Empress, and Ladies viewed the play. These invited
guests are thus neither seen by the Imperial party, nor can they see
the latter.
When Their Majesties and the Empress were seated in their loge, the
principal actors came to the front of the stage, knelt, and “kow-towed”
to the Imperial box. Then the play began. There was first a noisy
burst of weird music, then the chief actor recited a laudatory,
congratulatory poem in honor of the Birthday of the Emperor, wishing
His Majesty “ten thousand years” of happiness and all the blessings
possible. The poem was intoned like a chant by the actor, dressed in
the gorgeous historic costume of an Imperial Herald of the time of
Kublai Kahn. This poem was most impressive. One of the verses ran thus:
“The vast merits of His Imperial Majesty’s August Ancestors have
been handed down to Him from generation to generation.
“To the wisdom of His whole Dynasty we owe it, that we have lived
in happiness,
“Ever ready to comply with the lofty teaching of our Rulers, leading
us unto Good....”
The poem went on to recite His Majesty’s merits as a son, his respect
for his August Mother, his filial piety, and ended with a wish that
Great China might flourish and prosper--grow strong outwardly and
inwardly, through the blessings of his reign and his desire for
Progress.
After this poem had been intoned by the chief actor, with the whole
company of players grouped around on the lower, as well as on the
two superposed stages, all in splendid historic costumes, there was
another noisy clash of weird music and the play itself began. The
Chinese theater, which goes on from morning to night with a series of
plays, generally begins with a short one, a curtain-raiser of a quarter
to half an hour’s length. To-day it began at once, after the poem was
intoned, with a great historic drama. The exploits and high deeds of
former Emperors were shown, and the actors were magnificently costumed
in superb historic gowns which had been handed down from antiquity and
were absolutely authentic.
At half-past eleven, with the Theater still in full swing, the eunuchs
brought out tables of sweetmeats on the verandah of the Imperial loge,
and set them before the young Empress and the Princesses and Ladies,
and we were served to refreshments. Sweets and fruits in China are
served between the regular meals. The sweetmeats to-day were “birthday
food,” and were all inscribed with some character meaning “Longevity,”
“Good Luck,” “Happiness,” “Peace,” etc. There were pyramids of the
delicious crystallized fruits which the Chinese excel in making;
macédoines of queer fruits, nut pastes, almond creams, and all the
fresh fruits in season. With this preliminary repast were served, also,
some delicious Chinese wines.
Soon after the repast of sweetmeats was finished, we were served in the
court of the Theater this time to the regular meal. It was an immense
table to which we sat down on the Emperor’s Birthday. There were so
many Princesses, Duchesses, and Ladies of high degree from a distance,
that our usual number was more than quadrupled. The repast was a
joyous one. The Chinese are very witty and gay, and though I could not
understand all the scintillations of wit, their gaiety was contagious!
Each gave me special delicacies that she liked, to try, and each seemed
to vie with the other in endeavoring to make the “stranger” feel at
ease. Some of the Ladies drank champagne in my honor, and held up their
glasses toward me as they had seen the foreigners do. When the elders
had finished eating, the young people sat down. These were the children
of the Princesses and Nobles who had been invited to join their parents
for these festivities at the Palace. No girl or boy under sixteen is
allowed to sit down with their elders to a ceremonious dinner at the
Palace.
Soon after we had finished our gay luncheon in the court of the Theater
the Ladies retired within their loge, next to that of Their Majesties,
and the screen which hid the visiting Princes and Nobles from the
Imperial party was removed by the attendant eunuchs. When it was taken
away, there sat, Turkish fashion, the great Princes and high Nobles
in their splendid Court dress. Those of the highest ranks occupied
the boxes nearest the Imperial party. The Princesses pointed out to
me, from their box, their brothers and kinsmen and others whom they
recognized; but we saw without being seen, and were only looking from
behind the scenes.
The eunuchs then handed around refreshments to the Princes and
gentlemen, sweetmeats and fruits, such as we had partaken of before our
luncheon. Then there were some huge steaming silver caldrons brought
into the court, and from these caldrons the eunuchs ladled into bowls
some sort of white drink. As we had had nothing of this kind at our
repast, I was curious to know what it might be. I knew it could not
be wine, for that is served only in tiny cups, and this was served in
the ordinary-sized eating-bowls. I was much surprised to learn that
this drink was simply hot milk, flavored with almonds, and slightly
sweetened, a drink of which the Manchus are very fond, and which is
a special mark of Imperial favor, given only on great occasions. The
gentlemen raised their bowls to their lips with both hands and drank it
off with great ceremony, as if it were a sacred beverage, and seemed,
in drinking it thus, to pledge the Emperor’s Health and Happiness.
After the Princes had partaken of these refreshments, and while some
eunuchs were removing the caldrons and dishes, another army of eunuchs
came in, in pairs, each pair carrying between them trays of Imperial
yellow, decorated with the red characters for Longevity. These trays
contained presents from the Emperor to each of the invited guests, for
His Majesty gives as well as receives presents on his Birthday! There
was no difference made in the presents given, each tray being the
exact counterpart of every other. Each contained a pair of porcelain
vases from the Imperial Potteries, a bronze Incense-burner, a scroll
with a quotation from the classics or an aphorism of Confucius written
thereon. The scrolls were inclosed in silken covers, tied with the
Imperial colors. There was also a jade “ruyie” in each tray, such
as had been handed the Emperor at the morning ceremony, and an
Archer’s ring. After the contents of the trays had been delivered to
each gentleman present, and the empty trays borne away by the Palace
eunuchs, the dividing screen was again placed between the visiting
Princes and Their Majesties, and the young Empress and Ladies went out
of their loge to the verandah once more, and the theatrical performance
again went on. In fact, it had been going on throughout our luncheon
and the subsequent entertainment of the Princes, but we had paid no
attention to it.
At four o’clock there was the grand “finale.” The three superposed
stages were occupied by all the gorgeously attired actors, and another
Hymn of praise to the Emperor was intoned. He was extolled as the Son
of Heaven and representative on earth of Buddha, and other extravagant
wishes for “ten thousand years” of happiness were made. When this
Hymn was finished, the floats, which we had seen the day before
behind the scenes, came out in procession. These floats represented
mythical animals, Buddhas, fairies, and personifications of the higher
attributes. There were gigantic fruits which opened, disclosing figures
representing eternal beauty, perfect happiness, and serene old age.
Prominent among the gigantic fruits was the peach, the emblem of
Longevity. Last of all, in this curious procession, came the Imperial
Dragon, of huge proportions. Its contortions, as it struggled for the
Flaming Pearl, emblematic of the unattainable, were most curious. All
these figures made their obeisances to Their Majesties and the Empress.
They were accompanied by splendidly clothed warriors, heralds,
princes, and many gorgeously attired attendants, bearing banners and
escutcheons. After the procession had made the tour several times, the
dragon stopped with his huge head in the middle of the stage, made an
obeisance to His Majesty, then raised it with a mighty roar and spouted
forth--a copious shower of fresh spring water, which sprinkled the
whole flower-filled court! The Empress and Princesses were all in the
secret and knew what was coming, but they kept it from me, and much
enjoyed my start of surprise as some of the spray fell upon me, as I
had advanced to the very edge of the verandah in order to miss nothing.
When all was finished, the screen was again removed and the great glass
doors of the Imperial loge were thrown open, so that Her Majesty and
the Emperor could be seen. The visiting Princes and Nobles came forward
from their places and knelt in a body, though still observing the laws
of precedence as to their ranks. They knelt three times, and bowed
their heads to the ground nine times to thank Their Majesties for the
entertainment they had received. To receive these prostrations from
the Princes, the Emperor and Empress Dowager assumed their Buddha-like
poses and acknowledged the genuflexions by a formal inclination of
their heads. When the Princes had retired, the actors, clothed in
their usual garments, came to the front of the stage and knelt and
“kow-towed,” but Their Majesties did not return this salutation.
When the Princes and players had left and the Imperial party was alone,
cushions were brought into the middle of the court, the Emperor
and Empress and secondary wife knelt thereon, while their “Great
Ancestress,” the Empress Dowager, preceded by acolytes, swinging golden
incense-burners which gave forth azure clouds of perfumed smoke, came
down the steps to the weird accompaniment of the flutes and cymbals
playing the “Imperial Hymn.” The Emperor and Empress knelt to do Her
Majesty homage, as the greatest living member of their Ancestors.
When she reached them, they arose and followed her, and the three
moved along in stately procession to the slow beating of the cymbals,
followed by the Princesses and Ladies and all the attendant eunuchs.
The subtle perfume of the incense, the stately rhythm, the splendid
costumes, the flashing jewels and brilliant colors, made a magnificent
picture never to be forgotten. The Imperial procession moved through
several sunlit courts until it finally came to the entrance of the
Sacred Hall, containing the Ancestral tablets; here the Empress Dowager
stopped at the threshold until His Majesty and the young Empress had
passed within, to complete the ceremonies of the day by worshiping and
kneeling together before the tablets of their Ancestors. The music
ceased. The ceremony was finished. His Majesty the Emperor Kwang-Hsu
had accomplished another year.