WHEN we reached the City gates, which were about half way between our
house and the Summer Palace, they were wide open for us to pass. This
quite surprised us, as all gates are closed at seven o'clock in the
evening and are not opened except on special occasions until daylight.
We inquired of the guard why this was, and were told that orders had
been given for the gates to be opened for us to pass. The officials who
had charge were standing in a double line dressed in full official dress
and saluted us as we passed.
It was still quite dark when we had passed through the gate and I
thought of the many experiences of my short life; but this was by far
the strangest of them all. I wondered what Her Majesty would be like and
whether she would like me or not. We were told that probably we would be
asked to stay at the Court, and I thought that if that came to pass, I
would possibly be able to influence Her Majesty in favor of reform and
so be of valuable assistance to China. These thoughts made me feel happy
and I made up my mind then and there that I would do all I could and
use any influence I might have in the future towards the advancement of
China and for her welfare. While I was still dreaming of these pleasant
prospects, a faint red line appeared on the horizon heralding the coming
of a most perfect day, and so it proved. As the light grew brighter and
I could distinguish objects, a very pretty view gradually opened to me,
and as we came nearer to the Palace I could see a high red wall which
zigzagged from hill to hill and enclosed the Palace grounds. The tops of
the wall and buildings were covered with yellow and green tiles and made
a most dazzling picture in the bright sunlight. Pagodas of different
sizes and styles were passed, and when we arrived at the village of Hai
Tien, about four li from the Palace gates, we were told by the officers
we only had a short distance further to go. This was good news, as I
began to think we would never get there. This village was quite a pretty
country place of one-story houses built of brick, which were very neat
and clean as are most of the houses in the northern part of China. The
children trouped out to see the procession pass, and I heard one remark
to another: "Those ladies are going to the Palace to become Empresses,"
which amused me very much.
Soon after leaving Hai Tien we came to a pai lou (archway), a very
beautiful piece of old Chinese architecture and carved work, and from
here got our first view of the Palace gates, which were about 100 yards
ahead. These gates are cut into the solid wall surrounding the Palace
and consist of one very large gate in the center and two smaller ones on
each side. The center gate is only opened when their Majesties pass in
and out of the Palace. Our chairs were set down in front of the left
gate, which was open. Outside of these gates, at a distance of about 500
yards, were two buildings where the guard stayed at night.
Just as we arrived I saw a number of officials talking excitedly, and
some of them went into the gate shouting "Li la, doula" (have come, have
arrived). When we got out of our chairs, we were met by two eunuchs of
the fourth rank (chrystal button and feather). This feather which is
worn by eunuchs of the fourth rank, comes from a bird called the magh
(horse-fowl) which is found in Szechuen Province. They are grey and
are dyed black, and are much wider than the peacock feather. These
two eunuchs were accompanied by ten small eunuchs carrying yellow
silk screens, which they placed around our chairs when we alighted. It
appeared that Her Majesty had given orders that these screens (huang
wai mor) should be brought to us. This is considered a great honor. They
were ten feet long and twenty feet high and were held by two eunuchs.
These two eunuchs of high rank were extremely polite and stood at each
side of the gate and invited us to enter. Passing through this gate we
came into a very large paved courtyard about three hundred feet square,
in which there were a great many small flower beds and old pine trees
from which hung all kinds of birds in cages. On the side opposite to the
gates we had entered was a red brick wall with three gates exactly like
the others; on the right and left side were long rows of low buildings
each containing twelve rooms, used as waiting rooms. The courtyard was
full of people dressed in official robes of the different ranks, and,
after the Chinese fashion, all seemed to be very busy doing nothing.
When they saw us they stood still and stared. The two eunuchs who were
showing us the way conducted us to one of these rooms. This room was
about twenty feet square, just ordinarily furnished in black wood
furniture with red cloth cushions and silk curtains hanging from the
three windows. We were not in this room more than five minutes when a
gorgeously dressed eunuch came and said: "Imperial Edict says to invite
Yu tai tai (Lady Yu) and young ladies to wait in the East side Palace."
On his saying this, the two eunuchs who were with us knelt down
and replied "Jur" (Yes). Whenever Her Majesty gives an order it is
considered an Imperial Edict or command and all servants are required to
kneel when any command is transmitted to them the same as they would if
in Her Majesty's presence, Then they told us to follow them and we went
through another left gate to another courtyard laid out exactly the same
as the former, except that the Ren Shou Dien (audience hall) is situated
on the north side and the other buildings were a little larger. The
eunuchs showed us into the east side building, which was beautifully
furnished with reddish blackwood exquisitely carved, the chairs
and tables covered with blue satin and the walls hung with the same
material. In different parts of the room were fourteen clocks of all
sizes and shapes. I know this, for I counted them.
In a little while two servant girls came and waited on us and told us
that Her Majesty was dressing and that we were to wait a little time.
This little time proved to be a matter of more than two hours and
a half, but as this is considered nothing in China, we did not get
impatient. From time to time eunuchs came and brought milk to drink and
about twenty or more dishes of various kinds of food which Her Majesty
sent. She also sent us each a gold ring with a large pearl in the
center. Later the chief eunuch, Li Lien Ying, came dressed in his
official clothes. He was of the second rank and wore a red button and
peacock feather and was the only eunuch that was ever allowed to wear
the peacock feather. He was a very ugly man, very old and his face was
full of wrinkles; but he had beautiful manners and said that Her Majesty
would receive us in a little while, and brought us each a jade ring
which she had sent us. We were very much surprised that she should give
us such beautiful presents before she had even seen us, and felt most
kindly disposed toward her for her generosity.
Soon after Li Lien Ying had gone, two court ladies, daughters of Prince
Ching, came in and asked the eunuchs who were attending us if we could
speak Chinese, which we thought a great joke. I was the first one to
speak, and told them of course we could speak our own language, although
we knew several others. They were very much surprised and said: "Oh!
how funny, they can talk the language as well as we do." We in turn were
very much surprised to find such ignorant people in the Imperial Palace
and concluded that their opportunities for acquiring knowledge were very
limited. Then they told us Her Majesty was waiting to receive us, and we
went immediately.
After walking through three courtyards very similar to those we had
previously passed through, we came to a magnificent building just one
mass of exquisite carving. Large lanterns made of buffalo horns hung all
over the veranda covered with red silk from which red silk tassels were
hanging and from each of these tassels was suspended a beautiful piece
of jade. There were two smaller buildings flanking this large one, also
one mass of carvings and hung with lanterns.
At the door of the large building we met a lady, dressed the same as
Prince Ching's daughters, with the exception that she had a phoenix in
the center of her headdress which distinguished her from the others.
This lady came out to meet us, smiling, and shook hands with us in the
most approved foreign fashion. We were told later that this was the
Young Empress, wife of the Emperor Kwang Hsu. She said: "Her Majesty has
sent me to meet you," and was very sweet and polite, and had beautiful
manners; but was not very pretty. Then we heard a loud voice from the
hall saying, "Tell them to come in at once." We went into this hall
immediately and saw an old lady dressed in a beautiful yellow satin gown
embroidered all over with pink peonies, and wearing the same kind of
headdress with flowers on each side made of pearls and jade, a pearl
tassel on the left side and a beautiful phoenix in the center made of
purest jade. Over her gown she wore a cape, the most magnificent and
costly thing I ever saw. This cape was made of about three thousand five
hundred pearls the size of a canary bird's egg, all exactly alike in
color and perfectly round. It was made on the fish net pattern and had
a fringe of jade pendants and was joined with two pure jade clasps. In
addition to this Her Majesty wore two pairs of pearl bracelets, one
pair of jade bracelets, several jade rings and on her third and little
fingers of her right hand she wore gold finger nail protectors about
three inches long and on the left hand two finger nail protectors made
of jade and about the same length. Her shoes were trimmed with small
tassels made of pearls and embroidered with tiny pieces of different
colored jade.
Her Majesty stood up when she saw us and shook hands with us. She had
a most fascinating smile and was very much surprised that we knew
the Court etiquette so well. After she had greeted us, she said to my
mother: "Yu tai tai (Lady Yu), you are a wonder the way you have brought
your daughters up. They speak Chinese just as well as I do, although I
know they have been abroad for so many years, and how is it that they
have such beautiful manners?" "Their father was always very strict with
them," my mother replied; "he made them study their own language first
and they had to study very hard." "I am pleased to hear their father
has been so careful with them," Her Majesty said, "and given them such
a fine education." She took my hands and looked into my face and smiled
and kissed me on both cheeks and said to my mother: "I wish to have your
daughters and hope they will stay with me." We were very much pleased
at this and thanked her for her kindness. Her Majesty asked all sorts of
questions about our Paris gowns and said we must wear them all the
time, as she had very little chance to see them at the Court. She was
particularly in love with our Louis XV high heel shoes. While we were
talking to her we saw a gentleman standing at a little distance and
after a while she said, "Let me introduce you to the Emperor Kwang Hsu,
but you must call him Wan Sway Yeh (Master of 10,000 years) and call me
Lao Tsu Tsung (the Great Ancestor)." His Majesty shyly shook hands with
us. He was a man about five feet, seven inches in height, very thin,
but with very strong features; high nose and forehead, large, brilliant
black eyes, strong mouth, very white, even teeth; altogether good
looking. I noticed he had a very sad look, although he was smiling all
the time we were there. At this juncture the head eunuch came, knelt
down on the marble floor and announced that Her Majesty's chair was
ready and she asked us to go with her to the Audience Hall, distant
about two minutes' walk, where she was going to receive the heads of the
different Boards. It was a beautiful day and her open chair was waiting.
This chair is carried by eight eunuchs all dressed in official robes,
a most unusual sight. The head eunuch walked on her left side and the
second eunuch on her right side, each with a steadying hand on the chair
pole. Four eunuchs of the fifth rank in front and twelve eunuchs of the
sixth rank walked behind. Each eunuch carried something in his hand,
such as Her Majesty's clothes, shoes, handkerchiefs, combs, brushes,
powder boxes, looking glasses of different sizes, perfumes, pins, black
and red ink, yellow paper, cigarettes, water pipes, and the last one
carried her yellow satin-covered stool. Besides this there were
two amahs (old women servants) and four servant girls all carrying
something. This procession was most interesting to see and made one
think it a lady's dressing room on legs. The Emperor walked on Her
Majesty's right and the Young Empress on the left, as did also the Court
ladies.
The Audience Hall was about two hundred feet long by about one hundred
and fifty feet wide, and at the left side was a long table covered with
yellow satin. When Her Majesty came down from the chair she went into
the Hall and mounted her throne just behind this table, and His Majesty
mounted a smaller one at her left side, the Ministers all kneeling on
the floor in front of her and on the opposite side of the table.
At the back of the Hall was a large dais about twenty feet long by about
eighteen feet wide, enclosed by a magnificently carved railing about
two feet high running all the way round, open only in the front in
two places just large enough for a person to pass through. These two
openings were reached by a flight of six steps. At the back of this dais
was a small screen and immediately in front of this, in the center,
was Her Majesty's throne. Immediately behind was an immense carved wood
screen, the most beautiful thing I ever saw, twenty feet long by ten
feet high. In front of Her Majesty's throne was a long narrow table. At
the left side was a smaller throne for the Emperor.
The theme of the carving and furnishings of this dais was the phoenix
and peony most exquisitely carved in ebony wood, in fact the theme of
the entire room was the same. On each side of Her Majesty's throne were
two upright ebony poles on the top of which were peacock feathers made
into the shape of a fan The upholstery was entirely of yellow Chinese
velvet.
Just before Her Majesty took her seat on her throne she ordered us to go
behind this screen with the Young Empress and the Court ladies. This
we did, and could hear the conversation between Her Majesty and the
Ministers very plainly, and as my readers will see later, I made good
use of this.