THE building where we had our rooms, as I have said before, contained
four large rooms and a hall, and we three, my mother, sister and myself,
each took a room and gave the fourth to our maids. Her Majesty had
ordered a eunuch to accompany us and this eunuch told us that Her
Majesty had ordered four young eunuchs to attend on us and that if they
did not behave, we should tell him. He also said his name was Li, but as
there were so many by this name, including the head eunuch, it was very
hard to tell them apart.
When we arrived, which took some time, he pointed to a building on our
right and said that it was Her Majesty's own Palace and the one which
we had just left. I could not understand why it had taken us so long to
come, when the Palace was so near, and asked him about it. He told us
that our little buildings were at the left side of the Emperor's Palace
and that Her Majesty had had the entrance leading from our place to her
Palace closed up for certain reasons which he would not tell, but said:
"You see this place ought to face East instead of towards the lake." The
view on the lake was beautiful and I told him I liked it much better the
way it was. He smiled and said: "You will have to learn a lot before you
find out this wicked place." I was surprised at what the eunuch said,
but did not like to ask him any questions. He also told us that the
Emperor's Palace was just behind our place and was a large building
similar to Her Majesty's Palace. We looked and could see the trees of
his courtyard above the roof. Then he pointed to another building behind
the Emperor's, which was larger but lower than the Emperor's Palace, and
also had a large courtyard, and said it was the Young Empress's Palace.
It had two buildings flanking it on each side and the eunuch told us
that the one on the left was the Secondary Wife's bedroom. That there
had been an entrance between the two Palaces, but that Lao Fo Yeh (The
great old Buddha), as the eunuchs called Her Majesty, had blocked it up
so that the Emperor and Empress could not communicate with each other,
except through Her Majesty's own Palace. I suppose this was the way she
kept watch over them and knew at all times what they were doing. This
was all news to me and I did not know what to think of it. I was afraid
that this eunuch Li would tell me more of these curious things, so I
told him I was tired and would go to my room and rest, and he went away.
When I finally got inside my room and had a chance to look around, I saw
that it was very prettily furnished with ebonywood furniture, which was
covered with red satin cushions and the windows were hung with red silk
curtains. All the bedrooms were just alike. The kong (bed) was made of
brick covered with the same kind of wood and ran along the wall under
the front window. It had high teaster posts with slats running across on
which red curtains were hung. These kongs are very curiously built. They
are made of brick and have a hole in the front center in which fire is
placed to heat the brick in winter time. During the day a sort of table
is placed on top of the kong and removed again at night.
Shortly after we had gone to our rooms, some eunuchs came and brought
our dinner, which they placed on a table in the center of the hall. They
told us the food had been sent by Her Majesty and that she had ordered
them to tell us to make ourselves comfortable. We were so tired that we
could not eat very much and were about to retire for the night when this
eunuch Li came again and told us that we must be up at five o'clock, not
later, so I told my eunuch to knock on my window at five. Immediately
after this we went to bed, but did not sleep immediately, as we wanted
to talk over the events of the day, which had been many and strange.
After we did finally get to bed, it seemed as if we had just fallen
asleep when I heard someone knocking on my window. I woke up with a
start and asked what the matter was and a eunuch told me it was five
o'clock and time to get up.
I immediately got up and opened my window and looked out. The day was
just dawning and the sky was a beautiful deep red which was reflected
in the lake, which was perfectly calm. The scenery was lovely and in the
distance I could see Her Majesty's peony mountain, which was literally
covered with these beautiful flowers. I dressed at once and went to Her
Majesty's Palace and there met the Young Empress sitting on the veranda.
I courtesied to her as a good morning salute. The Emperor's Secondary
wife was there also, but we had been ordered not to courtesy to her,
as she was considered not to have any standing there. There was also a
number of young Court ladies, many of whom I had never seen before. The
Young Empress introduced me to them, saying that they were also Court
ladies. They were daughters of high Manchu officials and some were very
pretty and bright. The Young Empress told me that these ten (there were
just ten there) were never allowed to go near Her Majesty, as they were
just learning the court etiquette. They were all dressed very nicely in
pretty Manchu gowns, the same design as that worn by the Young Empress.
After I had been introduced to these young ladies and talked with them
a while, I went inside with the Young Empress and there met Sze Gurgur,
fourth daughter of Prince Ching and a young widow twenty-four years
of age, Yuen Da Nai Nai, widow of Her Majesty's nephew. Both were busy
getting things ready for Her Majesty. The Young Empress told us that
we must go at once to Her Majesty's bedroom and assist Her Majesty to
dress, so we went at once and courtesied to her and said: "Lao Tsu Tsung
Chi Hsiang" (old ancestor, all joy be with you). Her Majesty was still
in bed and smiled to us and asked us if we had slept well. We told her
the rooms were very comfortable, etc. I thought to myself, we had slept
very well for the little time we had, but I had not had half enough. The
day before had been very hard for us and we were quite unused to it and
it had made us very lame and sore running around so much.
She asked us if we had had any breakfast and we told her not yet.
She scolded Li for not having given the order for our breakfast to be
brought to our rooms and said: "You must not feel like strangers, order
anything you may want." Then she arose and started to dress. She put
on her white silk socks first, having slept in her pantaloons as is the
custom, and tied them at the ankle with pretty ribbon. I must tell you
here that although she always slept in her clothes, she changed them for
clean ones every day. Then she put on a pale pink shirt of soft material
and over that a short silk gown, that was embroidered with bamboo
leaves, as she always wore low heeled shoes in the morning and
consequently could not wear her long gowns. After she had dressed she
walked over to a window in front of which were two long tables covered
with toilet articles of every kind and description.
As she was washing her face and dressing her hair, she said to my mother
that she could not bear to have the servant girls, eunuchs, or old
women, touch her bed, that they were dirty, so the Court ladies must
make it. When she said this she turned to my sister and myself, we were
standing a little to one side, and said: "You two must not think for a
moment that the Court ladies do servant's work, but you know I am an old
woman and could easily be your grandmother and it will do you no harm to
work a little for me. When it comes your turn, you can superintend the
others and don't have to do the work with your own hands." Then Her
Majesty said to me: "Der Ling you are a great help to me in every way
and I make you my first lady-in-waiting. You must not work too much
for you will have to make all the arrangements for the audiences for
foreigners and you will have to interpret for me. I also want you to
look after my jewels and don't want you to do rough work at all. Roon
Ling (my sister) can choose what she likes to do. I have two more
besides you, Sze Gurgur and Yuen Da Nai Nai, making four altogether and
you must all work together. It is not necessary to be too polite to them
and if they are not nice to you, you let me know." Although I was very
happy at receiving this appointment, I knew that according to custom I
must refuse it, so I thanked Her Majesty very kindly for the honor
she had given me and said that I did not know enough to hold such an
important position and would prefer to be just an ordinary Court lady,
and that I would learn as quickly as possible to be useful to her.
She hardly let me finish what I was saying, when she laughed and said:
"Stop! don't say anything like that; you are too modest, which shows you
are very clever and not a bit conceited. I am surprised to see what a
perfect little Manchu lady you are, knowing even such small etiquette as
this, although you have spent many years outside of China." She was very
fond of making fun and liked very much to tease, and said that I could
try and if she saw that I could not do the work, she would scold me
and put someone else in my place. After all this that she had said,
I accepted the appointment and went over to her bed to see how it was
made, and I found that it was very easy work to do. As this would be
one of my duties, I watched while the bed was being fixed. First of
all, after Her Majesty had risen, the bedclothes were taken out into
the courtyard by the eunuchs and aired, then the bed, which was made of
beautifully carved wood, was brushed off with a sort of whiskbroom,
and a piece of felt placed over it. Then three thick mattresses made
of yellow brocade were placed over the felt. After this came the sheets
made of different colored soft silk, and over the whole thing was placed
a covering of plain yellow satin embroidered with gold dragons and blue
clouds. She had a great many pillows, all beautifully embroidered, which
were placed on the bed during the daytime; but had a particular one
stuffed with tea leaves on which she slept. It is said that stuffing
the pillow on which you sleep with tea leaves is good for the eyes.
In addition to all these, she had another very curiously shaped pillow
about twelve inches long in the middle of which was a hole about three
inches square. It was stuffed with dried flowers, and the idea of the
hole was that when she laid on it she could place her ear in this hole
and in this way hear any and every sound. I suppose in that way no one
could come on her unawares.
Besides this last yellow embroidered cover, there were six covers of
different colors, pale mauve, blue, pink, green and violet, and were
placed one on top of the other. Over the top of the bed was a frame
of wood handsomely carved and from this frame white crepe curtains,
beautifully embroidered, hung, and numerous little gauze silk bags
filled with scent were suspended from the carved work of the frame. The
odor from these bags was very strong and made one feel sick until they
became used to it. Her Majesty was also very fond of musk and used it on
all occasions.
It took us about fifteen minutes to make the bed, and when I had
finished, I turned around and saw that Her Majesty was dressing her
hair. I stood beside her Majesty while the eunuch was dressing it and
saw that as old as she was, she still had beautiful long hair which
was as soft as velvet and raven black. She parted it in the center and
brought it low at the back of her ears, and the back braid was brushed
up on the top of her head and made it into a tight knot. When she
had finished doing this, she was ready to have the Gu'un Dzan (Manchu
headdress) placed on and pinned through the knot with two large pins.
Her Majesty always dressed her hair first and then washed her face. She
was as fussy and particular as a young girl and would give it to the
eunuch if he did not get it just to suit her. She had dozens of bottles
of all kinds of perfume, also perfumed soap. When she had finished
washing her face, she dried it on a soft towel and sprayed it with a
kind of glycerine made of honey and flower petals. After that she put
some kind of strong scented pink powder on her face.
When she had completed her toilet, she turned to me and said: "It must
seem to you quite funny to see an old lady like me taking so much care
and pains in dressing and fixing up. Well! I like to dress myself up and
to see others dress nicely. It always gives me pleasure to see pretty
girls dressed nicely; it makes you want to be young again yourself." I
told her that she looked quite young and was still beautiful, and that
although we were young we would never dare compare ourselves with her.
This pleased her very much, as she was very fond of compliments, and
I took great pains that morning to study her and to find out what she
liked and what she didn't.
After this Her Majesty took me into another room and showed me where her
jewels were kept. This room was covered with shelves on three sides of
the room from top to bottom, on which were placed piles of ebony boxes
all containing jewels. Small yellow strips were pasted on some of the
boxes on which was written the contents. Her Majesty pointed to a row of
boxes on the right side of the room and said: "Here is where I keep my
favorite everyday jewels, and some day you must go over them and see
that they are all there. The rest are all jewels which I wear on special
occasions. There are about three thousand boxes in this room and I have
a lot more locked up in my safety room, which I will show you when I am
not busy." Then she said: "I am sorry you cannot read and write Chinese,
otherwise I would give you a list of these things and you could keep a
check on them." I was very much surprised at this and wondered who had
told her I couldn't. I was anxious to know, but did not dare to ask her,
so I told her that although I was not a scholar, I had studied Chinese
for some time and could read and write a little, that if she would give
me a list I would try and read it. She said: "That is funny, someone
told me the first day you were here, I forget now who it was, that you
could not read or write your own language at all." While she was saying
this, she was looking all around the room and I was sure she knew who it
was that had told her, but she would not tell me. Then she said: "When
we have time this afternoon, I will go over this list with you. Bring
me those five boxes on the first row of shelves." I brought the boxes to
her room and placed them on the table. She opened the first one and it
contained a most beautiful peony made of coral and jade and each petal
trembled like a real flower. This flower was made by stringing the
petals which were made of coral on very fine brass wire, also the leaves
which were made of pure jade. She took this flower and placed it on the
right side of her headdress. Then she opened another box and took
from it a magnificent jade butterfly made in the same way. This was an
invention of her own and it was done by carving the coral and jade into
petals and leaves and boring holes in the lower ends through which
brass wire was run. The other two boxes contained bracelets and rings of
different patterns. There was a pair of gold bracelets set with pearls,
another pair set with jade, with a piece of jade hanging from the end
of a small gold chain, etc. The last two contained chains of pearls, the
like of which I never saw before, and I fell in love with them at
once. Her Majesty took one which was made into a plum blossom string
by winding a circle of five pearls around a larger one, then one single
pearl, then another circle of five pearls around a large one, and so on,
making quite a long chain, which she suspended from one of the buttons
of her gown.
At this juncture one of the Court ladies came in carrying several gowns
for Her Majesty to select from. She looked at them and said that none of
them suited her, to take them back and bring more. I had a look at
them and thought they were perfectly lovely, such pretty colors and so
beautifully embroidered. In a short while the same Court lady came
back carrying more, and from these Her Majesty selected a sea-green one
embroidered all over with white storks. She put this gown on and looked
at herself in the mirror for a while, then took off her jade butterfly.
She said: "You see I am very particular about little details. The jade
butterfly is too green and it kills my gown. Put it back in the box and
bring me a pearl stork in No. 35 box." I went back to the jewel room and
fortunately found No. 35 box and brought it to her. She opened the box
and took from it a stork made entirely of pearls set in silver, the
bird's bill being made of coral. The pearls making the body of the bird
were so cleverly set that the silver could not be seen at all unless
one looked at it very closely. It was a most magnificent piece of
workmanship and the pearls were of perfect color and shape. Her Majesty
took it and placed it in her hair and did look very graceful and pretty.
Then she picked out a mauve-colored short jacket, also embroidered with
storks, which she put on over her gown. Her handkerchief and shoes
were also embroidered with storks and when she was entirely dressed she
looked like the stork lady.
Just as she had finished dressing, the Emperor Kwang Hsu came into the
bedroom dressed in his official clothes. These clothes were exactly like
other official clothes, except that he had no button on his hat and did
not wear the peacock feather. He knelt down before Her Majesty and said:
"Chin Baba, Chi Hsiang" (dear father, all joy be with you). It may seem
curious that the Emperor and all of us should call Her Majesty father,
and the reason why this was done was because Her Majesty always wanted
to be a man and compelled everyone to address her as if she were
actually one. This was only one of her many peculiarities.
I did not know whether to courtesy to the Emperor or not, not having
received any orders as to what I should do. However, I thought it better
to be too polite than not enough, so I waited until either he or Her
Majesty went out of the room, as we were not allowed to salute or
courtesy to anyone in her presence. In a little while the Emperor went
out and I followed him out into the hall and just as I was in the act
of courtesying Her Majesty came out. She looked at me in a very peculiar
way, as if she did not approve of what I had done, but said nothing. I
felt very uncomfortable and made up my mind that being too polite did
not always pay after all.
I then returned to the room again and saw a small eunuch placing several
yellow boxes on a table at the left side of the room. Her Majesty seated
herself in a large chair, which was called her little throne, and this
eunuch opened the boxes, took a yellow envelope from each box and handed
them to Her Majesty. She opened these envelopes with an ivory paper
knife and read their contents. They were memorials from the heads of the
different Boards, or from the Viceroys of the different Provinces. The
Emperor had come back and was standing at the side of this table and
after she had finished reading, she handed them over to him. While all
this was being done I stood at the back of her chair. I watched the
Emperor as the different papers were handed to him and noticed that it
did not take him very long to finish reading their contents. After he
was finished reading the papers, they were placed back in the boxes.
During all this time absolute silence was maintained. Just as they had
finished the head eunuch came in, knelt down and announced that Her
Majesty's chair was ready. She immediately got up and went out of the
house, we following her, and I took her arm while she was descending the
steps to go to her chair. When she had entered the chair to go to the
Audience Hall, the Emperor and Young Empress and we all followed in
our usual places, the eunuchs, amahs and servant girls carrying all the
things exactly the same as was done the first day I came to the Palace.
When we arrived at the Audience Hall, we took our places behind the big
screen and the audience commenced. I was very curious to find out just
how the audiences were conducted and wanted to listen to what was going
on, but the Court ladies would not leave me alone. However, when they
were all talking together with my sister, I stole away into a corner
where I could sit and rest and listen to the conversation between
the different Ministers and Her Majesty. Trust a woman for being
inquisitive.
The first part of the audience I could not hear very well, as so many
people were whispering and talking at the same time, but by peeping
through the carved-work of the screen, I could see a General talking to
Her Majesty. I also saw the members of the Grand Council come in headed
by Prince Ching, who was the Councillor-in-Chief. After the General had
finished, Her Majesty talked with Prince Ching about the appointment of
some minor officials, a list of whose names had been handed to her. She
looked over this list and spoke about several of the people, but Prince
Ching suggested some others, saying: "Although these people whose names
have been submitted to Your Majesty should receive appointments, those
that I have suggested are better fitted for the positions." Her Majesty
said: "All right, I leave it all to you." Then I heard Her Majesty say
to the Emperor, "Is that correct?" and he replied, "Yes." This finished
the Audience for the morning and the Ministers and Grand Councillors
took their leave. We came out from behind the screen to Her Majesty and
she said that she wanted to go for a walk to get some fresh air. The
servant girls brought her a mirror, placed it on a table, and Her
Majesty took off her heavy headdress, leaving the simple knot on the top
of her head, which was quite becoming. She wanted to change some of the
flower jewels and I opened a box which one of the eunuchs had brought
and took out some very dainty flowers made of pearls. I handed her one
which she placed at the side of this knot, then she selected a jade
dragonfly which she placed on the other side. She said these small
flowers were favorites of hers and she liked to wear them when she took
off her heavy headdress. I was watching her very closely and wondered
what I was going to do with the flowers she had taken off. I had not
brought the boxes to put them in, as I did not know she was going to
change again after the audience, and felt a little nervous as to what
was the right thing to do, or as to what she would say. However, I saw
a eunuch come in carrying these boxes and felt much relieved. I quickly
placed the things in the boxes where they belonged.