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 waiting room 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.