ON the fourteenth day of the eleventh moon, after the morning audience,
Her Majesty informed us that there was a likelihood of war breaking
out between Russia and Japan and that she was very much troubled, as
although it actually had nothing whatever to do with China, she was
afraid they would fight on Chinese territory and that in the long run
China would suffer in some way or other. Of course we did not bother
ourselves about it much at the moment, but the next morning the head
eunuch reported to Her Majesty that fifty eunuchs were missing. As there
was no apparent reason for this, everybody was much excited. There
was no rule against any of the eunuchs going into the city after their
duties were ended, providing they returned before the Palace Gate was
closed, but when on the following morning it was reported that another
hundred eunuchs had also disappeared, Her Majesty at once said: "I know
now what the trouble is; they must have heard what I said about this war
coming on and are afraid there may be a repetition of the Boxer trouble,
and so they have cleared out." It was the custom whenever a eunuch
was missing to send out search parties and have him brought back and
punished, but in the present instance Her Majesty gave instructions that
nothing was to be done about recapturing them. One morning, however,
one of Her Majesty's personal attendants was missing, which made her
furious. She said that she had been very kind to this particular eunuch
in many ways, and this was all the thanks she got; he ran away at the
first sign of trouble. I myself had noticed how good she had been to
this eunuch, but I was not really sorry that he had left, as he used to
take advantage of every opportunity of getting some of the Court ladies
into trouble.
These disappearances continued from day to day until Her Majesty decided
that it would be safer for us to remain in the Forbidden City until the
following spring at any rate.
On inquiring from my eunuch the cause of these disappearances, he said
that it was just as Her Majesty suspected; they were afraid of getting
mixed up in another such affair as the Boxer trouble, and added that
he was not a bit surprised at Her Majesty's favorite eunuch going along
with the rest. He further told me that even Li Lien Ying himself was not
to be absolutely relied upon, as at the time of Her Majesty's leaving
Peking for Shi An during the Boxer movement, he had feigned sickness,
and followed a little later, so that in the event of anything happening,
he would be able to return and make his escape. While talking about Li
Lien Ying, my eunuch told me in confidence that he was responsible for
the death of many innocent people, mostly eunuchs. He had unlimited
power at the Court, and it was very easy for him to get anybody put
away who offended him or to whom, for some reason or another, he took
a dislike. Furthermore, the eunuch informed me that, although not
generally known, Li Lien Ying was addicted to opium-smoking, which habit
he indulged in very freely. Even Her Majesty was unaware of this, as
opium-smoking was strictly forbidden in the Palace.
Each morning there was fresh news regarding the trouble between Russia
and Japan, and of course everybody gradually became very much excited
at the Palace. One day Her Majesty summoned the whole of the Court to a
special audience and there informed us that there was no need for us to
get excited at all; that if any trouble did occur, it was none of our
business and we should not be interfered with, as the spirits of our
ancestors were watching over us, and she did not want to hear any more
talk and gossip on the subject. However, she summoned all of the Court
ladies to her apartment and there commanded us to pray to the spirits of
our ancestors to protect us, which plainly showed that she was just as
much worried as we were ourselves. In spite of what she had said with
reference to gossiping about this trouble, Her Majesty often spoke about
it herself, and during one of our conversations she said she wished she
could get information each day as to what was actually occurring, so
I suggested that it would be very easy to get all the latest news by
taking the foreign papers and also Reuter's specials. Her Majesty jumped
at the suggestion and told me to have these sent each day to my father's
house in his name, and have them brought to the Palace, where I could
translate them for her. I told her that my father received all these
papers as they were published, so I arranged that they should be brought
along as directed by Her Majesty. Each morning during the audience I
translated into Chinese all the war news, but the telegrams began to
arrive so rapidly that it soon became quite impossible for me to write
them all out in Chinese, so I told Her Majesty that I would read and
translate them into Chinese as they arrived. This was much quicker
and interested Her Majesty so much that she insisted on my not only
translating the war news, but everything else of interest in the papers.
Especially was she interested in all news appertaining to the movements,
etc., of the crowned heads of Europe, and was very plainly astonished
when she learned that their every movement was known. She said: "Here,
at any rate, it is more private, for nobody outside the Palace ever
knows what is going on inside, not even my own people. It would be a
good thing if they did know a little more, then perhaps all these rumors
about the Palace would stop."
Of course, during our stay in the Forbidden City, Miss Carl attended
each morning to work on the portrait. We had given her a nice room,
which seemed to suit her very well, and Her Majesty had instructed me
to let her have every convenience possible to assist her, as she was
getting tired of the business and would like to see it finished quickly.
Her Majesty hardly ever went near the place herself, but when she did
go, she would be most affable and, really, one would think that it was
the greatest pleasure of her life to go and inspect the portrait.
Things went very slowly during this eleventh moon on account of the
Court being in mourning, so one day Her Majesty suggested that she
should show us round the Forbidden City. First we proceeded to the
Audience Hall. This differs somewhat from the Audience Hall of the
Summer Palace. To enter, one must mount some twenty odd steps of
white marble, with rails on either side of the steps made of the same
material. At the top of the steps a large veranda, supported by huge
pillars of wood, painted red, surrounded the building. The windows along
this verandah were of marvellously carved trellis-work, designed to
represent the character "Shou" arranged in different positions. Then we
entered the hall itself. The floor is of brick, and Her Majesty told
us that all these bricks were of solid gold and had been there for
centuries. They were of a peculiar black color, doubtless painted over,
and were so slippery that it was most difficult to keep on one's feet.
The furnishing was similar to that in the Audience Halls in the Summer
Palace and in the Sea Palace, with the exception that the throne was
made of dark brown wood inlaid with jade of different colors.
The Hall was only used for audience on very rare occasions, such as the
birthday of the Empress Dowager and New Year's Day, and no foreigner
has ever entered this building. All the usual audiences were held in a
smaller building in the Forbidden City.
After spending some little time in the Audience Hall, we next visited
the Emperor's quarters. These were much smaller than those occupied by
Her Majesty, but were very elaborately furnished. There were thirty-two
rooms, many of which were never used, but all were furnished in the
same expensive style. In the rear of this building was the Palace of the
Young Empress, which was smaller still, having about twenty-four rooms
in all, and in the same building three rooms were set apart for the
use of the Secondary wife of the Emperor. Although close together, the
Palaces of the Emperor and his wife were not connected by any entrance,
but both buildings were surrounded by verandas connecting with Her
Majesty's apartments, which were quite a distance away. There were
several other buildings, which were used as waiting rooms for visitors.
In addition to the above, there were several buildings which were not
used at all; these were sealed and nobody seemed to know what they
contained, or whether they contained anything at all. Even Her Majesty
said she had never been inside these buildings, as they had been sealed
for many years. Even the entrance to the enclosure containing these
buildings was always closed, and this was the only occasion that any
of us ever even passed through. They were quite different in appearance
from any other buildings in the Palace, being very dirty and evidently
of great age. We were commanded not to talk about the place at all.
The apartments of the Court ladies were connected with those of Her
Majesty, but the rooms were so small one could hardly turn round in
them; also they were very cold in winter. The servants' quarters were at
the end of our apartments, but there was no entrance and they could
only be reached by passing along our veranda, while the only entrance we
ourselves had to our rooms was by passing along Her Majesty's veranda.
This was Her Majesty's own idea, in order that she could keep an eye on
all of us and could see when we either went out or came in.
Her Majesty now conducted us to her own Palace, and pausing a little
said: "I will now show you something which will be quite new to you."
We entered a room adjoining her bedroom, which was connected by a narrow
passage some fifteen feet in length. On either side the walls were
painted and decorated very beautifully. Her Majesty spoke to one of the
eunuch attendants, who stooped down and removed from the ground at each
end of this passage two wooden plugs which were fitted into holes in the
basement. I then began to realize that what I had hitherto regarded as
solid walls were in reality sliding panels of wood. These panels when
opened revealed a kind of grotto. There were no windows, but in the roof
was a skylight. At one end of this room or grotto was a large rock,
on the top of which was a seat with a yellow cushion, and beside the
cushion an incense burner. Everything had the appearance of being very
old. The room contained no furniture of any description. One end of
this room led into another passage similar to the one already described,
having sliding panels, which led into another grotto, and so on; in fact
the whole of the palace walls were intersected by these secret passages,
each concealing an inner room. Her Majesty told us that during the Ming
dynasty these rooms had been used for various purposes, principally by
the Emperor when he wished to be alone. One of these secret rooms was
used by Her Majesty as a treasure room where she kept her valuables.
During the time of the Boxer trouble, she hid all her valuables here
before she fled. When she returned and opened this secret room she found
everything intact, not one of the vandals who ransacked the Palace even
suspecting there was such a place.
We returned to our veranda, and on looking around for the rooms we had
just vacated, could see nothing excepting black stone walls, so well
were they hidden. One of the principal reasons for Her Majesty's dislike
to the Forbidden City was the mysteries which it contained, many of
which she did not know of herself. She said: "I don't even talk about
these places at all, as people might think that they were used for all
kinds of purposes."
While at the Palace in the Forbidden City I met the three Secondary
wives of the previous Emperor Tung Chi, son of the Empress Dowager, who,
since the death of the Emperor, had resided in the Forbidden City and
spent their time in doing needlework, etc., for Her Majesty. When I got
to know them I found that they were highly educated, one of them, Yu
Fai, being exceptionally clever. She could write poetry and play many
musical instruments, and was considered to be the best educated lady
in the Empire of China. Her knowledge of western countries and their
customs surprised me very much; she seemed to know a little bit of
everything. I asked how it was that I had never seen them before, and
was informed that they never visited Her Majesty unless commanded by
her to do so, but that when Her Majesty stayed in the Forbidden City,
of course they had to call and pay their respects each day. One day I
received an invitation to visit them in their Palace. This was separated
from all the other buildings in the city. It was rather a small
building, and very simply furnished, with just a few eunuchs and servant
girls to wait upon them. They said they preferred this simple life,
as they never received any visitors and had nobody to please but
themselves. Yu Fai's room was literally packed with literature of all
descriptions. She showed me several poems which she had written, but
they were of a melancholy character, plainly showing the trend of her
thoughts. She was in favor of establishing schools for the education
of young girls, as only very few could even read or write their own
language, and she suggested that I should speak to Her Majesty about it
at the first opportunity. In spite of her desire to see western reforms
introduced into China, however, she was not in favor of employing
missionary teachers, as these people always taught their religion at
the expense of other subjects, which she feared would set the Chinese
against the movement.
Toward the end of the eleventh moon Her Majesty granted an audience to
the Viceroy of Chihli, Yuan Shih Kai, and as this particular day was
a holiday and Miss Carl was absent, I was able to attend. Her Majesty
asked him for his opinion of the trouble between Russia and Japan.
He said that although these two countries might make war against each
other, China would not be implicated in any way, but that after the war
was over, there was sure to be trouble over Manchuria. Her Majesty said
she was quite aware of that, as they were fighting on Chinese territory,
and that the best thing for China to do would be to keep absolutely
neutral in the matter, as she had quite enough of war during the
China-Japan war. She said it would be best to issue orders to all the
officials to see that the Chinese did not interfere in any way, so as
not to give any excuse for being brought into the trouble.
She then asked his opinion as to what would be the result in the event
of war--who would win. He said that it was very hard to say, but that
he thought Japan would win. Her Majesty thought that if Japan were
victorious, she would not have so much trouble over the matter, although
she expressed doubts as to the outcome, saying that Russia was a large
country and had many soldiers, and that the result was far from certain.
Her Majesty then spoke about the condition of things in China. She said
that in case China were forced into war with another nation, we should
be nowhere. We had nothing ready, no navy and no trained army, in fact
nothing to enable us to protect ourselves. Yuan Shih Kai, however,
assured her there was no need to anticipate any trouble at present so
far as China was concerned. Her Majesty replied that in any event it
was time China began to wake up and endeavor to straighten things out in
some way or other, but she did not know where to begin; that it was her
ambition to see China holding a prominent position among the nations
of the world and that she was constantly receiving memorials suggesting
this reform and that reform, but that we never seemed to get any
further.
After this audience was over, Her Majesty held an audience with the
Grand Council. She told them what had been said during her interview
with Yuan Shih Kai, and of course they all agreed that something should
be done. Several suggestions were discussed with regard to national
defense, etc., but a certain Prince said that although he was in perfect
sympathy with reform generally, he was very much against the adoption of
foreign clothing, foreign modes of living, and the doing away with the
queue. Her Majesty quite agreed with these remarks and said that it
would not be wise to change any Chinese custom for one which was less
civilized. As usual, nothing definite was decided upon when the audience
was over.
For the next few days nothing was talked of but the war, and many
Chinese generals were received in audience by Her Majesty. These
audiences were sometimes very amusing, as these soldiers were quite
unaccustomed to the rules of the Court and did not know the mode of
procedure when in the presence of Her Majesty. Many foolish suggestions
were made by these generals. During one of the conversations Her Majesty
remarked on the inefficiency of the navy and referred to the fact that
we had no trained naval officers. One of the generals replied that we
had more men in China than in any other country, and as for ships, why
we had dozens of river boats and China merchant boats, which could be
used in case of war. Her Majesty ordered him to retire, saying that
it was perfectly true that we had plenty of men in China, but that the
majority of them were like himself, of very little use to the country.
After he had retired, everybody commenced to laugh, but Her Majesty
stopped us, saying that she did not feel at all like laughing, she was
too angry to think that such men held positions as officers in the army
and navy. One of the Court ladies asked me why Her Majesty was so angry
with the man for mentioning the river boats, and was very much surprised
when I informed her that the whole of them would be worse than useless
against a single war vessel.
Just about the end of the eleventh moon Chang Chih Tung, Viceroy of
Wuchang, arrived, and was received in audience. Her Majesty said to him:
"Now, you are one of the oldest officials in the country, and I want you
to give me your unbiased opinion as to what effect this war is going to
have on China. Do not be afraid to give your firm opinion, as I want to
be prepared for anything which is likely to happen." He answered that
no matter what the result of the war might be, China would in all
probability have to make certain concessions to the Powers with regard
to Manchuria for trade purposes, but that we should not otherwise be
interfered with. Her Majesty repeated what had been discussed at the
previous audiences on this subject and also regarding reform in China.
Chang Chih Tung replied that we had plenty of time for reform, and that
if we were in too great a hurry, we should not accomplish anything at
all. He suggested that the matter be discussed at length before deciding
upon anything definite. In his opinion it would be foolish to go to
extremes in the matter of reform. He said that ten or fifteen years ago
he would have been very much against any reform whatsoever, but that
he now saw the need for it to a certain extent, as circumstances had
changed very much. He said that we should adhere strictly to our own
mode of living and not abandon the traditions of our ancestors. In other
words, he simply advised the adoption of western civilization where
it was an improvement on our own, and nothing more. Her Majesty was
delighted with the interview, for Chang Chih Tung's opinions coincided
exactly with her own.
During the whole of these audiences the Emperor, although present each
time, never opened his lips to say a word, but sat listening all the
time. As a rule, Her Majesty would ask his opinion, just as a matter of
form, but he invariably replied that he was quite in accord with what
Her Majesty had said or decided upon.
Of the many religious ceremonies in connection with the Buddhist
religion the "La-pachow" was the most important. This was held on the
8th day of the twelfth moon each year. According to the common belief,
on this eighth day of the twelfth moon, many centuries ago, a certain
Buddhist priest Ju Lai set out to beg for food, and after receiving a
good supply of rice and beans from the people, he returned and divided
it with his brother priests, giving each an equal share, and he became
celebrated for his great charity. This day was therefore set apart as
an anniversary to commemorate the event. The idea was that by practising
self-denial on this day, one would gain favor in the sight of this
Buddha Ju Lai, therefore the only food eaten was rice, grain and beans,
all mixed together in a sort of porridge, but without any salt or
other flavoring. It was not at all pleasant to eat, being absolutely
tasteless.