Two Years in the Forbidden City | Page 3

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TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY BY THE PRINCESS
DER LING

FIRST LADY IN WAITING TO THE EMPRESS DOWAGER

TO MY BELOVED FATHER LORD YU KENG

FOREWORD THE author of the following narrative has peculiar
qualifications for her task. She is a daughter of Lord Yu Keng, a
member of the Manchu White Banner Corps, and one of the most
advanced and progressive Chinese officials of his generation. Lord Yu
Keng entered the army when very young, and served in the Taiping
rebellion and the Formosan war with France, and as Vice Minister of
War during the China-Japan war in 1895. Later he was Minister to
Japan, which post he quitted in 1898 to become President of the
Tsung-li-yamen (Chinese Foreign Office). In 1899 he was appointed
Minister to France, where he remained four years. At a period when the
Chinese Government was extremely conservative and reactionary, Lord
Yu Keng labored indefatigably for reform. He was instrumental in
reorganizing China's postal service on modern lines, but failed in
efforts to revise the revenue system and modernize the army and navy,
from being ahead of his times. He died in 1905. The progressive spirit

of Lord Yu Keng was shown in the education of his children. When it
became known that his daughters were receiving a foreign
education--then an almost unheard--of proceeding among high Manchu
officials-attempts were made to impeach him as pro-foreign and
revolutionary, but he was not deterred. His children got their early
education in missionary schools, and the daughters later attended a
convent in France, where the author of this work finished her schooling
and entered society. On returning to China, she became First
Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress Dowager, and while serving at the
Court in that capacity she received the impressions which provide the
subject-matter of this book. Her opportunity to observe and estimate
the characteristics of the remarkable woman who ruled China for so
long was unique, and her narrative throws a new light on one of the
most extraordinary personalities of modern times. While on leave from
her duties to attend upon her father, who was fatally ill in Shanghai,
Princess Der Ling took a step which terminated connexion with the
Chinese Court. This was her engagement to Mr. Thaddeus C. White, an
American, to whom she was married on May 21, 1907. Yielding to the
urgent solicitation of friends, she consented to put some of her
experiences into literary form, and the following chronicle, in which
the most famous of Chinese women, the customs and atmosphere of her
Court are portrayed by an intimate of the same race, is a result.
THOMAS F. MILLARD. SHANGHAI, July 24, 1911.
CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY II. AT THE PALACE III. A PLAY AT THE
COURT IV. A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS V. AN
AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPRESS VI. IN ATTENDANCE ON HER
MAJESTY VII. SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT VIII. THE
COURT LADIES IX. THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU X. THE
YOUNG EMPRESS XI. OUR COSTUMES XII. THE EMPRESS
AND MRS. CONGER XIII. THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT XIV. THE
EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY XV. THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL
XVI. THE SUMMER PALACE XVII. THE AUDIENCE HALL XVIII.
THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS XIX. THE SEA PALACE XX.

CONCLUSION

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY
MY father and mother, Lord and Lady Yu Keng, and family, together
with our suite consisting of the First Secretary, Second Secretary,
Naval and Military Attaches, Chancellors, their families, servants,
etc.,--altogether fifty-five people,--arrived in Shanghai on January 2,
1903, on the S.S. "Annam" from Paris, where for four years my father
had been Chinese Minister. Our arrival was anything but pleasant, as
the rain came down in torrents, and we had the greatest difficulty
getting our numerous retinue landed and safely housed, not to mention
the tons of baggage that had to be looked after. We had found from
previous experience that none of our Legation people or servants could
be depended upon to do anything when travelling, in consequence of
which the entire