Two Years in the Forbidden City | Page 6

it would give her

an opportunity to study the foreign way of dressing. Both my sister and
myself had a very difficult time deciding what we should wear for this
occasion; she wished to wear her pale blue velvet gown, as she thought
that color suited her the best. My mother had always made us dress
exactly alike, ever since we were little girls. I said that I preferred to
wear my red velvet gown, as I had the idea it might please Her Majesty.
After a long discussion I had my way. We had lovely red hats trimmed
with plumes and the same color shoes, and stockings to match. My
mother wore a lovely gown of sea green chiffon cloth embroidered with
pale mauve iris and trimmed with mauve velvet; she wore her large
black velvet hat with long white plumes.
As we lived in the central part of the city and the only means of travel
was by sedan chair and the distance from our house to the Palace was
about thirty-six Chinese li (a three-hour ride), we had to start at three
o'clock in the morning, in order to be there at six. As this was our first
visit to the Palace, Prince Ching's message threw us into a great state of
excitement, and we were naturally anxious to look our best and to be
there on time. It had been the dream of my life to go to the Palace and
see what it was like, and up to this time I had never had an opportunity,
as most of my life had been spent out of Peking,--in fact, out of China.
Another reason why this chance had never come before was, that my
father had never registered our names (my sister and myself) in the
Government book for the registration of births of Manchu children, in
consequence of which the Empress Dowager did not know until we
came back from Paris that Lord Yu Keng had any daughters. My father
told me the reason why he did not put our names in this book was, that
he wished to give us the best education obtainable, and the only way he
could do it was not to let the Empress Dowager know. Besides this,
according to the Manchu custom, the daughters of all Manchu officials
of the second rank and above, after reaching the age of fourteen years,
should go to the Palace, in order that the Emperor may select them for
secondary wives if he so desires, and my father had other plans and
ambitions for us. It was in this way that the late Empress Dowager was
selected by the Emperor Hsien Feng.
(comment: li is 1/3 mile or 1/2 km)
We started at three o'clock that morning in total darkness riding in four
coolie sedan chairs, one on each side of the chair. In going such a long

distance it was necessary to have two relays of chair coolies. This
meant twenty-four coolies for the three chairs, not counting an extra
coolie for each chair who acted as a sort of head chair bearer. Besides
this there were three military officers on horses, one for each chair and
two servants riding at the back of each chair. In addition there were
three big Chinese carts following behind for the chair coolies to ride in
and rest. This made a cavalcade consisting of fortyfive men, nine
horses and three carts.
I had a rather nervous feeling riding along in the chair surrounded by
inky blackness, with nothing to relieve the stillness of the night but the
rough voices of the chair bearers calling back and forth to each other to
be careful of stones and holes in the road, which was very uneven, and
the clump, clump of the horses. To my readers who have never had the
experience of riding a long distance in a sedan chair I would say that it
is a most uncomfortable conveyance, as you have to sit perfectly still
and absolutely straight, otherwise the chair is liable to upset. This ride
was a very long one and I felt quite stiff and tired by the time I reached
the Palace gates.

CHAPTER TWO
AT THE PALACE
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