Two Years in the Forbidden City | Page 7

and saluted us as we passed.
It was still quite dark when we had passed through the gate and I
thought of the many experiences of my short life; but this was by far
the strangest of them all. I wondered what Her Majesty would be like
and whether she would like me or not. We were told that probably we
would be asked to stay at the Court, and I thought that if that came to

pass, I would possibly be able to influence Her Majesty in favor of
reform and so be of valuable assistance to China. These thoughts made
me feel happy and I made up my mind then and there that I would do
all I could and use any influence I might have in the future towards the
advancement of China and for her welfare. While I was still dreaming
of these pleasant prospects, a faint red line appeared on the horizon
heralding the coming of a most perfect day, and so it proved. As the
light grew brighter and I could distinguish objects, a very pretty view
gradually opened to me, and as we came nearer to the Palace I could
see a high red wall which zigzagged from hill to hill and enclosed the
Palace grounds. The tops of the wall and buildings were covered with
yellow and green tiles and made a most dazzling picture in the bright
sunlight. Pagodas of different sizes and styles were passed, and when
we arrived at the village of Hai Tien, about four li from the Palace gates,
we were told by the officers we only had a short distance further to go.
This was good news, as I began to think we would never get there. This
village was quite a pretty country place of one-story houses built of
brick, which were very neat and clean as are most of the houses in the
northern part of China. The children trouped out to see the procession
pass, and I heard one remark to another: "Those ladies are going to the
Palace to become Empresses," which amused me very much.
Soon after leaving Hai Tien we came to a pai lou (archway), a very
beautiful piece of old Chinese architecture and carved work, and from
here got our first view of the Palace gates, which were about 100 yards
ahead. These gates are cut into the solid wall surrounding the Palace
and consist of one very large gate in the center and two smaller ones on
each side. The center gate is only opened when their Majesties pass in
and out of the Palace. Our chairs were set down in front of the left gate,
which was open. Outside of these gates, at a distance of about 500
yards, were two buildings where the guard stayed at night.
Just as we arrived I saw a number of officials talking excitedly, and
some of them went into the gate shouting "Li la, doula" (have come,
have arrived). When we got out of our chairs, we were met by two
eunuchs of the fourth rank (chrystal button and feather). This feather
which is worn by eunuchs of the fourth rank, comes from a bird called

the magh (horse-fowl) which is found in Szechuen Province. They are
grey and are dyed black, and are much wider than the peacock feather.
These two eunuchs were accompanied by ten small eunuchs carrying
yellow silk screens, which they placed around our chairs when we
alighted. It appeared that Her Majesty had given orders that these
screens (huang wai mor) should be brought to us. This is considered a
great honor. They were ten feet long and twenty feet high and were
held by two eunuchs.
These two eunuchs of high rank were extremely polite and stood at
each side of the gate and invited us to enter. Passing through this gate
we came into a very large paved courtyard about three hundred feet
square, in which there were a great many small flower beds and old
pine trees from which hung all kinds of birds in cages. On the side
opposite to the gates we had entered was a red brick wall with three
gates exactly like the others; on the right and left side were long rows
of low buildings each containing twelve rooms, used as waiting rooms.
The courtyard was full of people dressed in official robes of the
different ranks, and, after the Chinese fashion, all seemed to be very
busy doing nothing. When they saw us they stood still and stared. The
two eunuchs who were showing us the way conducted us to one of
these rooms. This room was about twenty feet square, just ordinarily
furnished in black wood furniture with red cloth cushions and silk
curtains hanging from