[119] The Chinese rendering of a German name.
[120] This is the Chinese date; the day of the audience was the 4th September.
[121] Wen T’i had been a censor in 1898, but was cashiered by the Emperor for being reactionary. Tzŭ Hsi restored him to favour after the coup d’état.
[122] Precisely the same quotation was used by Ch’ung Hou in a despatch to the British Minister (Mr. Wade) in 1861, under somewhat similar circumstances. Since that date the most frequent criticism of foreign observers on the subject has been “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”
[123] The literal translation of the Chinese is, “She has eaten her meal at sunset, and worn her clothes throughout the night.”
[124] Ginseng, the specific remedy of the Chinese pharmacopœia for debility, supposed to possess certain magical qualities when grown in shapes resembling the human form or parts thereof. The best kind, supplied as tribute to the Throne, grows wild in Manchuria and Corea.
[125] This house-law was made by the Emperor Ch’ien Lung to prevent his Court officials from intriguing for the favour of the Heir Apparent.
[126] The chief eunuch in reality objected to the Buddhist pontiff on his own account, for the Lama’s exactions from the superstitious would naturally diminish his own opportunities.
[127] He had succeeded Jung Lu as custodian of the mausolea.
[128] The Imperial Mausoleum lies about ninety miles to the east of Peking, covering a vast enclosure of magnificent approach and decorated with splendid specimens of the best style of Chinese architecture. It consists of four palaces, rising one behind the other, and at the back of the fourth and highest stands the huge mound classically termed the “Jewelled Citadel,” under which lies the spacious grave chamber.