With the Empress Dowager of China

by Katharine A. Carl

THE OFFICIAL AUDIENCE OF THEIR MAJESTIES

His Majesty assumed the cares of State at an early age, when he was still filled with boyish spirit. Many of the heads of departments are old men, and some of them doubtless most tiresome in reiterating facts and dwelling upon details. When the young Emperor first took over the direction of affairs and held his Audiences alone, he would get very impatient at hearing several of these old men go over tiresome details. As it is not “according to the laws of propriety” for the official to raise his eyes to the Sacred Person, while the old man rambled on, with prosy detail, the young Emperor would slip off the Throne and quietly descend from the dais, and when the poor official raised his eyes to make his obeisance to the Emperor, he would see only the vacant Throne! His Majesty had been in the rear of the hall behind the screen for perhaps five minutes smoking a cigarette or otherwise diverting himself!

I noticed a curious fact as to the quality of the sacredness of the persons of Their Celestial Majesties. This sacredness seems to belong to them as rulers and not as individuals. In the Audience Hall when administering justice, they are not approached nor addressed, except upon bended knee. In the Palace, in their own privacy, when they give an order or any command touching upon official affairs, this order is received by the attendant, be he courtier, high official or great prince, on his knees. When any official communication is made to Their Majesties, in private or elsewhere, it is made kneeling, but when Their Majesties are in their private capacity and spoken to on ordinary affairs, they are addressed almost familiarly, and the courtier or simple attendant stands while speaking to them. If, however, in the midst of a familiar conversation an order is given, the attendant immediately drops upon his knees to receive it.

The kow-tow (pronounced ker-toe and meaning literally to bow the head) is used as a form of thanks, and is not a manner of greeting. The actors kow-tow to Their Majesties at the beginning and end of each performance at the Theater, first to thank for the honor they are to receive in being allowed to act before them, and at the end to thank for the privilege granted. The officials “bow the head” to thank for an Audience or any favor or gift they have received or are to receive from Their Majesties. The kow-tow is not only made by people at the Palace and at Imperial Audiences: it is sometimes used by equals to each other as a proper manner of thanking for some great favor. To make the kow-tow, the person kneels three times and each time bows his head three times, touching the ground with it. The kow-tow could not be made by a foreigner without looking most awkward and appearing most servile, but the Chinese do it with dignity, and it is neither ungraceful nor degrading-looking. It is a time-honored manner of giving thanks, a Chinese tradition surviving from a time when the courtiers were perhaps like slaves, but at present it does not imply any slave-like inferiority on the part of him who performs it.

CHAPTER XVII THE SUMMER PALACE AND ITS GROUNDS

The Summer Palace, the Empress Dowager’s favorite residence, is really a superb domain. Its naturally picturesque situation among the beautiful Western Hills, sixteen miles from Peking, has been improved wherever possible, by the devices of art. The many buildings that constitute an Oriental Palace have been most picturesquely grouped on the banks of its great lake. The eminences and natural undulations have all been made the most of as sites for Palaces and temples, and the grounds are laid out with all the art the Chinese landscape artist has at his command.

The buildings of the Palace proper, where Their Majesties and their suites live, are all massed in one great town-like group at the southeastern end of the lake. In this group are the Theater, with its courts, and the Great Audience Hall. Palaces, temples, summer-houses, tea-booths, dot the whole surface of the great park, and all the vantage-points have been utilized for constructions.

A beautiful white marble terrace runs the length of the southern side of the lake. Pavilions at intervals vary the monotony of this line or give accent to the natural indentations of the banks. Picturesque landing-places, with their marble steps lapped by the waters of the lake, also lend their variety to this terrace surmounted by its beautiful lotus balustrade.

The highest of the hills in the park of the Summer Palace is crowned by the Great Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas. This is approached by hundreds of steps, which lead up from the broadest part of the marble terrace over the lake. Beautiful Palaces are built along this terraced height. Picturesque pai-lou (memorial arches) are built at such beautiful points, that Nature herself seems to have designed these positions for them.