With the Empress Dowager of China

by Katharine A. Carl

She also sympathizes with misfortune, tries to right the wrongs she knows of, and correct the abuses that come to her ears. From the “North China Herald” of November 19, 1904, I copy the following, and this paper cannot be accused of viewing any of Her Majesty’s acts with a partial spirit (much to the contrary):

“During the Boxer troubles a bad character, by the name of Wang, owed money to a certain Chinese Mohammedan. Wang had been frequently dunned, and was finally condemned by the courts to pay the debt; he was, besides, ordered to be beaten, as he had been insolent to the Mandarin trying the case. This incensed Wang, and he swore vengeance. When the Boxer troubles were in full swing in Peking, he became the leader of a band of insurgents and led his band to the house of the Mohammedan whom he had been forced by the courts to pay. Wang and his band massacred not only his old enemy, but eleven members of his family; leaving only a young daughter-in-law who had hidden in a loft and saw the whole tragedy; she also saw them march off, carrying, on spears, the heads of the old man and four of his sons.

The poor daughter-in-law escaped from Peking soon after, and was not able to return there until a few months since, in 1904. She discovered the dwelling of the murderer of her husband’s family, and had a petition drawn up on the subject.

One day when Her Majesty was proceeding from one Palace to another, the young widow threw herself before the Empress Dowager’s cortège. Her Majesty saw the prostrate girl (only nineteen years of age), and commanded her guards to ask what she wanted. The girl, dressed in deep mourning, held above her head her petition, calling for justice against her husband’s murderers. Her Majesty read the petition, and her brow became black as night. She called to a eunuch in her train and commanded him to take the young petitioner and her petition to the ‘Board of Punishments,’ and deliver the Imperial Commands that no time be lost in arresting the murderers; that they should be tried, and the result reported to Her Majesty. This was done, and on the first of November, 1904, the chief murderer Wang, his two sons and a nephew were decapitated to expiate their cruel crimes.”

The Empress Dowager is said to be recklessly extravagant in her own habits as well as in the management of Palace affairs. As for extravagance in the Palace, bad management doubtless exists, and extravagance does prevail. Abuses always creep in where the management of great establishments is intrusted to money-seeking officials, and to eunuchs, as is the case in the Palace at Peking.

Extravagance in the Palace has been the theme of Chinese economists for many generations, for hundreds of years before the Manchu Dynasty came to the Throne. Several of the Emperors have themselves attempted to stem this extravagance by personal efforts and private economy, but to no avail. It is related of one Emperor that the sleeve of his State robe being a little worn, he called up his Master of the Household to ask what a new robe would cost. He found that it would cost three thousand taels, and as only the right sleeve of this gown was worn (as he used his arm a great deal in writing), he decided, in order that he might himself show a good example, and inaugurate economy, to have a new sleeve made, instead of ordering an entire gown. He gave his commands, in consequence, and the gown was taken out of the Palace and remained several months. When it was returned, what was His Majesty’s astonishment and chagrin to find that the cost of the new sleeve had exceeded that of a new gown!

In his walks outside of the Palace, another Emperor bought an article of food for a few pence. The next time he had it in the Palace he asked what the dish cost and was told it was “four taels.” When he remonstrated, saying what he had paid for it outside of the Palace, his Master of the Household told him it was impossible to have it “inside” the Palace or on His Majesty’s table at any less than the sum of four taels. If His Majesty wished it for a few pence, His Majesty might buy it outside the Palace and bring it in himself for that sum, but no one else could bring it inside for the price it could be bought outside, as it had to go through so many official hands before it reached His Majesty’s table, that it actually cost the sum of four taels.

After several efforts of this kind at reducing the Palace expenses, even these wise and economical Emperors were obliged to give it up. If these Emperors of ancient times, when the Palace was conducted on more simple lines than it is to-day, were powerless to check extravagance in the Imperial household, how much more difficult must it be to do so now that the system has become petrified with age—especially for the Empress Dowager, who can never go outside and see things for herself! It is said that each egg at Their Majesties’ table costs three taels, but Palace reform, necessary as it is, must come from without, from the officials, and no private effort of Their Majesties can change things.

As for the Empress Dowager’s personal extravagance, aside from present-giving, I saw no evidence of it. Her wardrobe, in point of actual cost, aside from her jewels, would not be superior in price to that of the wives of some of our American millionaires; for the styles do not change in China, and furs and embroideries are handed down from generation to generation. Her jewels, even, are not more gorgeous or more numerous, though they are more unique, than those of any of the European sovereigns. She has an immense number of pearls—for the pearl is her favorite precious stone, besides being the jewel of the Dynasty—but she has no diamonds, no emeralds, and very few European precious stones. She has a quantity of fine jade jewels, but these, as well as pearls, are cheaper in China than elsewhere.

I saw several incidents which seemed to point rather to personal economy on Her Majesty’s part than to extravagance. While I was painting one of the portraits, she decided that the trimming on the gown must be changed. She had bolts of different kinds of ribbon brought in to select from and finally decided upon a certain piece. She called a maid to sew some around the neck. When I wanted to have this piece cut off, so that some might be sewed around the hem where it was also visible, she said the ribbon had better not be cut, for it was a “handsome piece,” and, if cut, it might spoil it for use in “trimming another gown.” These pieces of ribbon and embroidery come in lengths for one dress only. One day when she was drinking some fruit juice, her hand slipped on the polished jade bowl and some of it fell upon the front of her jacket. She was most annoyed, and after several ineffectual attempts of her own and the attendants to remove the spot, she said she had heard that the foreigners had some wonderful processes of cleaning and she must have them investigated, for it was too bad to have a thing spoiled by an accident of that kind when a good garment was rendered useless for any one!