Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China (65 page)

Leading the first group of court ladies to the American Legation for dinner in 1902 was Cixi’s adopted daughter, the Imperial Princess, acting as her representative. Seated in the middle, with Sarah Conger next to her.

The courtyard outside the dining-room of the Congers. In the summer, the open-air court and the whole building were covered by a giant ‘mosquito net’, made of reed matting by ingenious eunuchs. Sarah Conger wrote: ‘The air is fresh, and the beautiful trees, potted plants, shrubs, many flowers, and delightful guests make the day truly a happy one.’

Cixi among four young, good-looking eunuchs, Lady-in-waiting Der Ling to the side. Such physical intimacy was bound to lead to sexual desires in her younger years. In fact she fell in love with a eunuch, An Dehai, when she was in her early thirties. He was beheaded in 1869, and she suffered a breakdown.

On her deathbed in 1908, Cixi made her two-year-old great-nephew, Puyi (standing), the next emperor, and his father, Zaifeng (seated holding Puyi’s brother), the Regent.

Sun Yat-sen (centre), known as the ‘Father’ of Republican China, had tried repeatedly to overthrow the Manchu dynasty by military means.

Cixi’s funeral. Brooke Astor, American philanthropist, was a child in Beijing and watched the procession with her family from the city wall: ‘All day it passed beneath us through the gate. There were Buddhist and Taoist priests in white robes and Buddhist lamas in yellow with red sashes. There were endless bands of eunuchs dressed in white, who tossed paper money in the air (for the Empress’s use on her way to heaven) ... There were twenty-four white camels, with yellow brocade tents on their backs ... and a whole company of white ponies ... there were papier-mache replicas of all the Empress’s palaces ... All this passed accompanied by the cries of the mourners, who tore their hair and beat their chests to the clashing of cymbals.’ The colossal palanquin was covered with yellow brocade embroidered with phoenixes. When it passed by, all Westerners rose and took off their hats.

The Eastern Mausoleums of the Qing monarchs outside Beijing, where Cixi was buried with her husband and her son. In 1928, an unruly Republican army unit broke into her tomb to plunder the jewels that were buried with her. Her corpse was left exposed.

Notes

The page references in these notes correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created.

Chapter 1 Concubine to an Emperor (1835–56)

Page

3 ‘
the woman of the Nala family
’
: First Historical Archives of China (ed.) 1998, vol. 4, no. 164; Wang Daocheng 1984, p. 213; Yu Bingkun et al., p. 56;
footnote
: Professor Wang argued convincingly that
Lan
was not Cixi’s maiden name: Wang Daocheng 1984, pp. 216–18. Also: Yehenala Genzheng & Hao Xiaohui 2007, p. 13

5
Cixi’s family
: Wang Daocheng 1984, pp. 195–208;
Huizheng
: Yu Bingkun et al., pp. 7–43

6
Manchu translated into Chinese
: Weng Tonghe 2006, vol. 1, p. 148; Jin Liang 1998, p. 161;
Daoguang against extravagance
: Xin Xiuming, p. 1; Forbidden City Publishing House (ed.), p. 39;
the state coffer incident
: Yu Bingkun et al., pp. 13–31; Yehenala Genzheng & Hao Xiaohui 2007, pp. 17–18

8 ‘
Limping Dragon
’
: Xin Xiuming, p. 2;
consort selection
: Wang Daocheng 1984; Yu Bingkun et al.; Shan Shiyuan 1990, pp. 1–23; Wang Shuqing, 1980, no. 1; Li Guorong, pp. 216–19;
Maugham mused
: Maugham, p. 2

9 ‘
After ten hours
’
: Freeman-Mitford, pp. 151–2

10 ‘
a high nose
’
: Carl, p. 19

11 ‘
I don’t know why
’
: Xin Xiuming, p. 14

12
For food
: Wang Shuqing, 1983, no. 3; Wang Daocheng 1984;
Xianfeng sex life
: Wang Daocheng 1984, p. 196; Mao Haijian 2006, p. 148; cf. Forbidden City Publishing (ed.), pp. 22–3; Li Guorong, pp. 260–1; Tang Yinian, pp. 23–4;
footnote
: Jin Liang 1933, p. 27

13
Xianfeng wept
: Mao Haijian 2006, p. 75

14
Imperial Apology
: Qing History Institute, Renmin University (ed.), vol. 9, p. 69;
silver reserve etc.
: Archives of Ming and Qing Dynasties (ed.) 1979, vol. 1, pp. 1–80; Mao Haijian 2006, p. 106;
admonitions
: Palace Museum (ed.) 2002, vol. 10, p. 276;
her father
: Yu Bingkun et al., pp. 14–22

15 ‘
crafty
’
: Woqiu Zhongzi, p. 2;
‘exterminated’
: Yun Yuding, vol. 2, p. 782;
Empress Zhen mediated
: Xue Fucheng 1983, p. 25;
‘Younger Sister’
: Xin Xiuming, p. 10;
named
Yi
: First Historical Archives of China (ed.) 1998, vol. 4, no. 164; Ding Ruqin, p. 229

Chapter 2 From the Opium War to the Burning of the Old Summer Palace (1839–60)

17
palace file
: Yu Bingkun et al., pp. 63–70

18
second son
: First Historical Archives of China (ed.) 1998, vol. 11, no. 1856;
sister marries Prince Chun
: Pujia, Pujie et al., p. 209;
Headland . . . noted
: Headland, p. 264; cf. Carl, p. 82

19
wet nurse
: Yu Bingkun et al., pp. 67–8; Tong Yue and Lü Jihong, pp. 15–16

20
Macartney visit
: Macartney’s diaries in Helen H. Robbins; First Historical Archives of China (ed.) 2001, pp. 130–6; Rockhill, p. 31;
1.1 million taels
: Li Guorong, p. 338

21
fifty years of good weather
: Kangxi to his sons and officials, in Forbidden City Publishing (ed.), p. 239;
population explosion
: Jiang Tao 1993, pp. 30–4; Li Zhiting, pp. 475–7

22 ‘
tell the fishes
’
: Association of Chinese Historians (ed.),
The Opium War
, vol. 2, pp. 107–8;
Daoguang approved Lin’s letter
: Qing Government (ed.),
Daoguang
, pp. 492–504

23
Gladstone speech
: Hansard, 8 April 1840;
footnote 2
: Ridley, p. 259; Hansard, 4 August 1843

24
Wu Tingfang wrote
: Wu Tingfang, pp. 246–7

25
Daoguang agony
: Qing Government (ed.),
Daoguang
, pp. 4746, 4807; Palace Museum (ed.) 2002, vol. 9, p. 8;
Daoguang writing will
: Archives of Ming and Qing Dynasties (ed.) 1979, vol. 4, pp. 273–8; First Historical Archives of China (ed.) 2001, p. 150

26
Qiying denounced, ordered to commit suicide
: Mao Haijian 2006, pp. 44–6; Association of Chinese Historians (ed.),
The Second Opium War
, vol. 3, pp. 449–50

27 ‘
I am so awed
’
: First Historical Archives of China & History Department of Fujian Normal University (eds), vol. 1, p. 44;
‘ships of war’
: Morse, vol. 1, p. 417;
‘pistol at the throat’
: Morse, vol. 1, p. 573