With the Empress Dowager of China

THE YOUNG EMPRESS AND LADIES OF THE COURT The Young Empress--The Secondary Wife--The Princesses-- Children by Adoption--Chinese Widows--The Princess Imperial-- The Relationships...

CONTINUATION OF THE PORTRAIT Advantages and Disadvantages of Painting in the Throne-room-- The Empress Dowager’s Voice--Chinese Opinion as to Portraits of Royalty--Walks with He...

FESTIVITIES AT COURT The Celebration of His Majesty’s Birthday--Invitation from the Empress Dowager to be Present--Birthday Plays--The Imperial Actors--Birthday Decorations of t...

HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR Beginning of his Reign--The Name of an Emperor--The Manchu Dynasty--Personality of the Emperor--Appearance--His Orientalism--His Dreams of Progress--His...

THE EMPEROR’S BIRTHDAY Morning Salutations--His Majesty’s Throne-room--The Imperial Pearl-Buttons Denoting Rank of Officials--Manchu Buttons-- “Lever” of the Empress Dowager--Co...

PEKING--THE SEA PALACE His Majesty’s Sacrifice to his Ancestors--The Empress Dowager’s Favorite Summer-house--The Sacred Picture--The United States Legation at Peking--Mrs. Cong...

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF HER MAJESTY--SECOND VISIT TO THE SEA PALACE The Empress Dowager’s Magnetic Personality--Interesting Study--Her Chinese Appellations--Hall of Mongolian Pr...

RETURN TO THE SUMMER PALACE The Empress Dowager as a Psychological Study--Seeing Her Face to Face--Work on Portrait Resumed--Easels and Cases for Materials for Work on Sacred Pi...

THE PALACE EUNUCHS Their Grades--The Chief Eunuchs--Li Lien Ying--His Power with the Courtiers--“L’Eminence Grise” of the Court--The Shut-in Position of Chinese Imperial Rulers-...

LITERARY TASTES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE EMPRESS DOWAGER The Empress of the Eastern Palace--Co-Regency--Her Majesty’s Literary Tastes--Her Love of Heroic Poems--Her Memory--Th...

THE GREAT AUDIENCE HALL Hours of the Audiences--The Audience Hall at Summer Palace-- Its Interior--Ancient and Modern Thrones and Dais--Audiences of Heads of Departments--The Gr...

THE SUMMER PALACE The Empress Dowager’s Favorite Palace--The Marble Terrace-- The Hills of the Summer Palace--The Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas--Memorial Arches--The Marble...

FESTIVAL OF THE HARVEST MOON The Chinese Love of Festivals--The Fruit of Immortality--The Little Handmaiden and her White Rabbit--The Play at the Palace Theater on the Mid-Autum...

A GARDEN PARTY Reception to the Diplomatic Corps and Ladies of the Legation--The Ceremony of Reception of the Ladies--The Empress Dowager’s Cordiality--Taking Tea in the Audienc...

BEGINNING A SECOND PORTRAIT OF THE EMPRESS DOWAGER Putting the Characters Representing Her Majesty’s Titles and her Two Seals on the Portrait--Beginning the Small Portrait-- Toi...

A EUROPEAN CIRCUS AT THE PALACE The Posters--Sites for the Ring--The Turnip Field--Their Majesties Go in State across the Lake--The Houseboats--The Young Empress’s State Boat--T...

PALACE CUSTOMS Early Rising--When the Empress Dowager Sleeps--Her Bedroom-- Irregular Hours except for the Audience--Domestic Duties-- Her Favorite Game--Her Luck--Her Meals--Co...

HER MAJESTY’S ANXIETY--HER BIRTHDAY Her Anxiety--Exterior and Interior Troubles--Preparations for Her Majesty’s Birthday--Her Desire to Have Everything as Simple as Possible and...

THE WINTER PALACE The Empress Dowager’s Love of the Summer Palace--Return to Peking--Young Empress and Ladies Precede and Receive Her on the Threshold of her Own Throne-room--Ci...

PEKING--BEGINNING THE PORTRAIT FOR ST. LOUIS Legation Quarter--Morning Ride to the Palace--Splendid Walls of the Palace and City--The Streets in the Forbidden City--A Funeral--T...

SOME SOCIAL CUSTOMS Manchu Ladies of the Palace--Presentation, on Their Marriage, of Manchu Noblewomen--Bridal Costume--Sedan Chairs--By Whom Bride is Presented--The Young Empre...

PRESENT-GIVING The Palace as the Heart of Empire--Occasions on which Presents are Given (Private, Official, and Festivals)-- Style of Presents Given by the Empress Dowager--Pres...

SOME WINTER DAYS AT THE PALACE The Portrait for America--Details and Accessories of the Same--Days at the Palace--The Meals in Winter--Winter Evenings--Learning Chinese--Occupat...

RELIGIOUS RITES The Three Great Religions--The Temple of Heaven--The Emperor as High Priest--Preparations for the Sacrifice to Heaven-- Buddhism and Taoism--Confucius--Origin of...

HER MAJESTY THE EMPRESS DOWAGER Her Family--Presentation at Court--Fifth Wife of the Emperor Hsien-Feng--Favorite of Empress Mother and First Wife--Birth of a Son--Death of Empe...

HER MAJESTY THE EMPRESS DOWAGER (CONTINUED) Her Charities--Incident of the Boxer Rising--Widows’ Petition to the Empress Dowager--Her Majesty’s Action thereon--Her Extravagance-...

THE CHINESE NEW YEAR Greatest Festival of the Year--Decorations of the Palace-- Imitation Money--New Year’s Presents--Work on Portrait--Some Changes--Removal of the Court to Sea...

CONTINUATION OF THE ST. LOUIS PORTRAIT Propitious Date for Finishing it--Changing Ornaments--Frame for Portrait--Spring Days--Her Majesty’s Walks--Inspecting the New Buildings--...

FINISHING AND SENDING OFF THE PORTRAIT Nineteenth Day of April--Invitations to Ladies of the Legation to see the Portrait--Visit of the Ladies to the Palace--The Portrait--Princ...

RETURN TO THE SUMMER PALACE Return to the Summer Palace--The Palace of the Emperor’s Father in Spring--The Grounds of the Summer Palace--The Studio--At Work Again--The Theater--...

The day of my first Audience at the Chinese Court, August 5th, we were up betimes at the American Legation, for it takes full three hours to drive out to the Summer Palace from...

I was eager to be off the next morning, to have the promised long sitting from Her Majesty. The sitting of the day before had but whetted my desire for further work on the portr...

The Palace of the Emperor’s Father, which the Empress Dowager had set aside for me to live in while I was at work on her portrait, was a splendid demesne, with a noble park and...

We arrived at the Palace in good time the next morning, as Her Majesty and suite were coming out of the Great Audience Hall. She greeted us with a charming smile and made her us...

The young Empress, the first Lady of the Court after Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, was, to me, a charming character. She is the daughter of the Duke Chow, General of one of t...

I had daily morning sittings from Her Majesty for the portrait, but always surrounded by the whole Court, with eunuchs coming and going. The sittings were long enough, for I had...

Preparations were now beginning at the Palace for the celebration of His Majesty the Emperor’s Birthday. This is not celebrated on the anniversary of the day he was born, but tw...

The Emperor Kwang-Hsu was barely eighteen years old when Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, Regent of the Empire, handed over to him the reins of Government, admonishing him in a...

We went to the Palace early the day of His Majesty’s Birthday, and were in the Empress Dowager’s Throne-room at six o’clock in the morning; but long before that time, the outer...

The Autumnal Sacrifices to his Ancestors and His Majesty’s consequent three days’ abstinence, to prepare for them, put a stop to further festivities after the Birthday, which wo...

I spent the next day at the Legation, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I was glad to think that I was to spend the following day at the Palace again. The study of Her Majesty had...

The next day the Court returned to the Summer Palace. The festivities and sacrifices in connection with the Emperor’s Birthday being now over and the Court settled down to its u...

We began now to go out on the lake in the steam-launches, instead of the picturesque Imperial barge. The Empress Dowager is artistic and conservative enough to like the old-fash...

The internal affairs of the Palace are managed by eunuchs, among whom there are all grades, all sorts and conditions. Some are clever literati given to study; some have the poli...

When Her Majesty the Empress Dowager was Empress of the Western Palace, Co-Regent with the Empress of the Eastern Palace, who died in 1881, the Empress of the Eastern Palace was...

When His Majesty the Emperor reigned alone, he was in the habit of holding his Audiences as early as three o’clock A.M. It is said, however, that this custom was owing as much t...

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...

We think the Chinese so unemotional, so little given to pleasure or amusement; but there are more popular festivals in China, indulged in by all classes of people, than in any c...

Not long after this, Her Majesty gave a garden party for the ladies and gentlemen of the Legations. These garden parties occupy two days, for ladies and gentlemen are not receiv...

I had several days of good work on the portrait after the garden party, when Her Majesty decided it was sufficiently advanced for the characters, giving her name and titles, to...

Chinese ceremonies and celebrations were not all I was destined to enjoy while at the Summer Palace. There began to be talk of some “foreign entertainment” soon to be given, and...

The Empress Dowager is an early riser, but the joint Audiences which Their Majesties now hold are never at the extraordinary hours in vogue when His Majesty ruled alone. When th...

Her Majesty was looking tired and anxious these days; the Audiences were unusually long, and despatches were arriving all during the day. She would often go to the Gardens immed...

The Summer Palace was always the Empress Dowager’s favorite Palace, but after the Boxer rising and the subsequent occupation of Peking by the Allies, when foreign troops were st...

The Legation quarter of Peking lies in the Tartar City, just under the walls of the Imperial City. The United States Legation, in 1904, occupied a Chinese Temple on the canal, a...

I met the wives and families of all the Princes, nobles, and high Manchu officials in Peking, for they came to the Court at stated intervals, besides on many special occasions,...

Present-giving is really carried to great excess all over China, and whatever obtains in China obtains at the Palace. The Palace is spoken of in Peking as the “Inside,” that is,...

The big, official portrait for St. Louis was advancing. I was able to accomplish much more now that I had a place where I could work uninterruptedly, and quietly study the paint...

There are three great religions in China--Buddhism, Taoism, and the worship of Nature. The worship of Nature, in which is embodied their highest idea of an Invisible Deity, is t...

The current story that the Empress Dowager was a slave-girl and is of low origin is absolutely false. Her Majesty is the daughter of a Lieutenant-General of the Manchu forces, a...

The Empress Dowager’s charities are extensive; she feeds the poor and succors the unfortunate. When her sympathies are aroused, she gives freely and generously. Her edicts are c...

The Chinese New Year, the greatest of the popular festivals, is, of course, celebrated with much pomp and enthusiasm at the Palace. Splendid decorations, hundreds of beautiful h...

There began now to be some discussion as to what would be the most propitious date for finishing the portrait. I had thought I might finish when I could, but this was not to be...

The nineteenth day of April was approaching, and the portrait steadily advancing. As it neared completion Her Majesty’s interest in it seemed to grow. She spent a great deal of...

Sending off the picture to St. Louis did not sever my connection with the Palace, for I had still other work to finish! At the end of April, a month later than usual, the Court...