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Court Life in China-Part10_Issac Taylor Headland(1859-1942)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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either by diplomacy or by force.



The Empress Dowager has no double in Chinese history, if indeed

in the history of the world. She not only guided the ship of



state during the last half century, but she guided it well, and

put into operation all the greatest reforms that have ever been



thought of by Chinese statesmen. Compared with her own people,

she stands head and shoulders above any other woman of the Mongol



race. And what shall we say of her compared with the great women

of other races? In strength of character and ability she will



certainly not suffer in any comparison that can be made. We

cannot, therefore, help admiring that young girl, who formerly



ran errands for her mother who, being made the concubine of an

emperor, became the mother of an emperor, the wife of an emperor,



the maker of an emperor, the dethroner of an emperor, and the

ruler of China for nearly half a century--all this in a land



where woman has no standing or power. Is it too much to say that

she was the greatest woman of the last half century?



VII

Kuang Hsu--His Self-Development



The Emperor Kuang Hsu is slight and delicate, almost childish in

appearance, of pale olive complexion, and with great, melancholy



eyes. There is a gentleness in his expression that speaks rather

of dreaming than of the power to turn dreams into acts. It is



strange to find a personality so etherial among the descendants

of the Mongol hordes; yet the Emperor Kuaug Hsu might sit as a



model for some Oriental saint on the threshold of the highest

beatitude. --Charles Johnston in "The Crisis in China."



VIII

KUANG HSU--HIS SELF-DEVELOPMENT



On the night that the son of the Empress Dowager "ascended upon

the dragon to be a guest on high," two sedan chairs were borne



out of the west gate of the Forbidden City, through the Imperial

City, and into the western part of the Tartar City, in one of



which sat the senior Empress and in the other the Empress-mother.

The streets were dimly lighted, but the chairs, each carried by



four bearers, were preceded and followed by outriders bearing

large silk lanterns in which were tallow-candles, while a heavy



cart with relays of bearers brought up the rear. The errand upon

which they were bent was an important one--the making of an



emperor--for by the death of Tung Chih, the throne, for the first

time in the history of the dynasty, was left without an heir.



Their destination was the home of the Seventh Prince, the younger

brother of their husband, to whom as we have already said the



Empress Dowager had succeeded in marrying her younger sister, who

was at that time the happy mother of two sons.



She took the elder of these, a not very sturdy boy of three years

and more, from his comfortable bed to make him emperor, and one



can imagine they hear him whining with a half-sleepy yawn: "I

don't want to be emperor. I want to sleep." But she bundled



little Tsai Tien up in comfortable wraps, took him out of a happy

home, from a loving father and mother, and a jolly little baby



brother,--out of a big beautiful world, where he would have

freedom to go and come at will, toys to play with, children to



contend with him in games, and everything in a home of wealth

that is dear to the heart of a child. And for what? She folded



him in her arms, adopted him as her own son, and carried him into

the Forbidden--and no doubt to him forbidding--City, where his



world was one mile square, without freedom, without another child

within its great bare walls, where he was the one lone, solitary



man among thousands of eunuchs and women. The next morning when

the imperial clan assembled to condole with her on the death of



her son, she bore little Tsai Tien into their midst declaring:

"Here is your emperor."



At that time there were situated on Legation Street, in Peking,

two foreign stores that had been opened without the consent of



the Chinese government, for in those days the capital had not

been opened to foreign trade. As the stores were small, and in



such close proximity to the various legations, the most of whose

supplies they furnished, they seem to have been too unimportant



to attract official attention, though they were destined to have

a mighty influence on the future of China. One of them was kept



by a Dane, who sold foreign toys, notions, dry-goods and

groceries such as might please the Chinese or be of use to the



scanty European population of the great capital. By chance some




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