Memoirs Of A Palace Maid

Preface II

When I met her, she was already "beauty faded, new old white hair"* of an old woman. Her family name is He. This was obviously not her original family name (according to naming rules of the Banner people and the Han Chinese, the original family name of Banner people with the surname "He" is usually "Hešeri Hala".) In the palace, she was called Rong-er. The Empress Dowager Cixi calls her "Rong".

However, ever since the country became the Republic Of China, the Banner people developed a type of mentality and are not willing to discuss their family backgrounds. Hence, I have always avoided asking her about her family history. From our chats, I knew that she had originally lived in the western district around the Zhong Jing Street area. It was possible to infer which Banner flag** she belonged to. 

Her father was idle and carried caged birds***, like other Banner people. Her brother was older than her by ten years or so. He was into amateur opera singing, spending money to gain fame and was a very famous amateur opera artiste. She entered the palace at age thirteen. She was assigned to the Palace Of Gathered Elegance to serve the Empress Dowager Cixi. Her main duty was to serve the smoking pipe.

At eighteen years old, Cixi decided her marriage and gave her to an eunuch with the family name of Liu. He was the adopted son of Li Lian Ying****, in charge of shaving Guang Xu Emperor. Their home was at Bei Chi Zi.***** The wedding ceremony was very grand. The Empress Dowager was the wedding officiator. Eight children were escorted with precious treasures and clothes as dowry.

In this way, she was sent off to a living hell. Less than a year after her marriage, she requested to return to the palace because she missed the Empress Dowager. She received a special entitlement from Cixi to return. This was a rare occurrence in the Qing palace. According to palace practice, once a palace maid leaves the palace, she was not allowed to return to work. Further more, she was already married, how can she return to the Empress Dowager's side? 

Unless she was a particular favourite of the Empress Dowager, it was absolutely impossible. According to her, only the East Empress Dowager's maid, Shuang Xi, had received such an honour. Shuang Xi had entered the palace twice to serve the East Empress Dowager******, but it was for a short period only. 

In reality, it was because the Empress Dowager had felt guilty because she had given Rong to an eunuch, so the Empress Dowager granted her a little favour. But she felt that it was a special honour and spoke about it with exuberance.

Translator's Notes:

*This is an allusion to the first line from the Tang dynasty poem "White Haired People In Shang Yang" by poet Bai Juyi. The full line reads "People in Shang Yang, beauty faded, there is new old white hair". It describes the elderly concubines in the Shang Yang palace. They were once beautiful, but their looks faded as they grew old.

** While the Banner system was called the Eight Banners, there were a total of 24 banner flags in which the Banner people were grouped under.

*** Bird keeping was a popular habit among the Banner people. Since they do not need to work for a living, they keep birds as a way to pass them. The sight of a Banner man carrying a bird cage become synonymous with the idea of an idle man who does nothing. Today, the Chinese phrase "to carry a bird cage" 提笼架鸟 is used to criticise someone who is idle.

**** Li Lian Ying was the Empress Dowager Cixi's favourite eunuch and an influential man in the palace.

***** Bei Chi Zi is an area within the Imperial City. During the Qing dynasty, only imperial family and aristocrats were allowed to live there.

****** The East Empress Dowager was Ci'an, the eastern counterpart of Empress Dowager Cixi who lived in the western part of the palace. Both of them were co-regents.