To Sir Robert Hart To whose helpful encouragement I owe so much, I affectionately dedicate this account of my experiences at the Court of the country he has so long and faithfully served. Katherine A....

In April, 1903, while I was visiting in Shanghai, I received a letter from Mrs. Conger, wife of the Minister of the United States to Peking, in which she said there was a question of Her Majesty the E...

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 Peking; and punctuality...

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 portrait. When we arrived wi...

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 spacious buildings. It ...

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 usual inquiry for my heal...

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 the Manchu Banner Corps ...

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 an hour in the morning...

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 two days earlier. His Maj...

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 parting Imperial Decree...

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 court was filled with t...

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 would have otherwise cont...

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 now become to me like a...

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 usual routine, I hoped I...

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-fashioned barge; but she is...

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 polished, insinuating manne...

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 known as the “Literary...

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 to his personal shyness ...

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 Peking, has been impro...

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 country in the world, ex...

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 received at the same time by ...

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 be placed across the 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 when I found this fore...

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 there is a press of busin...

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 immediately after her Audien...

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 stationed in both the Pek...

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, at the left of the “Wate...

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, when they were invited ...

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 heart of the Empir...

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 painting when I was not work...

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 the purest form of relig...

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 position only attainab...

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 constantly ordering sack...

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 horn lanterns, with thei...

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 case. The almanacs ...

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 time in my pavilion wat...

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 moved out to the Summer...

In the firmament of the Son of Heaven A brilliant new star has risen!⁠— Supple as the neck of the swan Is the charm of her graceful form. From the firm contour of charming chin Springs the faultless o...