With the Empress Dowager of China · Chapter
IX: The Emperor’s Birthday explained
On the Emperor's birthday, Katherine Carl and the court gather early at the Summer Palace.
What happens
On the Emperor's birthday, Katherine Carl and the court gather early at the Summer Palace. The Emperor receives private congratulations from the Princesses and Ladies, followed by official ceremonies where Princes present jade ruyie emblems. The Empress Dowager, dressed with deliberate simplicity, ensures the Emperor and Empress are the central figures. A theatrical performance includes a laudatory poem and historic dramas. The day concludes with the Emperor and Empress worshiping before ancestral tablets.
Themes in this chapter
Power and Governance
The birthday ceremonies reinforce the Emperor's authority and the hierarchical structure of the court, with specific rituals and symbols of rank.
Cultural Identity and Tradition
The chapter highlights traditional Chinese customs, including the presentation of ruyie, the significance of the Imperial Pearl, and the ancestral worship ceremony.
Observation and Interpretation
Carl provides detailed observations of the ceremonies, costumes, and behaviors, interpreting them for a Western audience.
Characters to notice
- Empress Dowager Tze-Hsi
Hosts the birthday celebrations, dressed with extreme simplicity to avoid vying with the Empress, and strictly oversees court dress details.
- Katherine A. Carl
Attends the birthday celebrations as the first foreigner to witness such an event, making European salutations to the Emperor and Empress Dowager.
- Emperor Kwang-Hsu
Receives congratulations and gifts, dressed in a yellow gown with jade belt buckle, and wears the Imperial Pearl on his hat for the occasion.
- Young Prince Adalbert of Prussia
Not mentioned in this chapter.
- Prince Ch'un
Not mentioned in this chapter.
- Prince Ching
Not mentioned in this chapter.
Key passages
“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 the red and yellow chairs and carts of the visiting members of the Imperial Family, who had come in from Peking and from the neighboring Palaces for the day.”
On the Emperor's birthday, we arrived at the palace early, reaching the Empress Dowager's throne room by six in the morning, but even before that, the outer court was already crowded with the red and yellow chairs and carts of imperial family members who had traveled from Peking and nearby palaces for the occasion.
Highlights the early start and the gathering of the imperial family for the birthday celebrations.
“The Emperor, the most simply dressed man I saw in China, wears, as a rule, a plain red silk button, but the Pearl, which can only be worn by a reigning Emperor, is used on state occasions.”
The Emperor, who dresses more simply than anyone else I saw in China, typically wears a plain red silk button on his hat, but on state occasions he wears the Imperial Pearl, which is reserved exclusively for the reigning emperor.
Emphasizes the Emperor's modest dress and the significance of the Imperial Pearl as a symbol of his reign.
“The Empress Dowager, who was always the most gorgeously attired person at Court, was, on His Majesty’s Birthday, dressed with an extreme simplicity that amounted almost to plainness, and she wore no jewels. This plainness of attire was not an accident, but had been arranged with her usual forethought. She wished the Emperor and Empress to be the central figures of this day’s festivities, and did not wish to vie with the Empress even in her attire.”
The Empress Dowager, usually the most splendidly dressed at court, wore very simple clothes and no jewels on the Emperor's birthday. This was a deliberate choice, as she wanted the Emperor and Empress to be the focus of the day's celebrations and did not want to outshine the Empress.
Shows the Empress Dowager's strategic humility and her role in orchestrating the day's events.
