Secret Annals of the Manchu Court: I. The Story of Precious Pearl

I

READERS of China under the Empress Dowager may remember how, when the great Tzŭ Hsi lay a-dying, the watchers by her bedside asked her, in accordance with ancient custom, to pronounce her last words. ‘Never again,’she said, ‘allow any woman to hold the supreme power in the State. It is against the house-law of our dynasty and should be strictly forbidden. Be careful not to allow eunuchs to meddle in government matters. The Ming dynasty was brought to ruin by eunuchs, and its fate should be a warning to my people.'

When Tzŭ Hsi spoke of the ruin of the Ming dynasty by the eunuchs, she had in mind the history of the Emperor Wan Li, who ascended the throne in 1573 as a child, and his three successors, the last of the Mings, and of the infamous Chief Eunuch Wei Chunghsien, whose memory is universally execrated by the Chinese people. The tale of this foul creature’s evil deeds and of the calamities which he brought upon the Throne and people of China throws no little light on the dark places of life in the Forbidden City, where, beneath the dignities and splendors prescribed by venerable tradition, lie grim shadows of death-dealing intrigue, of cold-blooded cruelty, lust, and greed; where, close to the polished surface of sacred edicts and Confucian philosophy, lurk the elemental passions and insatiable ambitions of Oriental despotism.

In 1620, Wan Li lay on his deathbed, but by order of the Lady Cheng, the Imperial concubine who wished to secure the throne for her son, Prince Fu, his Ministers of State and the Heir Apparent were not permitted to enter the Presence. Rumor flew trumpet-tongued through Peking, and a brave censor named Yang Lien urged the Grand Secretaries to do their duty and to insist upon admission. The Grand Secretary Fang, after much persuasion, proceeded at the head of his colleagues to the Emperor’s bedchamber. His Majesty was evidently moribund. Yang Lien and another honest censor, Tso Kuang-tou, seeing this, insisted that Ch’ang Lo, the Heir Apparent, who was anxiously waiting without, should be summoned to receive his father’s last commands, to tend him at the last and to ‘taste his medicine.' He was brought in just as Wan Li expired.

Ch’ang Lo, known in history by the dynastic title of Kuang Tsung (Glorious Ancestor), might have saved the dynasty had he been able to protect himself against the murderous hatred of the Lady Cheng and her eunuch confederates; but his life lasted less than two months from the date of his accession. He died of slow poisoning by arsenic, undoubtedly administered by his eunuch attendants. His illness was aggravated shortly before his death by one of the eunuchs (Ts’ui Wensheng), who administered an extremely violent purgative. The court became seriously alarmed, while in the city the report was spread that the Son of Heaven was being done to death by the Imperial concubines. Once more the brave censors Yang Lien and Tso Kuang-tou came forward, demanding that, in conformity with inviolable tradition, the Lady Cheng be compelled to depart from the Palace of Celestial Purity (in which Wan Li had died), where no female is allowed to sleep. The Lady Cheng at first refused to move, but eventually, fearful of popular clamor, she complied.

Yang Lien next proceeded to impeach the eunuch who had administered the purgative to His Majesty. ‘This villain is no physician,’ he said, ‘and ought not to be allowed to conduct his wanton experiments upon the Divine Person.’ Another censor urged the Grand Secretary to take more care of the Emperor’s sacred person, and added that a wrong prescription had evidently been given.

The Emperor lingered on, growing daily worse. Five days later the last agony had begun, and once more he summoned his ministers to a farewell audience. As they pressed him to nominate his successor, he pointed to his eldest son and said, ‘Help him to be a good man.’ Then he spoke of the Imperial tomb. The courtiers pretended to misunderstand, and asked if he referred to his father’s tomb north of Peking. ‘No, I mean my own.’ They answered, ‘May your Majesty live for ever; why speak of this now?' The Emperor then asked, ‘Where is the official from the Court of Banquets who was to give me some medicine?’ The Grand Secretary replied, ‘The Secretary Li K’o-shao claims that he possesses a marvelous remedy, but we dare not recommend it.’ The Emperor bade him be sent for, to feel his pulse. He was ushered in, gave a very fluent diagnosis of the disease, and suggested his remedy. The Emperor was pleased, and agreed to take the drug. Li was told to discuss the matter with the doctors and the ministers, but they came to no decision. The Grand Secretary Liu Yi-ching remarked that this particular remedy had been taken by two men in his native place. One had recovered and the other had died, so that it could not be called an infallible prescription. The Board of Rites thought it would be risky to administer it, but while they were still discussing, they were again summoned to the Emperor’s presence. Li K’o-shao then hastily compounded the medicine — the famous red pill—and gave it to the Emperor, who swallowed it. He gasped slightly and exclaimed, ‘My loyal servants! ’

After taking the medicine, the Emperor dismissed his ministers, who waited in an ante-chamber. In a short time a decree was brought out to them which said, ‘Our personis much better.’ At sunset Li K’o-shao was permitted to administer another red pill, and at dawn of the next day the monarch ‘ascended on the dragon,’ aged thirtynine.

II

Upon the Emperor’s death, the concubine Li, his would-be-Empress, threw off all disguise and came boldly to the front, with her chief henchman the eunuch Wei Chin-shang (who subsequently received from the new Emperor the name of Wei Chung-hsien, meaning Wei, the loyal and good). These two, and t heir troops of eunuchs, now held the palace against all comers, kept close watch on the heir to the throne and issued orders forbidding the usual mourning of ministers at the deceased sovereign’s bier. Once more the censor Yang Lien braved the powers of darkness in high places. Forcing his way through the eunuchs, he demanded to see the Heir Apparent. The concubine Li sent word that the young Emperor had left the Palace, but that he would soon return. She then actually endeavored to smuggle him out of the Forbidden City, but her movements were discovered and the Emperor was taken back to his Palace. Under the direction of Yang Lien, he ascended the palanquin and received the obeisances of the court. It was proposed that he should formally ascend the throne without delay, but Yang Lien deprecated unceremonious haste, since the succession was not contested; at. the same time he took vigorous steps to preserve law and order in Peking.

The young Emperor T’ien Ch’i (known to history as Hsi Tsung) was but fifteen years of age when called to ascend the Dragon Throne: a weakly lad, of small stature and utterly lacking in strength of character. From the date of his accession, the power of the eunuchs, hitherto kept in check by the firmness and moral impulses which his grandfather Wan Li displayed at critical moments, increased beyond all bounds of experience, until their leader, Wei Chung-hsien, became the autocratic ruler of the Empire. With the death of Kuang Tsung, the Lady Cheng could no longer hope to secure the throne for her son, the dissolute Prince Fu, so that gradually her influence and her interest in palace politics became less personal and less aggressive.

Immediately upon the death of Kuang Tsung, a struggle for supreme power began between the Concubine Li and the new Emperor’s foster mother, the fascinating and notoriously evil woman known to history as Madame K’o. The Emperor’s mother having died years before, it was the ambition of Lady Li, through her influence over him, and by the power of the eunuchs, to arrogate to herself the position of an Empress Dowager, and to rule the Empire. To this end, she began by ignoring the dynastic law which required her to remove from the palace of her late lord, announcing her intention of residing there with the young Emperor, and she was able to enlist on her side the sympathies of the Grand Secretary Fang Tsung-che.

But the censor Yang Lien and his colleague Tso Kuang-tou, backed by an honest eunuch named Wang An, were not disposed to acquiesce in such irregularities. They protested most energetically, and put in a joint memorial demanding that the Concubine Li should forthwith take her departure from the Central Palace to that of the ‘ Whirring Phœnixes.’

Faced with this crisis, on a clear issue where public opinion and the law were all against her, the Lady Li made a virtue of necessity and evacuated the palace, but not before her retainers had looted much of its store of gold ingots. The chroniclers report that Yang’s hair and moustache turned completely white during these days of crisis. But he had won the day, and from this point the influence and activity of Lady Li waned rapidly at court. A little later, and her downfall was complete. Another decree of the Emperor deprived her of her rank as concubine ‘ in order to comfort his mother in heaven,’ while continuing her maintenance grant ‘in order to show honor to his father,’ — a typically Chinese ‘ face-saving’ solution.

From this moment, Wei Chung-hsien and his confederate Madame K’o stand forth in absolute and almost undisputed authority. Under Wan Li, the chief eunuch had ruled the capital and ehastised the court with whips: he now proceeded to chastise it with scorpions.

The first noteworthy indication of their vengeful and bloodthirsty power was given when they did to death the loyal eunuch Wang An, who had dared to support the censor Yang Lien in his fight for clean government.

The young Emperor was only too willing to allow all the business of the State to pass into the hands of the masterful eunuch and of the woman K’o, who exercised so baneful an influence over him. He devoted himself continually to his hobby of carpentry, which Wei Chung-hsien encouraged. The eunuch would wait until he was busy with plane and saw and then go to him, asking for instructions concerning some routine question of government or one of the day’s memorials. Hsi Tsung, hating to be disturbed, would tell him to settle the business as he thought fit; and thus, little by little, the eunuch usurped all the functions of the sovereign.

III

During the seven years of his calamitous reign, one good influence, and one only, saved the young Emperor from utter degradation and led good men occasionally to hope that he might in time cast off his bondage and assert the Imperial dignity of his throne. This was the influence of his consort, the ‘Precious Pearl,’in whom dignity, virtue and high courage were combined to a degree which make her one of the most admirable women in China’s history, and indeed, in the history of the world. Her gentle and steadfast character shines brightly to this day against the dark background of those evil times; her lofty ideals, patience and loyalty smell sweet and blossom even now amid the dust and ruins of that degenerate age. Seldom, indeed, has history recorded a nobler life, a more pathetic death. The story of her youth, and of her selection to be the Empress Consort of China’s weak and dissolute monarch, is one of the most remarkable romances in Chinese history.

In the winter of the year 1612, a student of K’ai Feng-fu, named Chang Kuo-chi, found lying by the roadside a little girl, aged six, and taking her to his home, adopted her as his daughter, by the name of Chang Fen. Her ‘ style ’ was ‘Precious Pearl.’ He attended carefully to her education and she proved remarkably intelligent and diligent in study. Chang Kuo-chi had intended her to marry his son, but he was dissuaded from this course by a Buddhist priest who, after casting her horoscope, foretold for her a far more exalted position.

In 1620, the year of the death of Wan Li, the dissolute Prince Fu (son of the Lady Cheng) came to take up his fief of Honan, and forthwith sent eunuchs to search through the city of Kaifeng for damsels worthy to enter his harem. One of these eunuchs came to Chang’s house, and seeing ‘Precious Pearl,’ then aged fourteen, bade her go with him to the Prince’s palace; but she indignantly repelled him, threatening that, if he laid his hand upon her, she would commit suicide.

In the year (1621) following the death of the Emperor Wan Li and his unfortunate son, the Emperor Kuang Tsung, the young Emperor Hsi Tsung, then aged sixteen, proclaimed his intention of solemnizing his marriage. The whole empire was notified that comely maidens between the ages of thirteen and sixteen were eligible, after which the eunuchs made an eliminating inspection. Those whose height or figure failed to reach the required standard were weeded out, until the number was reduced to four thousand. On the following day a much more careful scrutiny was conducted by the two head eunuchs, who made copious notes of each damsel’s features, size of nose, color of hair, shape of waist, and length of foot. Each maiden was required to state clearly her name, lineage, and age; if the timbre of the voice did not satisfy the eunuchs, she was at once rejected. Stammering or thickness of speech was regarded as an insuperable defect. As a result of this scrutiny, only two thousand remained eligible, and on the following morning further measurements were made, in addition to which each candidate was required to walk a hundred paces, in order that her deportment might be observed. Any slovenliness of gait or lack of dignity disqualified the candidate.

After this test only one thousand remained. These were then taken into the Inner Palace where they were subjected to a searching scrutiny by discreet and elderly women of the palace, who compelled them to strip, that their persons might be scanned from head to foot.

Three hundred were ultimately chosen to undergo a month’s probation as palace handmaidens. Those among them who showed signs of stubbornness or of a frivolous disposition were weeded out, until at the end of the month only fifty remained, all of whom were appointed to be Imperial Concubines.

The chief eunuch in charge of the Ceremonial Department was greatly impressed by ‘Precious Pearl’s ’ beauty, and placed her at the head of the list to be presented to the Senior Concubine, Lady Chao, who had been one of the Emperor Wan Li’s chief wives and was at present acting as Empress Dowager. This lady, an accomplished scholar, tested each candidate in calligraphy and other accomplishments. Finally, three were chosen as candidates for the position of Empress, of whom ‘Precious Pearl’ was one; the other two young ladies were named Wang and Tuan.

In accordance with ancient custom, the Lady Chao enveloped the heads of the three chosen ones in turbans of black crape and fastened the arms of each with a bracelet of jade and gold. They were thereupon taken into an inner chamber for a final examination by the women of the palace, to make sure that they were without spot or blemish.

In due course their report was submitted. The official chronicler gives from it a detailed list of the future Empress’s charms. Her complexion was as the dawn, her eyes like autumn waves, her lips like cherries; her teeth, numbering thirty-eight in all, were perfect, her chin ample, and she was free of birthmarks.

Lady Chao hastened to report to His Majesty, and conducted the three maidens to his apartments, where his foster mother, the evil Madame K’o, was waiting to help the Emperor to make a final choice. At this time, K’o was about thirty-three, a woman of great physical beauty and charm. The Emperor had already bestowed upon her the title of the ‘Holy Lady of Ch’in.’¹

Madame K’o took an immediate and instinctive dislike to ‘Precious Pearl’ and began to criticize her. ‘For a girl of fifteen,’ she said, ‘her figure is too stout; she won’t improve as she gets older. She is good-looking after a fashion, but quite unworthy to be your Consort.’ Pointing to Miss Wang, she exclaimed, ‘That’s the wife for you.'

The Emperor, however, was evidently attracted by ‘Precious Pearl,’ but, following the prescribed custom, he asked the Lady Chao’s advice. She replied ‘All three are exceptionally comely, but Miss Chang (Precious Pearl) surpasses the others in dignity of demeanor.’

Nothing loth, His Majesty chose ‘Precious Pearl’ for his consort. Miss Wang was given the title of Virtuous Concubine and Miss Tuan that of Pure Concubine. The eighth day of the fourth Moon following was fixed by the astronomers as auspicious for the Emperor to ascend his nuptial couch; three weeks later the new Empress received her patents. The Emperor asked her many questions about her family and past life. Her replies greatly pleased him, and she speedily acquired over him that influence for good which became the one redeeming feature of his weak nature. Her father (by adoption), Chang Kuo-chi, was ennobled as an ‘ earl of exalted strength,’ and other members of her family received suitable honors.

A few days after the marriage, Hsi Tsung and his consort proceeded to the Ancestral Temple, where Her Majesty performed obeisance before the Imperial shrine. Hsi Tsung was at this time only sixteen, and of very diminutive stature; his consort towered above him.

In spite of the Emperor’s devotion to his beautiful bride, it was evident to all the court that he was becoming more and more subject, to the influence of the Chief Eunuch Wei Chung-hsien, who had attended him since early infancy. This man and Madame K’o gradually established their authority as the real rulers of China, and maintained it throughout his reign. Wholesale proscriptions were made by Wei against those who had criticized him, so that it came to pass that even the great viceroys vied with each other in currying favor with the all-powerful eunuch. In nearly every province, shrines were erected to him during his lifetime, and he was worshiped as a deity. In Kiangsi, a temple which had been built centuries before in honor of one of the most eminent disciples of Confucius, was dismantled and Wei Chung-hsien’s tablet was set up in its central hall. He was likened to the Sage for virtue and learning: nay, his merits were even exalted beyond those of the Sage, and he was accorded 1 he highest place in I he national Pantheon. The Governor of Shantung gravely informed the Throne that a chi lin² had been captured in Confucius’s native province near to the Sage’s grave, an auspicious event which he attributed lo the fact that near to the throne there stood a person of Wei Chung-hsien’s consummate virtue. (The chi lin’s rare appearances, like angel’s visits, only occur when the Empire is governed by a perfect ruler.) The eunuch was called Lord of Nine Thousand Years, and the Emperor’s decrees, which Wei invariably drafted, began with the words, ‘WE and Our eunuch minister decree as follows — ’

In all this, the infatuated monarch submitted to the will of Wei Chunghsien, except only when the eunuch and Madame K’o endeavored to poison his mind against his beloved consort, to whom he remained devotedly faithful all his life.

IV

Shortly after His Majesty’s marriage, certain censors began to send in outspoken memorials against K’o, urging that she should be forbidden to spend so much of her time in the Forbidden City in close attendance upon the sovereign, it being contrary to etiquette that a woman should be allowed to enter the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

The Emperor, in reply to these memorials, declared that his wife’s extreme youth required the guiding hand of a foster mother. The censors returned to the charge, pointing out that a woman of K’o’s low antecedents was unfit to minister to a person so virtuous as the Empress. K’o was eventually compelled to leave the Palace, and for a time she remained at her own residence; but the weakling Emperor felt her absence so deeply that he lost, his appetite and became greatly dejected. In spite of the remonstrances of the censors, he soon recalled her, and thereafter her influence grew greater than before.

Thus things went on, from bad to worse. K’o and Wei now tried to lay snares for the Empress, and set one of their eunuch minions, Ch’en Ti-jun, to spy upon her in her Palace of Feminine Tranquillity, endeavoring all the time to turn the Emperor against her. But she, being blameless and pure of heart, paid no heed. Most of her time was spent in reading and in practicing penmanship, wherein she was highly expert; to the more intelligent of the palace concubines she gave lessons in history and philosophy. A devout Buddhist, she spent many hours in prayer before the altar of the Goddess of Mercy. Frequently, she attired herself as a nun and gave herself over to pious meditation. She knew full well that her enemies were plotting against her, but she relied upon her gentle influence over the Emperor, which never failed to hold him, though she used no feminine arts to win his favor.

Her lord the Emperor being without an heir, she would recommend various concubines to his notice, without thought of self. At times he would invite her to a boating excursion on the lake adjoining the Forbidden City, His Majesty himself rowing and endeavoring to please her by good-humored badinage. But she would use these occasions to remonstrate with him for his wild life, urging him to study state papers and to give daily audiences to his ministers. ’You ought to make friends with scholars and attend lectures on the classics,’ she would say, ‘instead of dallying with these sycophants.’

For a time, the Emperor would follow her advice, but he speedily relapsed into evil ways. Wei Chung-hsien arranged lewd theatrical performances for his Majesty’s amusement; but whenever the play was indelicate, the Empress would rise from her place and leave the theatre in disgust.

In the hope of securing her deposition, Wei and K’o bribed a man named Sun erh, a Honanese who was lying under sentence of death in the Board of Punishments, to say that the Empress was his child and that he had given her to her father by adoption, Chang Kuochi. To the Emperor they said that a criminal’s daughter ought not to be his consort and that she should be deposed, Chang Kuo-chi receiving the punishment he merited. The Emperor was impressed by the story, and went swiftly to his consort’s apartment to ask her about it. But at sight of her tranquil beauty he was abashed, and could only say in an embarrassed way, ‘Are you really the daughter of that wretched villain Sun erh?' The Empress blushed slightly and paused before replying. Then she said, ‘If Your Majesty believes such foolish rumors, why should I continue to defile the Palace with my presence? Pray let me be deposed and make room for another more worthy.’ The Emperor thereupon hurriedly apologized and made amends, all doubt having been dispelled from his mind. That night, he supped with the Empress, and next day warned Wei Chung-hsien against uttering idle reports.

In 1624, the Chief Eunuch was at the height of his insolence; none were safe from his rapacious and vindictive power. It was at this time that he took a fearful revenge upon the censor Yang Lien and the others who had denounced him and his former confederate, the Concubine Li. Yang Lien had retired from the court to his native place in 1622, shortly after the death of Wan Li. In 1624, he returned to Peking and, moved to righteous indignation by the evil deeds of Wei and his accomplices, he handed in the denunciatory memorial which eventually cost him his life.

This famous impeachment of the notorious eunuch is too long to quote in full, but it throws so much light on the condition of the Court and on the power wielded by these ‘ rats and foxes ’ and its effect on the government of the country, that we reproduce a few of its most important clauses.

The memorial begins thus —

‘The founder of our dynasty desired that eunuchs should not interfere in governmental affairs, and that evil doing should not be condoned. But the eunuch Comptroller General of the Eastern Court³ behaves with overweening arrogance and treats the dynastic ordinances with contempt. I venture to set forth his chief crimes as follows. . . .

‘ (2) When His late Majesty lay dying, Liu Yi-ching and Chou Chiamo were the recipients of his last testament, but Wei was able to secure their abrupt dismissal, because he feared that they might clip his power. In this way, Your Majesty was made to act undutifully in the removal of your august predecessor’s faithful servants. . . .

‘ (8) Thus far, I have referred to consorts, but there were worse crimes. Your Empress had given Girth to a son, but he died straightway as the result of Wei’s plottings. It is common knowledge that Wei and Madame K’o brought about this death. You cannot even protect your own son. . . .

(10) Each day sees him rejoicing in fresh honours: shrines are built in his honour at which he, a living man, is to be worshiped. There is no limit to his evil influence with Your Majesty. In conferring distinctions on such a man, the words of the Emperor are defiled. At his native place of Hochien fu, he has erected triumphal arches in his own honour, on which are carved Imperial dragons and Heaven-soaring phoenixes. His sepulchre in the Western Hills is built on the scale of an Imperial mausoleum and covered with a yellow roof. . . .

‘ (15) When Wei was sent to perform sacrifice at Chochin, the road was cleared for him as for an Imperial progress. Heralds announced his advance and yellow earth was spread upon the highway, so that the people believed that he was the Emperor himself. On his eastern journey, he was borne in a chariot drawn by four horses; Imperial banners and insignia were carried in the procession. His bodyguard surrounded him on both sides to screen his sacred person from the vulgar gaze. In every respect his passing resembled a progress of Your Majesty. Numbers of persons offered their petitions to him or made offerings of tribute, prostrating themselves in the dust. What manner of man does this Wei fancy himself to be? . . .

‘The tale of his crimes and treasonable designs is blazoned abroad in all men’s eyes; yet none of your courtiers dare speak against him, lest they incur doom. Their tongues are tied; no one dare memorialize you. Should perchance any have the courage to reveal Wei’s treasons, the “Lady of Divine Worship,” Madame K’o, stands at Your Majesty’s side to gloss over his guilt. These two are sworn allies: each aids and abets the other; if one calls, the other comes to the rescue.

‘Humbly I implore Your Majesty now to display the might of your high displeasure and to appoint a commission of the ablest nobles and highest officials, with power to subject Wei to relentless examination, in order that the law of the land may be vindicated. Also I beg you to have the “Lady of Divine Worship” removed from out the precincts of the Forbidden City, in order to guard you from further danger. Then, though your servant dies, yet shall he live.’

Wei was greatly alarmed at the revelations of this bold memorial, and besought the Grand Secretary Han K’uang to defend him. Han refused, so Wei hurried to the Emperor’s presence and abjectly asked to be allowed to resign the Comptrollership of the Eastern Court . Madame K’o then used all her wiles, imploring the Emperor not to give his ear to calumny, while one of the Grand Secretaries was found to intercede for the eunuch. For a moment, Wei’s fate hung in the balance, but in the end, the unfortunate Emperor, in his purblind folly, listened to Madame K’o and issued a complimentary decree retaining Wei at his post. On the following morning, he issued another edict sternly rebuking Yang Lien for his temerity. It had been the latter’s intention to see the Emperor at the morning audience and to recount the eunuch’s crimes in the monarch’s presence, but Wei induced his master to suspend the court for that day. Balked of this opportunity, and realizing the danger of further delay, Yang handed in a second memorial at the Gate of Supreme Unity. This Wei suppressed, and though Yang sent in a third memorial, it never reached the throne. For three days, no audiences were held, and when finally the monarch emerged, he was surrounded by a guard of several hundred eunuchs, all of whom had weapons concealed on their persons. Orders were issued that no memorials would be received, and Yang was compelled to desist.

Nevertheless, other memorials of impeachment poured in. One, endorsed by over a thousand Academy students, accused Wei of suppressing all attacks upon himself, of inducing the Emperor to ignore the word of the officials who, kneeling at the gate, had begged for Wei’s dismissal, and of designs on the throne itself. Finally, a board secretary named Wan Ching denounced the Chief Eunuch fiercely. This official had charge of the building and equipment of the late Emperor’s mausoleum; a large amount of copper was needed for its sacrificial vessels, and as there were vast supplies of the metal lying unused in the imperial precincts, he asked the eunuch comptroller to issue what he needed for the tomb. This Wei not only refused to do, but he issued a forged decree censuring the application.

Hereat Wan, greatly enraged, impeached Wei. He wrote —

‘Sovereign power cannot be delegated, and least of all to an emasculated minion. This Wei is practically become Emperor and the fountain of all honour; his friends secure wellfeathered nests, whilst the bodies of his enemies are covered with boils and sores. At his asking, hereditary titles are granted; his household servants receive bribes in thousands of taels. Your Majesty favours him with unbounded confidence for that he served your father; yet he refuses to issue copper for your father’s shrine. His own grave at Pi yün ssü in the western hills, is as large as an Imperial mausoleum; in the provinces, stately shrines have been erected in his honour, emblazoned with inscriptions and gaudy ornaments. On his own tomb he has spent a million taels, while His late Majesty’s sepulchre is denied even the necessary fittings. Your Majesty’s existence is ignored; Wei Chung-hsien fills all men’s minds.’

Wei, having recovered from his alarm, and made sure that, the Emperor’s favor would not be taken from him, now determined to make an example of Wan, so as to put fear into his other enemies. The wretched man was seized by a stratagem and flogged to death. Next the brave censor, Yang Lien, was thrown into the Imperial prison, and with him, Tso Kuang-tou and Wei Tacheng, who had joined him in denouncing the Chief Eunuch. This prison was separate and distinct from the Board of Punishments; tortures were freely practiced there. Wei issued a decree that these three men were to be tortured every fifth day, and not to be handed over to the Board of Punishments until all their money had been extorted.

Finally, Tso Kuang-tou, unable to endure his misery, said to his fellow-prisoners, ‘Either they will torture us to death for not confessing, or else they will hire one of the gaolers to kill us. If now we confess, they must hand us to the Board of Punishments for formal trial, and we may then escape.’

His companions agreed, and they all confessed to the false charge of having taken bribes. But the tiger would not release his prey. Wei issued a decree that they were not yet to be taken to the public prison, and the torturing went on. Yang Lien was eventually killed under a torture which consisted of piling great sacks of earth upon his belly, and driving nails into his ears.

In the year 1623, to the great satisfaction of Hsi Tsung, the Empress became enceinte. But the Chief Eunuch and Madame K’o had no desire to see Her Majesty’s authority at court increased by the birth of an heir to the throne. Two of the Empress’s favorite and most, faithful serving maids were therefore put to death, by means of forged decrees, on false charges, and all her other personal attendants were dismissed, except those upon whom Madame K’o could rely. Their places were taken by women selected by the Chief Eunuch, one of whom, who was employed as a masseuse, so mishandled the Empress that her child was born dead.

Shortly afterwards, Her Majesty, goaded to desperation by the Emperor’s infatuation, determined on an attempt to rid the court at last of the woman whose deplorable influence was the chief cause of the court ’s wickedness and shame. Taking her seat on the dais of the main hall of the Palace of Feminine Tranquillity, with a number of armed retainers on either side, she summoned Madame K’o to her presence. When the woman came, suspecting nothing serious, the Empress launched straightway into a recital of all her sins and wickedness, and ended by bidding her prepare to die. K’o knelt at her feet and prayed for mercy; meanwhile, a eunuch had gone swiftly to inform the Emperor (busy as usual at his carpentering) of what was taking place. He arrived upon the scene just in time to save his foster mother’s life. From this time forward, the Chief Eunuch and Madame K’o endeavored by all possible means to poison the Emperor’s mind against his consort and to deprive her of his protection.

Wei Chung-hsien made repeated attempts to ruin the Empress in the eyes of the Court and country by securing the disgrace of her adopted father, Chang Kuo-chi, against whom he brought criminal charges backed by the false evidence of his creatures. But Hsi Tsung. weak as he was in all other matters, remained strongly attached to his beautiful and virtuous wife, and the Empress found another loyal defender in the Grand Secretary Li Kuop’u, who succeeded in checking some of the Chief Eunuch’s bloodthirsty schemes and in frightening the woman his accomplice. Finally, in the spring of 1627, upon a false impeachment, the Emperor was induced to deprive the ‘earl of exalted strength’ of all his titles and emoluments and order him into retirement. This he did, weary of the importunities of Madame K’o, but still he would hear no word against his consort.

When she heard of her adopted father’s disgrace, the Empress stripped off all her ornaments, and, dressing herself as a mourner, without heat! covering, sought the Emperor’s presence, where, on her knees, she thanked him for his clemency.

Shortly after this episode, in the summer of 1627, the Emperor fell sick of an illness from which he never recovered. As his state became worse, his affection for his loyal and devoted wife increased. At this juncture, Wei Chunghsien had the effrontery to propose to Her Majesty that she should become his confederate in a new scheme of treason and dishonor. He proposed that, upon her husband’s death, she should become Chief Regent, accepting as Regent Assessor (practically co-Regent) a creature named Wei Liangch’ing, one of the eunuch’s adherents. At the same time, he desired that the Empress should give out that she was enceinte, with the intention of passing off a son of Wei Liang-ch’ing as her own child after the Emperor’s death. In this way the blood of the house of Wei would attain to the throne.

Such suggestions the Empress rejected with the scorn they deserved. She knew well that upon Hsi Tsung’s passing, it must come to a life-and-death struggle between the eunuch and herself, but she held her head high and showed no signs of fear. ‘For many years,’ she said to him, ‘I have made me ready for death. If now I obey you, you will kill me sooner or later; if I refuse, you will kill me only a little sooner. But if I die resisting you to the utmost, I can face unashamed the souls of the departed Emperors in the other world.’

As I he Emperor’s end approached, Her Majesty begged him to name as his successor his brother, the Prince Hsin. ‘But,’ said the dying monarch, ‘Wei Chung-hsien assures me that two of my concubines are with child. If an heir should be born to one of them, he will become our son and should surely succeed to the throne.’ Upon this, the Empress spoke to him most earnestly; the attendants never knew what words passed between them, but the Emperor nodded consent and summoned his brother to receive his dying behests.

Prince Hsin was about to plead his incompetency, but his sister-in-law (attired as a widow) hurriedly came out from behind an alcove, and pleaded with him saying, ‘My brother, do your duty, obey His Majesty. The situation is desperate, and I fear a tumult in the palace. Thank His Majesty and do as he desires.’

Prince Hsin then fell upon his knees, and the monarch bade him govern the Empire wisely, avoiding the errors which he himself had committed. But, blind to the last, he added, ' Wei Chunghsien fully deserves your trust, and may be given the highest office with absolute confidence.' Finally, he commended the Empress to his brother’s tender care. ‘See to her welfare: she has been a faithful consort to me these seven years. Much do I owe her: often has she admonished me and urged me to better things. Her influence has ever been for good. She deserves all your pity: a widow, and so young. To your care I commend her.’

Prince Hsin left the Presence, and the Empress concealed him in an inner apartment of the palace, for fear lest Wei should assassinate him.

The Emperor passed away at 3 P.M. on the twenty-second of the eighth Moon. Thereupon the Empress issued his valedictory decree and commanded the hereditary Duke Chang Wei-hsien and other officials to escort the new Emperor to the Main Hall of Audience, where he should receive obeisance. The dead Emperor was dressed in his robes of longevity, and his widow, weeping at his bier, so exhausted herself by excess of grief that she fainted away.

The new Emperor conferred upon her the title of ‘Empress Senior⁴ of Feminine Virtue and Tranquillity,’ and gave her the Palace of Motherly Peace and of Motherly Blessings for her abode.

VI

The new Emperor had abstained from all participation in palace politics during his brother’s occupancy of the throne, but he soon showed himself to be a man of strong character and noble disposition. The Chief Eunuch’s position soon became one of great danger, for his crimes had made him many enemies, who now combined and turned against him. Also, Madame K’o had been sincerely attached to her foster son, though she had abused his confidence, and at his death, stricken with remorse, she ceased to be subservient to the eunuch’s treasons, stratagems and spoils.

The power of the evil confederacy which had wrought so many and great evils was now broken. Before the late Emperor’s coffin, Madame K’o penitently burned pathetic relics of his childhood which she had treasured — his first tooth, some locks of baby hair, a few broken toys, and the scabs which had peeled off him after smallpox. Shortly afterwards, she was arrested, accused of her countless crimes on overwhelming evidence, and sentenced to death by the slicing process, every member of her family and household being also condemned to execution. At her death, the people rejoiced as at a festival. In her quarters at the Palace there were found six imperial concubines, all with child, and it was proved that she had intended to poison the new Emperor and to make one of these infants of unknown paternity heir to the throne. All these wretched women were condemned to death, victims of another’s evil ambition.

The tide had turned strongly against Wei Chung-hsien, and realizing that his position was desperate, he fled to Shantung. Outlawed and abandoned by all his followers, he committed suicide near the grave of Confucius, but by order of the throne, his body was subsequently dismembered and the head exhibited at his native city, Ho Chien-fu, and many scores of his adherents, — especially those who had conspired against the Empress, — were put to death.

Throughout the troublous reign of the new Emperor Ch’ung-chen (16271644), the Senior Empress lived on terms of happy intimacy and affection with him and with his consort, respected and beloved of the populace. In 1642, upon the marriage of the Heir Apparent, she took up her residence, as custom prescribed, in the Palace of Benevolent Old Age.

Her death was as meritorious as her life had been. In 1644, when Peking had fallen into the hands of the rebel Li Tzŭ-ch’eng and the city was being ravaged and burned by his troops, the Emperor sent her a message bidding her commit suicide; but in the tumult and confusion the messenger failed to reach her. When she heard that Li Tzŭ-ch’eng was battering at the gates of the Forbidden City, she called for a sword, but was unable to deal herself a fatal blow, and her attendants endeavored to dissuade her from seeking death. Failing with the sword, she hanged herself with her girdle, but was cut down by her servants and urged to seek safety in flight. Angrily she stamped her foot, saying, ‘You have disgraced me,’ and ran to a side room, where again she tried to hang herself, but some of Li Tzŭ-ch’eng’s men arrived just in time to cut her down. As she came to her senses, the rebels gathered around her, praising her beauty. One of them, who seemed to be a leader, exclaimed, ‘We are now in the palace of the late Emperor’s widow: this beautiful woman must be she. Never have I seen so beautiful a face. Let no one lay hands on her. She must await our Chief’s orders.’ But some declared that this was not the Goddess Chang — that she had fled in disguise and escaped, whilst others said she was dead.

The rebels were still disputing as to her identity, while she sat silent, when some eunuchs entered with an elderly woman who was Li’s personal attendant, and who had been ordered by him to arrange the palace concubines in batches, according to their age and beauty, for his inspection.

The eunuchs pointed out the Empress to her, saying, ‘That is the Goddess Chang, wife of the late Emperor.’ She was placed in the care of attendants who tried to console her. ‘Lady Chang, do not be afraid,’ they said; ‘you are so beautiful that when our great prince inspects the concubines to-morrow, he will surely choose you for his Empress.’

In her grief and despair, the Empress felt as if her breast were being pierced by a myriad arrows, and she was wondering how she could contrive to kill herself, when a loud voice called out from the courtyard, ‘Where is the Empress Dowager, Goddess Chang?’ This was one of the chief commanders of the rebels, named Li Yen. Before Peking had fallen, some of the eunuchs had gone over to the rebels, and had informed them of the whereabouts of the most beautiful palace women, whom they divided into three classes.

Li Tzŭ-ch’eng had promised thirty concubines to each of his generals, and a list of all the women in the Palace had been placed in Li Yen’s hands. Li Yen was a licentiate of Honan province who had joined the rebellion, a fluent expounder of moral philosophy. Seeing that the Senior Empress’s name was at the head of the list of women, he sighed deeply and said, ‘How dare these wretched eunuchs desecrate Her Majesty’s name in this way! She stands too high for such disgrace. I, who come from her own province, must save her from this outrage.’

So he hurried into the palace and, on finding her, bade two handmaidens lead her to one of the throne rooms, where he assisted her to mount the dais. Li Yen then dressed himself in court robes and made obeisance before her nine times. Placing her in the charge of attendants, he hurried away to find Li Tzŭ-ch’eng.

That, same evening, she succeeded in killing herself. When they found her body she was attired in black silk, with gold embroidery and full sleeves: her face was veiled with yellow crape and her hair neatly dressed. She looked like a woman of thirty. Those who saw the serenity of her face felt as if some heavenly visitant hovered near them, so happy was she in her death.

Li Yen buried her in the courtyard of her palace, and did homage at her obsequies. Meanwhile, Li Tzŭ-ch’eng had given orders that the late Emperor and his Consort should be buried, but made no public announcement concerning the death of the Senior Empress. It was freely rumored that she had been taken alive by one of the rebels. On the same day, the concubine Jen surrendered to Li Tzŭ-ch’eng and, to increase her own importance, told him that she was the Senior Empress, wife of Hsi Tsung. Li Tzŭ-ch’eng believed her, and later, on his retreat before the Manchus, took her with him. Thus it came to pass that, in the court of the fugitive Mings at Nanking, calumnious tongues insulted this noble woman’s memory, and it was spread abroad that she had become the mistress of the rebel chief. There were still eunuchs and women at that court who had been of the faction of Wei Chunghsien, and who were only too eager to besmirch her spotless reputation. The new Ming Emperor, Prince Fu, was in the hands of evil advisers, and believed these cruel falsehoods, so that no canonization was conferred upon her until the following year, when her death was undeniably confirmed. A eunuch eyewitness of her death described it to the Manchu Regent, Prince Jui, who gave orders that she should be buried beside her husband, at his mausoleum to the north of Peking. So came she to her honorable rest.

After the dispersion of Li Tzŭch’eng’s forces by the Manchus, the concubine Jen, who had accumulated great store of treasure from the palace, moved to Wu T’ai Mountain, west of Peking, and her abode became the resort of many lawless characters. She still claimed to be the Empress Consort of Hsi Tsung and, in that capacity, extorted money from the common people. Eventually, complaints were lodged at court, and she was arrested and brought to Peking. On her arrival there, she still claimed to be Empress, and some there were who believed her. But the eunuchs of the court had no difficulty in proving her to be a base pretender. The romantic chroniclers aver that she was compelled to try on one of the Goddess Chang’s tiny shoes, before which test she failed ignominiously. Be this as it may, she was allowed to commit suicide, since when the memory of the illustrious and virtuous Empress has shone undimmed throughout the centuries.