Imperial Masquerade: The Legend of Princess Der Ling

Illustrations

Illustrations (Following p. 147) 1. Thomas Allom engraving of how a typical Chinese mandarin lived early in the reign of Queen Victoria, following the first “Opium War.” It was images like this that fed occidental appetites for oriental plunder, not to mention romantic Western misconceptions of Chinese reality. Author’s collection. 2. Rong Ling and sister Der Ling, dressed for Carneval in Paris, circa 1900, photographed by Charles Chusseau-Flaviens. This and the following two photographs have never been identified until now with Der Ling or her family. George Eastman House. 3. Xinling, one of two brothers of Der Ling, dressed for Carneval in Paris, circa 1900, photographed by Chusseau-Flaviens, circa 1900. George Eastman House. 4. Possible image of Yu Keng, Der Ling’s father, in his office as Chinese minister to France, circa 1900, photographed in Paris by ChusseauFlaviens . George Eastman House. 5. Li Hongzhang (1823–1901), statesman, friend and protector of Yu Keng. Author’s collection. x Illustrations 6. Prince Qing (1836–1918), friend of Yu Keng and tutor to his daughters in the ways of the Manchu court. Author’s collection. 7. Yuan Shikai (1859–1916), military official, political force through the late Qing and early Republic periods and, briefly, emperor. He was allegedly related to Yu Keng by marriage. Author’s collection. 8. The Forbidden City photographed from Coal Hill, circa 1900. Author’s collection. 9. View of the Forbidden City, early 1920s. Author’s collection. 10. Imagined evil-visaged image of Empress Dowager Cixi on the cover of the French periodical Le Petit Journal, 1900, just before the explosion of the Boxer Uprising. Note the incorrect, possibly phonetic, spelling of “Cixi taiho.” Author’s collection. 11. Scroll painting by the Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi’s keen sense of humour, and of the absurd, are brilliantly on show here, as is her fluent technique. Originally collected by C. T. Loo [1880–1957] of Paris. The annotation on the right says “Painted in the Jia Chen year of the Guangxu era on our birthday, a work from the imperial brush,” corresponding to 1904, during Der Ling’s service at the palace. The verse reads: “Everyone is happy swimming in the pool together.” Collection of Christopher Ives. 12. Empress Dowager Cixi with handmirror — a woman fascinated by her own reflection. Photographed by Xunling, Der Ling’s eldest brother. Author’s collection. 13. A pailou gate at the Summer Palace, circa 1920, two foreign tourists standing to the left. Author’s collection. 14. A view of the Tower of Buddha’s Fragrance, Summer Palace, circa 1920, shot from a boat on Lake Kunming. Author’s collection. 15. Der Ling garbed in the Empress Dowager’s own gown, circa 1903. Author’s collection. 16. The so-called Foreign Palaces at the Forbidden City, the interiors of which Der Ling claims she, her mother Louisa and sister redecorated for an unimpressed Cixi. Author’s collection. 17. Louisa (back row, second from left) and her daughters Rong Ling and Der Ling (to Louisa’s left) at a tea party at the home of the American minister Edwin H. Conger, 1903, as guests of the minister’s Cixi-admiring wife, Sarah. Author’s collection. xi Illustrations 18. The Guangxu Emperor and his father Prince Chun. Guangxu was described as having a voice like the faint buzz of a mosquito. Author’s collection. 19. Der Ling and Cixi, with eunuch Cui Yugui holding umbrella, standing on Peony Hill at the Summer Palace. Der Ling is visibly cold here, but the Empress Dowager was a great lover of outdoor activity in all weathers. Photographed by Xunling, circa 1904. Collection of Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C. 20. Cixi with Rong Ling, Fourth Princess and eunuch attendants on the Lotus Lake at the Summer Palace. Photographed by Xunling. Author’s collection. 21. Cixi and her female court, from left to right: Lustrous Concubine (sister of Guangxu’s beloved the Pearl Concubine), Rong Ling, Empress Dowager Cixi, Der Ling, Louisa, and the Young Empress, consort of the Guangxu Emperor, by Xunling. Author’s collection. 22. A rare image of Cixi showing the smile described by so many who met her. “She must have been taking in her teens!” exclaimed Sir Robert Hart, inspector general of customs. Photographed by Xunling. Collection of Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C. 23. Cixi wearing her famous cape made of...