Imperial Masquerade: The Legend of Princess Der Ling

Notes

Preface 1 In his book on Chinese history, art and customs, Chinese Potpourri (1950), Der Ling’s close friend James Zee-min Lee writes: “During the war in 1943, Der Ling gave Mandarin lectures at the Berkeley University, California, when one morning while crossing the campus to attend class she was fatally struck down by a hit-and-run-truck” (p. 328).This is the only account to state just what Der Ling was doing the morning of the accident and to describe her work at U.C. Berkeley. A stage and film actor who had played opposite everyone from Greta Garbo to Paul Muni, Lee had starred in one of Der Ling’s own English-language plays, Saving the Throne, produced (she says) in Shanghai’s Carlton Theatre. Lee’s book features photographs of Der Ling and the Empress Dowager which Der Ling has inscribed, in English, to the author; one inscription refers to him as “my brother,” hinting at the closeness of the friendship. The Time Magazine obituary quote derives from the issue of December 4, 1944. 2 Los Angeles County records, last will and testament of Thaddeus Cohu White, March 17, 1952 (codicil February 19, 1953) and death certificate, State of California; Alameda County records, coroner’s inquest for Elizabeth Antoinette White (No. 822), November 28, 1944, and death certificate, State of California. 3 Han Suyin, A Many-Splendored Thing, p. 99. Notes 342 Chapter 1 1 Sir Robert Hart, edited by John King Fairbank, Katherine Frost Bruner and Elizabeth MacLeod Matheson, I. G. in Peking, letters 1143 and 1252. 2 Ibid., letter 1252. 3 Der Ling, Kow Tow, pp. 222–223. 4 Pamela Kyle Crossley/author correspondence, 2002–03. 5 Mark Elliott, Manchu Way, p. 75; Pamela Kyle Crossley, A Translucent Mirror, p. 90. 6 Pamela Kyle Crossley, A Translucent Mirror, p. 91 and pp. 120–122; and Crossley/author correspondence, December 11–12, 2002. 7 Der Ling, Imperial Incense, p. 105, and p. 28, where she describes her brother Xunling as heir to his father’s ducal title; Mark Elliott, Manchu Way, p. 334; Lydia Dan, “The Unknown Photographer,” History of Photography, 1982; Der Ling, Two Years, p. 158; Tony Scotland, The Empty Throne, pp. 60–61, and Zhu Jiajing’s Historical Inaccuracies in the Books by Der Ling and Rong Ling (1982), in which he declares that Yu Keng’s title of “Lord” (guoje), as described by Der Ling, was neither inherited by nor bequeathed upon him, and that he was not a member of the imperial clan (guizu). Zhu probably only read Der Ling’s memoirs in Chinese translation, in which Chinese equivalents for some of the terms she used (like “Lord”) were rendered into terms that do not always match the original English. 8 Mark Elliott, Manchu Way, p. 65 and p. 352; Pamela Kyle Crossley, Orphan Warriors, p. 87; and Pamela Kyle Crossley, A Translucent Mirror. Hanjun participated in the examination system along with Manchu and Mongol bannermen, under a quota called hezi hao or “allied category”: Orphan Warriors, pp. 89–90. 9 Der Ling, Kow Tow, p. 23. 10 Ibid., p. 1. 11 Ibid., p. 8. 12 Sir Robert Hart, I. G. in Peking, letter 1143. 13 Der Ling, Kow Tow, pp. 34–35. Der Ling describes her father as wearing the ruby button, but as he was still a third-grade official (out of nine possible grades), his button should have been sapphire, not ruby. In addition, the animal on his rank badge would have been a peacock, not the first-class stork. As will be addressed in a later note, Der Ling was apparently not as familiar with the various symbols of Chinese official rank as she presents herself to be. 14 Ibid., p. 88. Notes to pages 4–14 343 Chapter 2 1 Sir Robert Hart, I. G. in Peking, letters 800 and 814; Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese, p. 523. It is surely a factor in the Hubei uprisings that the province was second only to the large coastal province of Guangdong for its large number of Western missions (a total of fifteen in the 1898 map provided in Mrs. Archibald Little’s Intimate China, p. 207). 2 Sir Robert Hart, I. G. in Peking, letters referred to above. Judging by his visual and auditory troubles, it is possible that Yu Keng was suffering from type 2 diabetes. Vide...