Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 10

This time I went to Fengtian, the Queen Mother didn't plan to stay for too long, so I only brought seasonal clothes.It was late spring at that time, which coincided with the alternation of spring and summer, and the clothes I brought were only those that I often wear during this season, but these alone filled a whole carriage.Think about it, this is a dazzling golden imperial train, and there is actually a carriage dedicated to storing the Queen Mother's clothes.

These clothes are all magnificent and dazzling, and the color of the clouds and clouds alone is worth savoring for a long time.It's hard to count how many cars there are in a whole car.If I were to describe it in great detail, it would be a thick book.Here I can only tell you an approximate number. There are about [-] pieces of clothes in this carriage, and there are not too many shoes, only [-] to [-] pairs.The Queen Mother seldom walks, and it takes about five or six days to put on a new pair of shoes.

Is there enough clothes in this carriage?In the eyes of ordinary people, it is almost impossible to wear so much in a lifetime.But for the Queen Mother, these only accounted for one-thirtieth or forty-fourth of the Royal Clothes Library.The queen mother has a very good memory, but even so, she still doesn't know how many clothes, shoes, necklaces, and earrings she has.So many clothes, how to collect it?The method in the palace is very interesting. It is not hung in the wardrobe like ordinary people, or neatly folded and stacked in the cabinet. Instead, a kind of vermilion wooden plate is specially prepared. Put three sets of clothes on the plate.The Queen Mother has so many clothes, and if you think about it carefully, you need to prepare quite a lot of wooden trays.

Speaking of this, I remembered a habit of the Queen Mother over the years.Every four or five days, she would look at all the clothes and the like.The look mentioned here does not mean that she went to the clothes by herself, but that the wooden trays were carried by someone and came to the Empress Dowager one by one for her to have a look.

Every three sets of clothes are placed on a tray, and each wooden tray has to be carried by two eunuchs. Think about it, with so many clothes, how many eunuchs are there when the queen mother wants to check her clothes?How long does it take to line up together?But fortunately, the eunuchs in the palace will always feel that there are fewer.Let’s just say that this time, let’s go to Fengtian, the Queen Mother brought a whole thousand of them.

These eunuchs looked very clumsy when they carried the wooden tray.The two stood in front of each other, and the person behind held the plate in front of his chest, which seemed more comfortable; but the person in front was not.His face must look forward like the people behind him, and he is absolutely not allowed to walk backwards. He can only bend his arms back, hold the side of the wooden plate with both hands, keep this posture, and move forward step by step.

The queen mother has too many clothes, even if she changes them two or three times a day, she will not feel nervous.And, even with such frequent changes of clothes, she still leaves many beautiful clothes behind.Those forgotten clothes are also fine products, and their tailoring is also very delicate and beautiful, but the queen mother can't remember to wear them!In addition, there are some clothes that the Empress Dowager never wears and cannot wear again, that is, the clothes that the Empress Dowager wore when she first came to the palace as a noble concubine decades ago.She has been kept.In her eyes, those are not just clothes, are they?The eunuchs were often ordered by the Empress Dowager to bring them to her elderly to watch. The situation was hard to describe, as if what she saw were not clothes, but various lives many years ago.

At this time, I will secretly observe her.She often stares blankly and sits for a long time.The changes in her expression were so subtle, as if she could see her graceful figure when she was young, the laughter and happiness at that time from these clothes... In short, this made her feel a kind of illusory but real happiness .At this time, no one can talk to her, she just wants to immerse herself in her memories and doesn't want to be disturbed.Even if I have something important to tell her, she will not pay attention.Now that I think about it, I was really brave enough to ignore her. She was so engrossed in her memories, but I recklessly interrupted her and insisted on finishing what I wanted to say.well!

At that time, the Qing Empire had not yet perished, and many laws and regulations had to be obeyed, and even clothing was written into the law.All courtiers and their wives, as well as the female officials in the palace, must follow the rules, otherwise they will be disobedient.Fortunately, those laws and regulations are basically in line with the seasons and personal identities, so they cannot be said to be harsh.For example, different clothes should be worn in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and each season should be represented by a fixed flower.For example, wintersweet flowers are used in winter, peony flowers are used in spring, lotus flowers are used in summer, and chrysanthemums are used in autumn.All clothes must be embroidered, and flowers that match the season must be used.For example, in spring, if anyone's clothes are not embroidered with peonies, it is a rebellion and disobedience!
Not only the patterns on the clothes should be fixed, but also the styles of clothes should change according to different seasons.For example, you must wear fur clothes in winter. There are four kinds of fixed furs, which are ermine, squirrel, fox fur and sable.Changes should be made according to changes in weather. Sometimes you have to wear leather jackets that stand out, but sometimes you have to wear clothes lined with leather.

When winter comes, all officials, including officials from provinces and government offices outside Beijing, will receive an edict issued by the Empress Dowager, which roughly means "clothes will be worn the next day".Of course, as an imperial edict, it will not be just these few words, usually there will be a large piece of official language in it, but the general meaning is just these few words.This imperial edict will be circulated very quickly in the capital, some are oral notices, some are communicated by various yamen, some are announced in newspapers, and those in other places are communicated by telegram.In short, everyone will know in a few hours.

By the holy decree, the courtiers must wear leather clothes when they go to court the next day.If they are not fully prepared on weekdays, it will definitely be too late to "cramp the Buddha's feet". Therefore, they will definitely prepare more clothes at home.In this way, when the empress dowager moved her lips, the whole country would wear leather clothes within a day.

As the weather turned colder day by day, the Empress Dowager's decree was also promulgated one by one - ordering officials at all levels, wives, ladies in the palace, and maids to change their clothes, first from ermines, then from squirrels, and then from foxes. fur, sable.However, there is an unwritten rule in the law that only ministers of the second rank or above are eligible to wear sables, and ordinary people cannot wear sables casually.Therefore, when the Empress Dowager ordered to wear sables, the ministers above the second grade changed into sable clothes, but the others could only wear fox fur.In short, no matter which official and his family members, they pay great attention to the matching of clothes and seasons.For hundreds of years, everyone has been pursuing the same practice, and it has become a habit.

But how should you dress if the weather changes uncharacteristically?There is no need to worry about this, in addition to the fixed clothing of the four seasons, special circumstances are also taken into account.For example, in spring, this is a season that turns warm and cold. If the queen mother issues an order, and the weather is not so warm or cold, leather clothes and spring clothes are not suitable, so there is a kind of "transitional" clothes, which are cooler than winter clothes. , Warmer than spring clothes.

One spring, the weather was always very cold, and summer was coming soon, so I still didn't dare to take off my cotton-padded clothes and jackets.But the law stipulates that when summer comes, people must wear gauze clothes. Who would dare to disobey it?So we really put on gauze clothes, but the gauze is lined with cotton in the middle.It's the best of both worlds, as it complies with the law and keeps you warm.

It's not a new invention, it's not a secret, it's what everyone does.Probably at the beginning of the enactment of the law, this method came into being.The Queen Mother is no exception.However, compared with ours, the clothes of the Empress Dowager are still somewhat different. Her gauze is filled with silk floss.The sericulture girl in the palace specially raised a kind of silkworm for the Queen Mother. The silk spun out was warmer than cotton, but not as heavy as cotton.

When spring comes, jewelry has become a must-have item for ladies in the palace.What they wear on their hair, ears, and hands, except pearls, is jade, emerald, agate, etc., all of which are radiant.

This is China at that time. Under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, from officials to civilians, the clothes must be uniform. No matter how dark and corrupt the politics are, the appearance must be glamorous and gorgeous.

Specifically from the perspective of clothing, women's clothing has the most potential to be tapped.The reason is simple. From ancient times to the present, women love to dress up and always lead the fashion.Even if the decree is not issued, they will take the initiative to renovate their clothing.As soon as winter comes, wintersweet flowers are all over their clothes.Some silks and satins are embroidered with wintersweet flowers themselves, and some are embroidered with wintersweet flowers on monochromatic silks and satins. When embroidering, they are divided into silk thread, gold thread and double-thread mixed embroidery according to the economic strength and status of the wearer.

Poor women will have to work hard, exquisiteness is beyond their capabilities, but they will also try their best to make their clothes look like noble ladies' clothes, so as to add some glory to themselves.Regardless of the material of the clothes, as long as the patterns are similar.However, the poor are poor after all, and they will never be able to compare with the rich. Leather clothing is an insurmountable gap.

In China, peony is known as the king of flowers and is a flower that symbolizes wealth.When spring comes every year, clothes are its world.The woven and embroidered ones are radiant and make the women extraordinarily beautiful.In addition, although peony flowers are used, there is no uniform regulation on the color of the fabric. Therefore, all kinds of bright colors are worn out, like peony flowers wandering around!

When summer comes, the gauze dress begins to show its charm, and the pattern on it changes from peony to lotus.In autumn, thicker jackets replace gauze clothes, and chrysanthemums of various colors replace lotus flowers.Year after year, it's always going back and forth like this.

No matter what season it is, the rich and powerful wives are always the most beautifully dressed.The women of officials with lower status are also very particular.It is a woman's nature to love beauty, no matter what class of women they are, they will do everything they can to dress themselves up.

I suddenly remembered a story, which left a deep impression on me, as if it happened yesterday.

The incident happened the day before the Queen Mother's birthday ceremony. Everyone was busy preparing clothes for themselves, but mine didn't fit.It's not that my clothes are not beautiful enough, but because of seasonal reasons, they are not suitable for wearing.It was not yet the season to wear mink, and my clothes had mink accents!If I wear this dress when celebrating the queen mother's birthday, the queen mother will definitely punish me for the crime of resisting the order and exceeding the etiquette.

I was really brave at that time, and I risked my life to do something that no one else dared to do.It was almost December at that time, and the weather was starting to turn cold, but the Queen Mother's edict had not come down, so no one would dare to wear mink fur, not even a single person who dared to urge the Queen Mother to issue an edict to change clothes.So, I went.In fact, it was also a coincidence at the time, not that I was much more courageous than others.I am in charge of doing chores for the Queen Mother, so I am always close by her side.A gust of wind happened by chance, she shivered, and said to herself, "Why is it so cold all of a sudden!"

As soon as I heard this, I boldly said: "It's really cold today, it's time to wear mink fur! Old Ancestor, why don't you issue an edict now, and you can wear mink fur tomorrow!" God bless you At that time, not only did she not get angry, but she felt that it was reasonable. The imperial decree of "changing to wear sable fur the next day" was promulgated soon.

Throughout the Qing Empire, all officials and wives who were qualified to wear mink were all dressed up the next day.My previously out-of-fashion outfit instantly became the most fashionable.Now that I think about it, everyone should really thank me.It was already so cold at that time, if I hadn't been brave, everyone would have to suffer from the cold together.However, thinking about it the other way around, the result is different.Just because I didn't have suitable clothes to wear myself, I urged the Queen Mother to issue an edict. In this way, I don't know how many people rush to make clothes overnight.

There are many tailors supported in the palace, they absolutely dare not be lazy, and keep making new clothes for the Queen Mother.Those eunuchs would hold wooden trays every day to show the empress dowager the newly made clothes.This time I went to Fengtian, but I didn't bring those tailors with me.

In addition to tailors, there are also many mysterious old women in the palace.What these people have to do is to lower their heads all day long and use their pens to draw patterns for the Queen Mother's new shoes.Of course, they have no part in the trip to Fengtian.

From the clothes brought by the Empress Dowager Fengtian this time, you can imagine the scale and capacity of the Imperial Clothes Store.A whole carriage, these are just one season's clothes for the Queen Mother.

The queen mother has so many clothes, so a new set of clothes is put aside after wearing for only a few days. A few of them will be given to me and others. buried in the tomb.It's true, after her death, those exquisite and huge amount of clothes were all buried with her, never to see the light of day again.In fact, this is not only a unique habit of the royal family, as long as the Chinese people who are deeply influenced by Buddhism will do this.Because the theory of reincarnation in Buddhism makes them believe that people need clothes after death, because the soul is still alive, and if there is no clothes, they can only be naked.However, because of the theory of reincarnation, some clothes can be spared. As long as the clothes are leather, regardless of whether the leather is good or bad, it is absolutely forbidden to be buried.People who were buried with furs were believed to be reduced to beasts.No one wants their loved ones to become ermines, squirrels, foxes, sables, etc. in the afterlife, so fur clothes are spared.

(End of this chapter)