e our great Buddha Ju Lai, who
fed the hungry birds with his own flesh. I would love them if they would
leave my people alone. Let us believe our own religion. Do you know how
the Boxer rising began? Why, the Chinese Christians were to blame. The
Boxers were treated badly by them, and wanted revenge. Of course that is
always the trouble with the low class of people. They went too far,
and at the same time thought to make themselves rich by setting fire to
every house in Peking. It made no difference whose house. They wanted to
burn so long as they could get money. These Chinese Christians are the
worst people in China. They rob the poor country people of their land
and property, and the missionaries, of course, always protect them, in
order to get a share themselves. Whenever a Chinese Christian is taken
to the Magistrate's Yamen, he is not supposed to kneel down on the
ground and obey the Chinese law, as others do, and is always very rude
to his own Government Officials. Then these missionaries do the best
they can to protect him, whether he is wrong or not, and believe
everything he says and make the magistrate set the prisoner free. Do you
remember that your father established rules in the twenty-fourth year of
Kwang Hsu, how the Chinese officials should treat the Bishops whenever
they had dealings with each other? I know the common class of people
become Christians--also those who are in trouble--but I don't believe
that any of the high officials are Christians." Her Majesty looked
around and whispered: "Kang Yue Wai (the reformer in 1898) tried to make
the Emperor believe that religion. No one shall believe as long as
I live. I must say that I admire the foreigners in some ways. For
instance, their navies and armies, and engineers, but as regards
civilization I should say that China is the first country by all means.
I know that many people believe that the Government had connections with
the Boxers, but that is not true. As soon as we found out the trouble we
issued several Edicts, and ordered the soldiers to drive them out, but
they had gone too far already. I made up my mind not to go out of the
Palace at all. I am an old woman, and did not care whether I died or
not, but Prince Tuang and Duke Lan suggested that we should go at once.
They also suggested that we should go in disguise, which made me very
angry, and I refused. After the return of the Court to Peking, I was
told that many people believed that I did go