y went to worship before
the Buddhas and Ancestral Tablets. After this ceremony was finished, the
guests began to arrive, until by midday, all the guests, numbering about
fifty, were present. The principal guests were: The Imperial Princess
(Empress Dowager's adopted daughter), Princess Chung (wife of Emperor
Kwang Hsu's brother), Princesses Shun and Tao (wives of the Emperor's
younger brothers), Princess hung (wife of the nephew of the Imperial
Princess), and Prince Ching's family. All these ladies were frequent
visitors to the Court. Next day many other Princesses, not of the
Imperial family, but whose titles were honorary titles bestowed by
previous rulers, came. Next, the daughters of the high Manchu officials
and many other people whom I had never seen before. By midday all the
guests had arrived, and, after being presented to Her Majesty, were
taken to their different apartments and told to rest a while. At two
o'clock in the afternoon everybody assembled in the Audience Hall, lined
up according to their different ranks and, led by the Young Empress,
kowtowed to Her Majesty. This was the ceremony Tzu Sui already referred
to, and was simply a last goodbye to Her Majesty before the New Year set
in. When it was all over, Her Majesty gave each of us a small purse made
of red satin embroidered with gold, containing a sum of money. This is
to enable each one to commence the New Year with a kind of reserve fund
for a rainy day, when they would have this money to fall back upon. It
is an old Manchu custom and is still kept up.

The evening was spent in music and enjoyment, and was carried on right
through the night, none of us going to bed. At Her Majesty's suggestion
we commenced gambling with dice, Her Majesty providing each of us with
money, sometimes as much as $200. She told us to be serious about it,
and to try and win, but of course we took good care not to win from Her
Majesty. When Her Majesty began to tire, she stopped the game and said:
"Now, all this money I have won I am going to throw on the floor, and
you girls can scramble for it." We knew that she wanted to see some fun,
so we fought for it as hard as we could.

At midnight the eunuchs brought into the room a large brass brazier
containing live charcoal. Her Majesty pulled a leaf from a large
evergreen tree, which had been placed there for the purpose, and threw
it into the fire. We each followed her example, adding large pieces of
resin, which perfumed