“How did you come to be in possession of an imperial edict?” she asked.

  “General Yuan gave it to me as I was walking in the garden today.”

  As the empress opened the edict and read it, he hands began to shake and her eyes grew wide. “Do you know what this says?” she finally asked me.

  “General Yuan told me his orders and about the army. Was he telling the truth?”

  “It would appear so,” she said. She began to weep. “My son…my son…how could you leave me to such a cruel world?”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “You are not alone, Your Majesty,” I said. “General Yuan said he would protect you in case there are other assassins about. We can send for Ronglu.”

  The empress wiped her face and sat up straight. “We must not let it be known that anything is amiss,” she said. “Bring me Yuan and Lianying.” I did as she ordered. The empress had Lianying discreetly bring some eunuchs and palace guards to her quarters. She and General Yuan talked long into the night. She also sent a messenger with an urgent letter for Commander Ronglu.

  The next morning, everything seemed normal. The empress left her palace as planned and headed for the audience hall, but she had General Yuan by her side. When she entered the audience chamber, the emperor was clearly shocked by her presence. He rushed to kowtow to her and invited her to sit by his side. She did not betray that anything was wrong.

  General Yuan was allowed to address the emperor. Everyone heard what he then said. “Your Majesty, I fear you have been given grave counsel. Many of the men who wish to advise you have been careless. If these men were to make a mistake, some might hold you responsible.”

  The emperor did not speak but only nodded. General Yuan took his place once again at Empress Cixi’s side. Then, the Prime Minister of Japan, Ito Hirobumi, was brought forward. The Prime Minister said nothing unexpected, but he was clearly frustrated by the empress’s presence. He stammered and seemed to be waiting for the emperor to say more, but he did not. The prime minister left and no agreements with Japan were reached.

  After the audience was over, General Yuan and his men escorted the emperor and the empress to the Sea Palace. I do not know what was said, but later that day, the emperor issued an edict in his own hand declaring that Empress Cixi would once again be his guardian. She would assist him in ruling the empire in perpetuity. The emperor was put under house arrest and was not allowed to leave the Sea Palace. He was also separated from Pearl, who was under guard in her own quarters.

  That evening, Commander Ronglu arrived and told the empress that his forces had crushed Kang’s small army outside the city and had captured his fellow conspirators.

  “And what of Wild Fox Kang,” she asked. “Was he also taken care of?”

  “Forgive me, Your Majesty,” he said. “But Kang escaped. Ito gave him safe passage to Japan.”

  The empress ordered the execution of six men involved in the assassination attempt without a trial. People were horrified, but she did it for Guangxu.

  “If the men go to trial,” she told me, “everyone will find out about the emperor’s attempt to have me killed. He would have to be removed from the throne by force, maybe even executed, but he has no heir. Who would rule then? We are too weak. The foreigners would invade and set up their own government. China and the Qing Dynasty would be done for. I do this for him. I do this for my country.”

  All the empress ever did was in the name of her country. Once again, she had managed to stage a coup and regain control of the empire with only a handful of bloodshed.

  28

  Fleeing the Forbidden City, 1900-1901

  The emperor was quite ill. He had always been a sickly person, but after his role in the plot to murder the empress was uncovered and he was imprisoned, his health got even worse. A French doctor was even brought in to examine him. I doubt the weakling could have continued running the empire on his own anyway.

  Empress Cixi began ruling the empire once again. The emperor, when he was well enough, would attend audiences with her, but his presence was only for show. The screen that had separated Empress Cixi from the court was removed and she addressed petitioners directly.

  Across the sea, the Wild Fox continued to plague the empress. He wrote terrible things about her, calling her a murderess, an anti-reformer, and a licentious woman who had a stable of lovers. I cannot say how many people believed the things he wrote, but it worried the empress deeply. She knew that the survival of the kingdom depended on the goodwill of the foreigners. She didn’t like it, in fact, she began to resent them, but there was little she could do.

  In order to court a favorable opinion of her by the foreigners, she decided to invite all the foreign women of the diplomatic corps, the wives of the foreign diplomats, to tea. It was quite exciting. While I had seen a few foreign women in my life, mostly from a sedan chair, I had never seen so many so close up.

  The empress invited twelve women to tea. They brought their own interpreter and were first introduced to several court officials. Then they finally were brought to the throne room. The ladies were all a flutter with excitement. They could not stop smiling. Their dresses were so different from ours. The gowns were high-necked, but form fitting. The dresses emphasized the women’s enormous breasts and round hips. Their dresses were of many colors, white, blue, green, and even black, and were covered with lace and beads. I noticed that most of them lacked any embroidery work. They also all wore fanciful hats with huge feathers that bobbed whenever they talked. And talk they did! They all chattered on like monkeys, even when someone was addressing the empress or the emperor, who the empress had specifically invited so the women could see he was not dead and report such news back to their husbands, the other women clucked on.

  After each foreign woman bowed and addressed the empress, she grasped their hand and gave them a gold ring with a large pearl. She then told them – in English! – “all one family.” I was quite impressed and proud of the empress. Then the women were treated to a large feast hosted by various princesses. The empress could not attend the meal because it would not be right for people to sit in the empress’s presence while she was eating. After the feast, we all attended an opera performance. After the opera, the empress presented each lady with many more gifts, including some of my embroidery. The empress even stood for a photograph with some of the ladies!

  Cixi fretted for days about whether or not the meeting with the foreign women had gone well, but eventually, the women and their husbands began writing about the experience in the foreign press. Never before had foreign women been allowed to see a Chinese ruler, so many people were interested in reading about the ladies’ experience.

  Mrs. Conger, the wife of a foreign minister, wrote in one newspaper, “We returned to the British Legation and in a happy mood grouped ourselves for a picture that would fix in thought a most unusual day – a day, in fact, of historic import.” Lady MacDonald, the wife of the British minister, wrote in another paper, “all previously conceived notions of the Empress had been upset by what I had seen and heard.” Lady MacDonald’s husband told several court ministers that, “the Empress Dowager made a most favorable impress by her courtesy and affability.” Everyone who met her majesty, like those of us who had always known her, could not help but love her.

  But the goodwill did not last long. Jealous of the other European countries who grabbed land after the war with Japan, Italy stormed in and demanded land and a port of their own. Just like after the Japanese war, the Italians expected Emperor Guangxu to roll over and hand it to them. But Guangxu was no longer in charge. Empress Cixi refused. Surprisingly, Italy backed down. Cixi realized they were only a small and weak nation who didn’t really want to fight, but she and the rest of the country were bolstered by this tiny victory.

  Relations between local Chinese and the foreigners got more tense around the country, especially regarding the missionaries. The missionaries were all backed by their respective countries, and, thus, their countries’ gunboats. They were able to act outside, and sometimes in defiance of, our laws. They would not support local beliefs or customs, which often relied on the support of the whole community. The Chinese converts to Christianity were called “foreign running dogs” for their propensity to do whatever the foreigners demanded of them. The foreigners and their foreign running dogs were always given preferences in legal disputes because of their white faces and big guns.

  Even in cities like Peking, local Chinese were starting to feel like second-class citizens. They were not allowed to participate in the new horse races and foreigners, often taller and burlier than Chinese men, would pick fights with locals in the streets. Foreigners were also known for buying Chinese women as concubines, having many children with them, and then abandoning the women and children with no means of support when it was time for the men to go home to their Western wives. America, who China long considered an ally, banned Chinese from immigrating to their country.

  Things then came to a head. In Shandong Province, Germany sent troops to put down riots against their missionaries. The troops burned down hundreds of homes and shot countless people dead in the street. A group called the Yihetuan – the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists – fought back. The men of Shandong were known for their martial arts skills and their mystical abilities. The locals were also furious with the Germans and wanted to drive them out of Shandong. Thousands flocked to join the ranks of the Yihetuan. The Yihetuan believed that Heaven was on their side and that they would drive the foreign barbarians out with their bare fists if they had to. Foreigners called the Yihetuan the Boxers.

  After the Boxers murdered a German holy man, Empress Cixi sent General Yuan to put down the rebels, even though she sympathized with them. At first, Yuan did a good job of stopping the Boxers from growing. He put to death the leaders of the gang who had killed the German. A harsh winter then blew in, burying the Boxers’ wrath under a deep snow. The empress formally banned the Boxers in Shandong. She hoped that would be an end to the Boxer Rebellion.

  Even though her actions were working, they were not enough for the foreigners. The same governments that ignored the murders of our people at the hands of the Germans now screamed for more Chinese blood. They wanted the Boxers to be officially banned throughout the country and for all Boxer members, not just the leaders, to be executed. Empress Cixi wanted to refuse them. She would not be told how to run her country by foreigners. But how could she refuse? The British positioned their gunboats in the harbor at the Dagu Forts and waited. Empress Cixi had defeated the Italians, but they were only bluffing. Were the British bluffing now? If they weren’t, how would she fight them? General Yuan and Commander Ronglu had been working tirelessly to build up the army, but it was not enough, and we still didn’t have a navy. How much the empress longed for the guidance and assistance of Prince Gong in dealing with these foreigners.

  “What do you think I should do, Yaqian?” she asked me one evening.

  “I have no idea, Your Majesty,” I replied. “If you give into the foreigners’ demands, we look weak. They may decide to attack us. They could overthrow you and put Guangxu back on the throne so they can rule through him. If you defy them, they certainly will attack and could simply destroy us. I do not envy being in your position.”

  “You know who would fight them,” she said. “The Boxers.”

  “You would let the rebels run free?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, not free, but under my direction. We are the most populous nation in the world. I have always feared that the Han would rise up and overthrow the Manchu, but what if they rose up to overthrow the foreigners? If the Chinese would all rise up, all band together, no one could stop us.”

  “What if you can’t control them?” I asked. “What if after they are finished with the foreigners, they come for the Manchu?”

  “Then let them come,” she said. “If the Han can defeat the foreigners, then they will have earned the right to govern their own country.”

  Empress Cixi did not call General Yuan’s army back, but she no longer sent them orders either. The people could sense that the army was no longer interested in fighting them, so the number of Boxers increased. They spread through the countryside like locusts. After the bad winter was followed by a spring drought, the Boxers stormed the streets of Peking, convinced that the starving time that was coming was the fault of the foreign devils. Traditionally, droughts and famines were blamed on the emperor, and were considered evidence of the loss of the Mandate of Heaven. For the Boxers to blame the foreigners and not the empress or the emperor showed just how much the people hated the foreigners. From the palace walls, we could see thousands of men and women dressed in red scarves, red shirts, and red sashes around their waists. They waved large knives in the air. The women also carried red lanterns and wore pants just like the men! The Boxers called for the deaths of all foreigners within three months.

  The empress was terrified. She wanted the foreigners to leave China, not be slaughtered, especially the ladies she had entertained only a few months before and had grown very fond of. She allowed the foreigners to bring their own troops into Peking to protect the legations, but she used the Boxers to prevent too many foreign troops from entering. This play back and forth between supporting the Boxers but protecting the foreigners was a strange dance that could not last.

  When the Boxers murdered a Japanese chancellor, the foreigners demanded the Boxers responsible be punished. The Boxers declared that if Imperial forces killed one Boxer, they would destroy the Forbidden City. The empress had lost control, if she ever had it. She merely ignored the demands for justice from the foreigners. “What’s done is done,” she said.

  Muslims from the western areas of China joined with the Boxers and destroyed railways and telegraph lines. The empress lost all contact with the outside world. Some provincial viceroys tried to send messages via horse riders, but the messages were far and few between, many often lost along the way.

  In Peking, the Boxers began burning foreign churches and houses. We could see the smoke of a hundred fires from inside the Forbidden City. While we received very few reports of foreigners being murdered – the Boxers still held a measure of fear of the power of their countries – the Chinese running dogs were fair game. The Boxers beat, burned, and murdered all they could. The running dogs fled to the foreign legations for help. The legations let hundreds of the Chinese converts inside and sent rescue parties out to find more, and they killed many Boxers along the way. In retaliation, the Boxers laid siege to the legations. Hundreds of foreigners and thousands of Chinese converts were trapped inside the legation walls, which nearly butted up against the south wall of the Forbidden City, separated only by a small canal. We could hear the screams of the people who were killed seeking refuge the chanting of the Boxers outside. “Kill! Kill! Kill!” the Boxers yelled. We were living in a warzone.

  The empress greatly regretted what she had done and knew it would come to a bad end. She could not fight them, but sent grandees to try to reason with the Boxers to stop their attack. It could only end in disaster for all of them, she warned, but it was too late.

  The foreigners were not going to abandon their people. Eight nations who had people in the legations sailed warships into our waters and opened fire on the Dagu Fort. They destroyed the fort in a matter of hours.

  The empress sat on her throne, her head bent and her face shrouded in gloom. “We were in the wrong,” she said. “We did not protect the foreigners who are guests in our country. Can you blame the foreign powers for stepping in to protect their own? But what can I do? Can I simply hand over my country?”

  “You could run,” I said.

  “I did that forty years ago,” she said. “And my husband died while banished to the wilderness. We never recovered from that – I never recovered. Should I do it again?”

  “It is better than dying,” I said.

  “Is it?” she asked. “Dying defending my country seems quite an honorable death. I could not face my ancestors if I simply handed over my country. I would rather fight to the end.”

  Empress Cixi declared war on all eight countries – Russia, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, America, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The empress then gave legal status to the Boxers and commanded them to fight on. She gave them weapons and paid them with silver. But she could not control them. They burned foreign shops and looted and pillaged cities and villages alike. They ransacked people’s homes. I feared for my daughter, but I had no way to contact her. Even some members of our court seemed to have lost their minds. Princes and eunuchs and guards donned red sashes and rushed out into the streets to join the Boxers. We began to fear for our lives within the Forbidden City.

  One day, the Boxers dared to demand that the empress send out all members of Forbidden City to see if she was harboring any Chinese running dogs. One of the Boxer leaders claimed that if he recited an incantation over a person’s head, a cross would appear above those who served the foreign god. I didn’t believe the Boxer leader for a second and feared that he would kill us to demonstrate to the empress and the rest of the country just how powerful the Boxers were. I begged her not to send me out, as did several other servants, including her favorite eunuch, Li Lianying. The empress wept as she sent us out, crying that there was nothing she could do. We were all marched outside, our hearts beating hard in our chests.

  The city was in ruins. Buildings were destroyed, horses and people lay dead in the streets, fires raged. A hot wind blew, bringing with it the stench of death and sulfur. We were all lined up and a tall man dressed in all the red trappings of a Boxer stood in front of the first person in the line, a very young eunuch. He said words in a language I had never heard before. His body shook and his eyes rolled back in his head. He then stopped and stared at the eunuch and declared that he was not a running dog. The eunuch thanked the Boxer leader and ran back to the Forbidden City gate. The fact that the first young man was spared did not give the rest of us hope. In fact, it might have made us more afraid. We were certain that some of us were going to die that day. Every person ahead of us who was spared only made our own death more certain. As the Boxer leader moved down the line, we all began to weep. One eunuch fainted and a girl next to me vomited. I kept my head down and cried, but stood firm. If this was my death, I would be strong, just like the empress. I only prayed that my daughter, wherever she was, would be spared such a fate.