He began to sink late that night, and continued to sink, watched by Dr. O’Grady, while the night grew blacker. Black as opium.
It was me. I did it. She foresaw everything. And she was in control up to her last breath. But she needed me. And I did it.
I caught my first glimpse of her secret plan—for I am sure that is what it was—about two years after she’d returned to Beijing following the Boxer Rebellion. The day before, she’d been out to the Eastern Tombs to inspect her mausoleum, and she’d returned in a very good temper. The mausoleum was magnificent. When the time came, she’d be buried in splendor. And people would look upon her tomb with awe for centuries to come.
That day, however, she was to receive a group of Western ladies, Americans mostly, who were coming to pay her a courtesy visit.
Such visits had become rather a feature of her life at this time. I believe she talked to these women for several reasons. She’d clearly decided that, since she couldn’t get rid of the Western barbarians, it would be best to make friends with them, and she could still be very charming when she wanted. The Western women loved these meetings, and they seemed to amuse Cixi; though whether she was really amused, it was hard to tell.
But I’m sure that she was also curious, for if there was anything they could tell her about their customs that might be useful to China, she wanted to find it out.
The meeting that day was typical. The Western women wanted to talk about foot-binding, and Cixi explained: “As a Manchu, I am no more in favor of the custom than you are. Indeed, I’m going to take steps to end it.” They liked hearing this very much. Several of the women, at the urging of their husbands, I expect, told her about the wonders of the great railroads that the Western powers could build for her in China if she granted them concessions. The dowager empress always said to me in private that she hated trains, but she smiled and said that, no doubt, there would be many more railroads in China in the future. Actually, I rode in a train with her once, and she seemed rather to enjoy it.
But that day, what she really wanted to talk about was their form of government. “In your country,” she asked the American women, “the people elect assemblies to represent them, and also a president who rules—but only for a few years. Is that not so?”
“It is,” one of them replied.
“All the men elect?”
“Most. Not all.”
“And the women?”
“Not yet.”
“Is it not disruptive that you have to go through such a process so frequently?”
“Perhaps. But it means that if we do not like a government, we can soon change it.”
“Your Majesty might think our system is better,” a young English lady suggested. “We have a monarch who rules with the advice of our Parliament. We think that makes our government wiser and more stable.”
“I have outlived your queen,” said Cixi with some satisfaction. She frowned. “There is a man called Sun Yat-sen who was partly educated by you British in Hong Kong. He produced a big plan for an elected assembly for China. He wants a revolution. In the end he had to leave the country. But there are many people with progressive views, as his ideas are called, in our southern provinces. They are quite troublesome.”
“We think our constitutional monarchy is stable and respectful of tradition,” the English lady replied.
The empress did not say anything, but I noticed that she looked thoughtful. “I must remind you,” she said quietly, “that the British have not always been respectful of our traditions. Did you know that at this moment a British force is encroaching on Tibet?”
“I do not know that,” said the lady, looking awkward.
“I daresay you do not. But it is so.” Cixi pursed her lips. “I have been fortunate these last few years to have an excellent general who can keep order in this huge land and also defend our borderlands if necessary. I am speaking of General Yuan.”
“We have met him,” said several of the ladies. “A splendid soldier,” said one. “A man of the old school,” exclaimed another. “You are fortunate indeed, Majesty,” said a third.
“I am so glad you agree,” said my mistress.
After they had gone, the empress turned to me. “What do you think of General Yuan, Lacquer Nail?”
I thought for a moment. I knew I could say whatever I wanted and she would not mind. She trusted me. “An old warlord who’s out for himself, my lady.”
“Of course. But we need him. And what about our visitors?”
“They seem to think that their forms of government are superior to ours,” I said. “Of course,” I added, “we always felt ours was superior to theirs.”
“Certainly,” she replied. “I will tell you something, Lacquer Nail. You will remember how, when the foreign troops came to relieve the legations, I had to leave the capital in a hurry.”
“How could I forget?” I said.
“It was chaos. I was glad I had you with me. And we all wandered from city to city, province to province, until I was sure it was safe to return. A tour of inspection, we called it. But in doing this, you know, I discovered who my friends were—the prefects and governors who took us in—and I also got to see the country more than I had in many years. And to talk to people, mandarins, and scholars who had no idea if I’d get back to power or not, and who told me what they really thought. I learned so much about my country and about its history.” She paused. “We need to change, Lacquer Nail. I know that now. That’s why I like listening to these Western ladies, to discover more about them.”
“Do you know how we should change the Celestial Kingdom, my lady?”
“Not exactly. Not yet. But I’ve realized something else. It’s all a question of timing. You remember how the present emperor tried to turn the whole kingdom upside down?”
“I always suspected, my lady, that they were all his tutors’ ideas.”
“Setting up the university was all right. But all his other reforms…Nobody—none of the mandarins or the nobles and gentry—was ready for it. He had no support. I had to come back and lock him up.”
“You did what you had to, my lady.”
“But you see, Lacquer Nail, the same is true of Sun Yat-sen and his progressive friends. They think that because something is a good idea, it will work. And it’s not true. In both cases, they came too suddenly and too soon. It’s all about timing. That’s the thing.” She smiled sadly. “And you know the other thing?”
“No, my lady.”
“There’s never enough time.”
* * *
—
Cixi might not have been certain what changes the empire needed, but those years saw a lot of activity.
They made plans for electing a National Assembly, and they finally abolished the old Confucian exams for mandarins and designed a new syllabus in science and foreign languages. And they abolished torture. Just imagine it. You’d have been executed for proposing such things a few years before.
As for the railway concessions, in no time the British and French, the Russians, the Japanese, and the Germans were all setting up railways to suit themselves.
I continued to serve the empress in the usual way. She also encouraged me to see the young emperor every little while. Although he was waited on hand and foot by the eunuchs, he was quite lonely in his pavilion, and he always seemed pleased to see me. He knew my story, and that I was a bit different from the run-of-the-mill palace people, and I think he trusted me.
After my visit, Cixi would ask me, “How did you find him? Is he all right?” She saw him herself, of course, but she seemed to want to know how other people found him. I think she cared for him, in her way.
The truth was that sometimes I hardly knew what to tell her. I don’t mean his physical condition—though he always seemed to have a lot of ailments. I mean his state of mind. With his long, pale, fleshy face, h
e always looked sad. And some days he was moody. But once or twice I’d arrive and find him sitting alone and happily tinkering with a clock, almost like a child. Some people thought he wasn’t quite right in the head. But gradually I began to wonder if he wasn’t doing it on purpose—acting like a simpleton, to make people think he was harmless. Perhaps he should have acted that way all the time.
Almost five years passed in this way. I could have retired, of course. I had years ago acquired the fine house of Mr. Chen. I had a considerable fortune. And I had bought back my balls, of course. I spent the majority of my time living as my other self, the merchant. But I could not desert the empress. A day or two every week I became Lacquer Nail again and waited upon her. Sometimes we’d be out at the Summer Palace, but mostly in the Forbidden City. There were still theatricals and other amusements for Cixi, but these gradually grew fewer and fewer. One thing she enjoyed particularly was being photographed. I think it was the Western women who got her to like it. For they wanted to be photographed with her. She always took the greatest care of her appearance right to the end, but even more than usual if there was a chance she might be photographed.
Though we often talked during those years, she usually kept her designs hidden, even from me—except for one small occasion on which she said something that came back into my mind many times in the years to come. “You know, Lacquer Nail,” she said, “I have told you of the need for change, and that change must come only when the time is ready.”
“Yes, my lady,” I said.
“But our history is so long that if we study it, we shall discover that nothing is new. It may seem new, but it isn’t. Therefore, we can usually foretell, in a general way, what is to come.” I’m sure she meant me to remember that.
But what her plans for the future were, or whether she had even worked them out in detail, I did not discover.
At the same time, the clouds were darkening. Japan and Russia went to war. Japan smashed the Russians, took over most of their Manchurian lands, and now dominated the Korean peninsula as well. The emperor’s health was deteriorating, and so was Cixi’s. She suffered a slight stroke. Her face drooped a little on one side. Her mental acuity, however, as far as I could judge, remained as sharp as ever. And I wondered: What was the plan for the empire?
* * *
—
I knew that the Empress Cixi was ready to die before she did herself. She hadn’t been well for some time, but she had remarkable powers of recovery. Above all, she had a will of iron. It was only when her will began to falter that I knew she was on the way out.
It began one morning when I was doing her nails. She was looking downcast. If there had been anyone else in the room, I wouldn’t have said a word, because you must never imply that a ruler has any weakness. But we were all by ourselves.
“You look sad today, Majesty,” I said.
“I am, Lacquer Nail,” she answered me. “I feel very disappointed with my life.”
“You’ve had the most remarkable career of any woman in history,” I told her.
“Perhaps,” she said. “And yet I have failed. At first I thought I had succeeded. I had given the emperor a son. What greater thing could a woman do for the Celestial Kingdom or for her own family? I had to fight for him. I was nearly killed. But my son became emperor.” She sighed. “But to what end? He was not fit to rule. I blamed myself.”
“It was not your fault, my lady,” I said. “His father hardly helped.”
“All the men in my life have been weak. But I hoped that my stronger blood…”
“Your blood is very strong,” I said.
“Is it? I thought so. That is why I chose Prince Chun’s son to succeed, when there were other candidates. Because his mother was my sister. He seemed more promising. Yet when he finally came to power, what did he do? Tried to overturn four thousand years of history—overnight! He was a fool.”
“One needs a sense of timing,” I agreed.
“There, Lacquer Nail,” she cried. “You, a poor eunuch, would have done better.”
Yes, I thought, but I had to fight for my life, and so did you. That’s how one learns. I didn’t say it, of course.
There was a long pause after that. I put some finishing touches on her nails.
“I am tired, Lacquer Nail,” she said at last. “I know the world must change. But I don’t want to live in it. I don’t want to live in a world with trains and people’s assemblies.”
“Your body and mind are strong,” I said.
“The Mandate of Heaven is being withdrawn,” she went on quietly.
Now that really knocked me sideways. To be exact, I froze. I had her hand in mine at that moment and I didn’t dare make even the tiniest motion, in case it should be interpreted as any kind of comment.
What did she mean? That the dynasty was coming to an end? Or did she mean that her own life was ebbing away? I thought it was just herself she meant.
But then, when she spoke the next words, I wasn’t so sure. “After I die, Lacquer Nail, what will happen?”
“The emperor will rule, I suppose,” I ventured.
She didn’t say anything. Not a word.
I got up and made ready to leave.
“General Yuan thinks the emperor will have him killed,” she said.
“Oh,” I said. “I never heard the emperor say that,” I added.
“The emperor may not like General Yuan,” she went on quietly, “but that is not the point. He is by far the best general we have at present, and the army follows him.”
She was right about that. Killing Yuan would be really stupid. I was pretty sure what she wanted me to say next. “Perhaps I might pay a visit to the emperor, to see how he is,” I said.
“That is a good idea, Lacquer Nail,” she answered. “I have been concerned about his health lately.”
Well, I had just reached the anteroom when whom should I see but General Yuan, waiting for an audience with Cixi.
He was a gruff, bluff man, not tall, but round as a barrel, with a huge grey mustache like a water buffalo’s horns. He was quite frightening, really, but he was always friendly with me. I bowed low.
“Where are you off to, Lacquer Nail?” he asked.
“I thought I might call upon the emperor, sir,” I said.
“He’s planning to kill me, you know,” he remarked.
“I’ve never heard him say it,” I replied.
“Well, perhaps you can persuade him not to,” he suggested cheerfully.
Then I left.
* * *
—
It was a couple of hours later when I went along the corridor and over the narrow bridge that led to the emperor’s pavilion. The bridge was always guarded, to see he didn’t get out, really; but the guards let me through without a word.
I found him lying on a divan. Though he was still only in his thirties, he seemed like a man in decline. His hair was thinning. His face looked a little blue, and I noticed that there were telltale white bands across his fingernails. From arsenic, I guessed.
“I came to see if Your Majesty wanted any company,” I said softly.
“Not really,” he said. But then he sat up. “Is anything happening out there, Lacquer Nail?”
“I wouldn’t say a lot,” I replied. “I was with the dowager empress earlier today, doing her nails. I thought she was tired.”
“Is she unwell?”
“She’s got such a spirit,” I said, “that it’s very hard to know. She’s not getting any younger. She worries about you, I think.”
“She sent you to spy on me?”
“No.” I smiled. “She’s got half the eunuchs in the palace to do that. You know how it is.”
He laughed when I said that. “They’re not cleaning my rooms properly,” he said with a frown.
“I can tell her that,�
� I said. “She’ll have them whipped.”
“Good. You do that,” he said. Then he dropped his voice. “How do I look to you?”
“You don’t look well,” I said. “As if you haven’t been eating properly or taking any exercise, if you’ll forgive my saying so.”
“I think they’re trying to poison me. Do you think they are?”
“I don’t know why they would be,” I replied. “I always thought they needed you there. Everything has to be done in your name, after all.”
“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” The thought seemed to please him. “Tell me more about Cixi.”
“She was complaining about the railways,” I said. “Though she’s been in a train, I know for a fact.”
“What’s new?” He gave a small laugh. “Did you see anyone else?”
“Yes,” I said. “General Yuan was waiting for an audience with her when I was leaving.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Only that he thinks you’re planning to kill him.”
“Hmm.” He pursed his lips and looked thoughtful. “Well, he got that right, anyway,” he said. “Too big for his boots. And if Cixi dies and I’m incapacitated, I’ve written instructions that he’s to be beheaded.” And he nodded with satisfaction.
And then I understood. Cixi was right. If he was rash enough to kill Yuan, he shouldn’t be ruling. And worse still, if he was stupid enough to tell me, then he was never going to learn anything.
“Shall we play a game of checkers?” I suggested. And for an hour or so we amused ourselves with that.
“I’m tired now,” he said finally. “Will you come back again and see me soon?”
“Whatever Your Majesty desires,” I replied. “Sometimes,” I said gently, “I smoke an opium pipe, to calm my nerves. Would Your Majesty like it if I brought pipes for us both another time?”
“Can you do that?” he asked.
“Oh, I think so,” I replied.
China Page 95