“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, he 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
