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David Wilson

Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644–1912
edited by Daisy Yiyou Wang and Jan Stuart
Yale University Press
3.5/5 stars
Nearly 200 spectacular artefacts – including ornate jewellery, intricately embroidered robes and portraits – picked from Beijing’s vast Palace Museum collection to illustrate the lives of empresses in China’s Qing dynasty feature in a new book.
Lavishly illustrated, Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644-1912 emphasises the key roles the wives of China’s imperial rulers played in court life and the cosmopolitan culture of the age.
Life inside the Forbidden City: how women were selected for service
“To many people, Qing imperial women lived in a mysterious, yet colourful world. In the official history and archives of the Qing imperial court, empresses and other consorts were largely overshadowed by emperors, who were often judged by their political achievements. Despite the patriarchal structure of the Qing imperial court, a few women stood out and played an important role in history,” Palace Museum director Shan Jixiang writes in the introduction to the book, which is edited by Daisy Yiyou Wang and Jan Stuart.


The book is an accompaniment to a major international exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

Many of the items are tastefully erotic. Stuart points to Yinzhen’s Twelve Ladies, a series of paintings by 18th century artists of the imperial court.
“Images that hint at physical union and its potential result abound in Yinzhen’s Twelve Ladies. Butterflies fly wing to wing and penetrate a flower, two amorous cats cavort, and a pair of goldfish swim together,” she writes.

In a painting of a woman gazing into a mirror, the red glazed bowl beside her contains a fragrant fruit offered for good luck at temples during Chinese New Year.
“However, the fruit also has a hidden meaning. Its shape is suggestive of female genitalia, so Qing painters often appropriated it as sign of sexual availability,” Stuart writes.

The book features essays and entries by co-editor Wang and several other scholars: Lin Shu, Luk Yu-ping, Ying-chen Peng, Ren Wanping and Evelyn Rawski.
Rawski evokes just how relentlessly hierarchical court life was. A consort’s rank decided the quantities of robes, jewellery, stipends, and servants assigned to her, with tiny gradations marking status distinctions.
New Chinese science fiction anthology promises to reignite the genre
For instance, the empress dowager was given 12 maids, the empress 10 maids, and so on down to the lowest-ranking consort, who might have just one.

The publication also features essays and entries by co-editor Daisy Yiyou Wang and several other scholars: Lin Shu, Luk Yu-ping, Ying-chen Peng, Ren Wanping and Evelyn Rawski.
Rawski evokes just how relentlessly hierarchical court life was. A consort’s rank decided the quantities of robes, jewellery, stipends, and servants assigned to her, with tiny gradations marking status distinctions.
New book documents dying Hong Kong trades and the artisans keeping them alive
For instance, the empress dowager was given 12 maids, the empress 10 maids, and so on down to the lowest-ranking consort, who might have just one. Each consort was allocated eunuchs and nurses along with female slaves who conducted menial tasks including needlework, fetching water, lighting lamps, and readying offerings for altars.

Not long after the Empress Dowager Cixi died in 1908, China’s last dynasty would be supplanted by the Republic of China. “In the next decades, women in China would step out of the inner quarters and participate in politics as individuals rather than as annexes to men who wielded authority in the name of filial piety,” notes American University scholar Ying-chen Peng.
If the loss of all the grandeur and colour seems sad, Empresses of China’s Forbidden City recalls an era that was much more glamorous and romantic – for the lucky few at least.








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Chinese history

China’s Qing dynasty empresses, their lives, riches and erotica celebrated in book

Lavishly illustrated volume lifts the veil on life in the Forbidden City by looking at the robes, jewellery, and accessories empresses wore and the sensuous paintings that adorned their walls

Lobed fan with cranes, peaches, and rocks Qianlong period, 1736–95 Appliqué, silk fabric on silk gauze with pigments; handle: wood and ivory 19 3⁄16 × 13 1⁄16 in. (48.8 × 33.2 cm) overall with handle Palace Museum, Gu136152

Hairpin with figure and vase. 18th or 19th cen- tury, pearls, sapphire, coral, turquoise, kingfisher feather, and silver with gilding, Palace Museum, Gu10130. © The Palace Museum

Court hat with phoenixes. Probably Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 18th or 19th century, sable, velvet, silk floss, pearls, tiger’s-eye stone, lapis lazuli, glass, birch bark and metal with gilding, and kingfisher feather, Palace Museum, Gu60084. © The Palace Museum

Festive robe with bats, clouds, and the character for longevity. Probably Imperial Silk Manufactory, Nanjing (weaving), and Imperial Workshop, Beijing (tailoring), Qianlong period, 1785 or earlier, patterned silk satin and embroidery, polychrome silk and metallic-wrapped threads on silk fabric, Palace Museum, Gu42136. © The Palace Museum

Festive robe with bats, lotuses, and the character for longevity. Probably Imperial Silk Manufactory, Suzhou (embroidery), and Imperial Workshop, Beijing (tailoring), Jiaqing period, 1796–1820, embroidery, polychrome and metallic-wrapped silk threads on silk tabby, Palace Museum, Gu43302. © The Palace Museum

Pair of socks with phoenixes and other birds. Workshop, probably Jiangsu or Zhejiang province, Kangxi period, 1662–1722, embroidery, polychrome, metallic-wrapped, and peacock-filament-wrapped threads on silk satin with silk damask and silk lining, Palace Museum, Gu61795. © The Palace Museum

Festive headdress with phoenixes and peonies. Probably Imperial Workshop, Beijing, Tongzhi or Guangxu period, probably 1872 or 1888–89, silver with gilding, kingfisher feather, pearls, coral, jadeite, ruby, sapphire, tourmaline, turquoise, lapis lazuli, and glass; frame: metal, wires with silk satin, velvet, and cardboard, Palace Museum, Gu59708. © The Palace Museum

Looking at Plum Blossoms from Yinzhen’s Twelve Ladies. Court painters, Beijing, possibly including Zhang Zhen (active late 17th–early 18th century) or his son Zhang Weibang (about 1725–about 1775), Kangxi period, 1709–23, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, Palace Museum, Gu6458-8/12. © The Palace Museum

Drinking Tea from Yinzhen’s Twelve Ladies. Court painters, Beijing, possibly including Zhang Zhen (active late 17th–early 18th century) or his son Zhang Weibang (about 1725–about 1775), Kangxi period, 1709–23, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, Palace Museum, Gu6458-7/12. © The Palace Museum

Pair of bracelets with bats, peaches, and flowers. Probably 19th or early 20th century, tortoiseshell with coral, kingfisher feather, pearls, ruby, jadeite, tourmaline, and silver with gilding, Palace Museum, Gu10371. © The Palace Museum

Platform shoes with tiger heads, the character for longevity, and bats from the Guangxu period (1875 to 1908). Appliqué, silk satin; platforms: wood core covered with cotton, glass beads. Photo: courtesy of the Palace Museum

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The Chinese Must Go cover

Handout image from the Library of Congress shows: "The Chinese must go," Andrews' history. October Scribner's Created / Published United States : [publisher not identified], 1895. [20AUGUST2018 FEATURES]

A sketch of Chinese and European labourers clearing the last mile for the first transcontinental US railroad in 1869. The Chinese are distinguished by their yellow hats.

Culture

Books

Lavishly illustrated volume lifts the veil on life in the Forbidden City by looking at the robes, jewellery, and accessories empresses wore and the sensuous paintings that adorned their walls


Lavishly illustrated volume lifts the veil on the life of China’s Qing dynasty empresses by looking at the robes, jewellery, and accessories they wore and the sensuous paintings that adorned their walls.
