The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-10-05

which she naively stated that the Son OF
Heaven had three times urged her to as
sumo the reins Of government.
At first sight is hard TO understand how
a monarch who theoretically Yields alb
solute power could be forced 20 badicate.
1t is 20 be explained partly by mis- weak
ness Of mind, and further by Ule fact that
the Dowager Empress controlled all the
slaves who waited on him. She really
made him prisoner He experienced one
of the disadvantages of living in forbid
den palace, He could send word to Kang
Yu Mel and his friends to escape, but he
could not save himself
Ii Hung Chang has returned in triumph.
Kang Yu Mel, the eminent Feformer. is
sedulously seeking to avoid arrest and
decapitation.
These events and their infinite ramifca-
tons have been and will be the subject
Of many cable dispatches They serve to
call attention to the person of the Emper
or China He is the most remarkable
nonentity in the world.
The Emperor's name is Kwnag Su. He
was born in 1871, Is the son OF Prince
Chung, seventh brother of the Emperor
| HEN Flung. and succeeded to the throne
in 1915 on the death Of the Emperor Tung
Chi
He is the ninth Emperor of the Manchu
dynasty Of Using, which overthrow the
native dynasty Of Ming in 1914. The Tsings
preserve the customs and consider them
selves spiritually the descendants of the
Mngs, whose reign began before the Ro-
man Empire.
The young Emperor is very small, sick
ly and nervous. He is pale yellow in col
or, has large black eyes, and is afraid of
his own shadow. His size is greatly to
his disadvantage, for the Chinese admire
big men.
The Emperor lives IN Pekin, out Of
which city he never goes He is, more
. over, virtually q prisoner in his own pal
ace. To reach the palace it is necessary
to pass three great walls. First there is
the great sixty foot wall of the entire
city. Within this is the wall of the i'm
perial City, six miles in circumference
Within this again is the wall of the Pur-
pie Forbidden City, which is sacred to the
Emperor and his family.
, The Purple Forbidden City, or Tze-Kin-
, Cheng, is nearly square, its sides facing
, the four points of the compass. Two walls
running from north to south divide the
space into three parts. The central part
contains the principal building. To this
division the chief entrance is the WI Nun,
; or Meridian Gate. Inside this gate is q
; large court and running through it an
, artificial stream, SPAWNED by five bridges
of scuptured marble.
Another gate at the end Of the bridges
gives admission to the Palace of Supreme
{ Peace, or TaI-ho-tien, the principal hall
of audience.
, Here the dignitaTies OF the empire meet
and kowtow to his majesty To kowtow is
to knee thrice and knock your forehead
on the ground nine times.
To the tnnerGnost palace no man Is ad-
: mitted. 1t is here that the emperor lives,
surrounded by his amounted wives and by
ten thousand eunuchs.
The emperor is compelled 10 rise every
morning at ? o'clock. At 8, by which time
: his toilet is completed. he receives the
ministers. and from that time till 6 is
= occupied with affairs of state. He break
fasts at and dimes at In the afternoon
He then goes TO bed, to be ready TO rise
at a. m.
In spite Of the nurriberless servants IN
the palace. the poor man is perhaps the
worst served master in the world. The
menu for every day is written out long
. time beforehand. and in order to make
sure of having it the cook gets II a month
or 50 ahead of time.
1t is strict etiquette that no single thing
of a kind shall lever be put before his maj
esty. Everything, even the fish. must be
served in pairs. He is rather fond OF good
living, and should NE by chance in the
opinion of any of the doctors, who are al
ways present at every meal eat too much
of any favorite dish. It is never allowed
TO appear again in the menu. The expenses
of the imperial kitchen are enormous. but
with it all the emperS has a sort of Bar
needle feast
The law even provides just what we shall
eat According TO the old Chinese books,
there must be placed daily before him
thirty pounds Of meat in a basin and seven
pounds boiled into soup. lie has a daily
allowance of about a pound of hogs fat
and butter. two sheep, TWO fowls and two
ducks while ms Brink for the day is re-
stricted To the milk of eighty cows and the
sleeping of seventy-iive parcels Of tea
n MS capacity of high priest, the emperor
has 10 offer at least forty-six sacrifices
70 G4LeTcIlA StNAS III tllS Not4tSt OF u ctE
As 10 each sacrifice is dedicated one or
more holidays. which must be passed by
him in complete solitude. the poor mans
time IS pretty wei taken up. These sac
riices are made by him either BY night or
about dawn, and the houses along the
route taken by him. as he Is carried in his
closed palanQuin through the deserted
streets Of the city. are hung with black.
the effect Of which IS unspeakably depress-
ing. II IS also a very strict religious rule
that his majesty salaE offer in ehe course
Of every year many hundreds % six bal
looms before the tablets Of his pre,ieces-
sors, the unh-okan lire % whom extends
back before The lifetime Of our Lord. These
! balloons are made CT The richest silk o.
talnabie. and several OF the imperial six
manufacturers are occupied the whole year
through with the fabrication OF the mate
rial
L IS a CRIME punishable by death 70 look
az his uajesty's Closed palarou.n 1ghen he
goes CUT II 4 curious person peeps out
from behind a curtain or a wall he Is
liable n nd a huIlet o. an arrow n his ere.
| Yellow IS The imperial color. I mzy NOT
b. worn without special permission a the
emperor, Hence The grandeur ot the ye.-
low jacket
TIE emperor conseTs sscrs6ress upon
leery object which he touches. A China