Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-08-23
A SLAVE GIRL EMPRESS.
Career of the Woman Who Has Ruled
Chinese Affairs.

Kuan Foy, a scholarly Chinese mer-
chant, and one of the most prominent
members of his race in the east, tod
for the New York Herald the history OF
the romantic rise of the empress
dowager from the lot of a slave girl,
and of her first meeting with Lii Hung
Chang wh''e he was a poor sailor lad
on a river boat and she was on her
way in bondage to the imperial city in
which she rose to supreme power.
Kuan Foy, in his native land of mys-
terry and millions, was military Of
fetal. SO far as may be in his own
words his story of the empress and
the statement is here repeated:
"ruen, the dowager empress OF
China, was once a slave. Her story is
strange, and one of the most remark
able features of it is that Ii Hung
Chang, China's greatest man, was at
the same time a rough, ignorant sailor
lad, earning a living on one of the
boats of the Hun-Ho, and that to the
slave girl fell the chance of rewarding
him for very brave deed. Strange,
lnAttis THAI NtCct tWO Ailtl ny NuduNC
while both were in obscurity should
rise to play two such different and i'm
pOrtdnt parts in what promises to be
the last scene of the drama of the
Chinese empire, or. at least. of the
Manchurian dynasty. The events OF
she past year point with certain figure
20 the end.
"Tuen. being a gir- OF Mancnurian
lowgrade official. suffered the con-
tGmely OF Chinese females. However,
her feet were not bound. and to this
fact, a seemingly minor circumstance,
tho great things in Chinese history
for the last 80 years are due. Ii her
feet had been bound she would never
have risen from slavery to the rule Of
the empire.
"A rebellion in her fathers Yamen
district rendered her family destitute,
and though but IL years OF age, she
petitioned her father to sell her as a
slave so that her brother might be
educated and her mother fed Her
father consented and sold her to the
then viceroy of his district. and little
'Tuen passed away from her family.
never to know them again until years
later her agents sought out her brotner
and she took him TO live inside the
imperial city, though she could not
take him within the purple forbidden
city. He was made Manchuriap
prince and received great estates.
Soon after she was taken into the
v.ceroy's household she heard her
master mention an elaborate tunic he
had seen at court. She listened 10 his
description of it's elaborate embroidery.
and II months later her child's hands
had finished one which was a duplicate
by description. The viceroy was as.
founded. and asked her to name any
wish she had and il should be granted.
"She hesitated. and then. kneeling nj
his feet, begged 10 be taught TO read.
He told her that IL was impossible for 4
girl TO learn to read She said 1t was
not her fault that she had been born
girl. and that the gods had been
cruel TO her. The viceroy was so inn
pressed with her request. however, that
he sent master to begin instructlng
her, and 10 his establishment they
found she already knew much and was
we'll along. selt-taught. She mastered
Nanchu. Mongol. and Chinese. and
there are some who say that in the
last 10 years she has added English
secretly.