The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-31
Gossip About Famous Celestials Who Are Governing The Empire

6Copyright, 1909, by Frank G. Carpenter)
 Pekin, October, 1909. TN HIS great empire of China is still
 very unsettled On the surface A everything Is peaceful enough, but the deaths of the great dowager, krsai An, and the emperor, Kwang Su, have brought new forces to the front, and the warning factions are schem1ng, plotting and fighting for the control of ahe government and the fat things of fhe new civilization.
 And, indeed, the game is worth the .candle China, in its natural resources s1he richest land upon earth, is to be developed. Its mines are to be opened, l3ts railroads built and modern machfn- Eery added to the muscle of its four bundred million hard-working human- hty. It Is to have new systems of tax .ation and the possible squeezes will be senormous. Fortunes incalculable hang ion the trees of the possible future, and Blasting fame awaits those who can bead these almond-eyed children of 1srae1 out of the wilderness of the past into the milk k-and-honey lands of the Twentieth century.
 4 The New Empress DoWager
 At present the imperial family stands mt the top, but even that is divided into factions. The relatives of Pu Vi, the sB-year-old baby whom the great dow ager chose the emperor, have their hands on the machine. and the regent As Prince Shun, this babys father. At the same time. one must remember that iwhen Prince Chuns brother, Kwang pEu, the last emperor, began his reign he was likewise a baby, and that with sfather fully as strong as the present Imperial regent. Nevertheless. the elder hChun had no power through his son, and the government was managed by athe great dowager, who held the reins Ito the day of her death. We have now ,another empress dowager in Tsai Ans hlace, and 1t remains to be seen wheth- Ter she and her party will not over iuhadowed Prince Chun.
 It is said that the new empress dowager has no independence of action. She is Represented as a gentle creature and with fthe backbone of a jellyfish- Within the Spast few months she has given the lie tfo such statements. She has refused to sapprove of many of the extravagant ex- hpenditures inaugurated by her predeces- Esor, and has directed that the bills of Hhe imperial household be cut down. The told dowager had planned improvements at the summer palace which were to cost millions. These have been contermand- aed, the electric lights have been taken bout of certain of the buildings and an .order for a new steam launch on the
 
 1t will be remembered that Tsai An when she first came into the palace, was noted for her modesty and backwardness: and that it was not until her imperial husband died that the officials had any s4dea that she possessed remarkable abil- fdty. Yehonala, the wife of Kwang Su, fhe present empress dowager, is the niece lpf the great dowager and as such she was sforced upon Kwang Su. That young lempero1 Cid not want her but the great Aowager insisted and in order to smooth matters gave Kwang Su as his first con cubtne the girl he had picked out for his wife Indeed it is said that Kwang Su never loved Yehonala and that he some times threw his shoe at her in anger. She may have been a spy of the old em- press and as such have kept her posted on the faith or unfaith of her imperial husband.
 Yehonala is by no means beauty. She i. lean. vrinl1led and yellow. She has bad teeth, stepping shoulders and a sor rowful face She has, however. the ab solute control of the young emperor, to whom she stands In the light of moth CT. with all the authority that comes from that position in China As such she has taken the real place of the Princess tOhun. the wife of the regent, who is lthe baby emperor's real mother. The lat ter does not live in the palace; she has nothing to do with Pu Vi, and has even ito beg for an audience with her own baby son.
 The Prince Regent.
 AS to the prince regent. he isabout z = 4--S {A--