Year: 1873

/ @AAsoOs


A Pekin letter to the London News
says;


The Emperor is said to be seventeen
years old, but that means that he is only
fifteen. Every Chinaman has the right
TO add an extra year to his age, and the
Emperor has the right OF adding two
years. AS yet he is supposed not to
have seen his future consort, and will
not see her till she arrives at the palace
on the day Of the marriage. For lover
this would be hard condition of things,
but imperial love seems to be very
different matter from the ordinary ar
ticle in common life. One could suppose
an ardent youth placed as the imperial
bridegroom is situated, and trying to
imagine his future wife, that he might
form an ideal of her, and something like
the feeling of love might exist. This
does not seem to be the case; at least it
is hard to suppose it can be from what
is reported to be going on. Everything
he does, and the conduct of every one
about him is rigidly defined in a book
of ceremonies. Every event in the
Emperor's life, from his birth to
his death, is regulated by this book,
which is said to extend to about
two hundred volumes. In such an ample
code there will be, no doubt, many vol
umes DEVOTED to such an important event
as the addition of an empress to the i'm
perial dignity, but it is difficult to un-
deIstand how the art of love " can be
taught to an imperial code, however vol.
luminous, or by four professors of mat
rimony" The dream ofthe humpbacked
girl may indicate the existence OF feel
ings which may exist or thrive in spite
of this overpowering code OF rules. 1t


is hard to imagine what the real charac-
ter of an emperor of China really is. He
ia so shut ont Of the world that he is
called, among many titles, tho Solitary
Prince" and he may truly be said to be
as lonely as q god. State officials only
approach him in a PROSTATE attitude,
and must 60 through the ceremonies or
duties according to the dictates Of this
book of two hundred volumes. Not a
remark, not even word or smile, to ex-
press or communicate thought or feel
ing can take place, and he has been
so from his cradle. One wonders if q
soul 30 isolated as this from all other
souls can possibly have grown and been
developed. Can heart so carefully
kept away from contact with all other
hearts possibly feel like the rest of man
kind? What he is no one can really find
out. A writer wanting to describe such
character cannot get the slightest in
formation. An artist desiring portrait
can only do so by evolving it out of his
inner consciousness. Photographers
have come to Pekin and tried every
means, but found all to be hopeless.
One photographer offered to have the
camera all arranged, so that his presence
would not be required but Son of the
Sun would not even allow the sun the
exclusive right of portraiture. 1t is
highly probable there is nothing in the
200 volumes as to how an Emperor
ought TO sit when being photographed,
and had he tried to de so, the chances
are that be would have looked in two or
three directions during the sitting, and
the result vonld not have been tlatter-
ing likeness. What an Emperor of China
would think, or how the satellites about
him might act, on seeing lot OF
smudges as The likeness of him
who sits on the Dragon Throne it
is impossible to say; my opinion is that
it is lucky thing for the photographer
his request was refused. This seclusion
of the Emperor has also to be carried
out in relation to the Empress, and it
results that all the ceremonies of the
marriage are hid from the vulgar eye.
The bride viii no doubt be more strictly !
hid than even her husband, for officials
who have TO see him on state business
will be excluded from any chance Of
seeing her. The extreme Of Oriental
seclusion is the rule in the Imperial
harcm at Pekin. The Empress can be |
seen by no male relative, and only BY /
her mother and sisters at rare intervals. |
With such conditions TO begin with, a
marriage becomes very peculiar sys- |
tenn of ceremonies. The Unseen is what
has to be dealt with, aud from it, as a
Rrst element, pageants and rites have to
be constructed. SO far as it is a show /
Hamlet has to be entirely left out Of the |
piece, and it is very curious 10 see how
i has all been managed.


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