Let's talk about the rumor that "Cixi makes people drive on their knees."
This theory is widely circulated, and the basic plot is:
In 1902, Yuan Shikai sent her a car in order to curry favor with Cixi. Unexpectedly, Cixi sat down only once and then abandoned it. It turned out that the car could not solve the problem of dignity and inferiority, and Empress Dowager Cixi found that the original coachman Sun Fuling had become a car driver, not only sitting but also sitting in front of herself, and her heart was very annoyed, and she immediately ordered him to drive on his knees. Sun Fuling could only drive on his knees according to Yi's will, but his hands could not replace his feet to step on the accelerator and brakes, which almost caused a catastrophe, which frightened the princes and ministers at that time, and they all knelt down and begged Empress Dowager Cixi not to take this risk. Unable to tolerate drivers sitting in front of the car, Cixi lost interest in the car, which was abandoned for a long time. ”
In the film and television drama, "Cixi let the driver kneel and drive"
Yuan Shikai did send a car to Cixi. One of them is still on display at the Summer Palace. However, the saying that "Cixi let the driver kneel and drive" is a rumor with no historical basis.
According to Yu Rongling (daughter of Yu Geng, Chinese minister to Japan, who served as Cixi's personal female official from 1904 to 1907) published in 1957, Yuan Shikai twice paid tribute to Cixi. The first time was "a pair of three-wheeled bicycles", which Cixi liked very much, and once "rode this car around a small bend in the courtyard, supported by eunuchs, and we followed behind". However, "the empress dowager riding three wheels" was indecent in the eyes of the princes and ministers, so on the grounds of "if there is a mistake, everyone can't afford it", they advised Cixi not to ride again, "Cixi was very angry when she heard this, and said to us: You see, even if I ride a bicycle, someone will take care of it."
The second tribute was by car. The specific time is around April 1904. The "News Daily" reported in that year: "Xie Cheng Automobile Narrative Letter Jing Hanyun: The Beiyang Minister contributed eight electric cars to the Empress Dowager, and wang Moujing, the capital of the capital, has been sent to Beijing." Its cars are covered with yellow dragon mantles. The craftsmanship of the carvings and the magnificence of the paving are all combined with the length of the East and the West, which has never been seen in the furnishings. This time, the garden is intended to be used. ”
The "Beiyang Minister" mentioned in the report refers to Yuan Shikai.
The News reported that year
But Cixi never sat in the cars. According to Yu Rongling's recollection, one of the reasons is that it is more dangerous to take a car:
After another period, Yuan Shikai paid tribute to a car, and the driver could not stay here according to the rules, so he drove the car into the courtyard and exited. Cixi took us to see the car, which she liked so much that she wanted to sit up and make a detour in the garden, but no one would drive it. Two eunuchs were curious and wanted to go up and drive, but they didn't understand machines and thought the car was a very simple thing. My mother said to Cixi, 'Let's not let them drive, people who don't understand machines, it's very dangerous to drive.' The result is that no one can open it, only to store it. Cixi never got in a car. ”
Yu Rongling's memories and the reports of The News can be corroborated by the memoirs of American female painter Katharine Augusta Carl.
Ms. Carr came to China in 1903. He first entered the Forbidden City on August 5, 1904, where he was responsible for painting an oil portrait of Cixi and spent several months in and out of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. The car that Yuan Shikai gave to Empress Dowager Cixi was also seen by Madam Carl. She recalled:
"Ouchi also has a new type of transportation agency two. One is the short-distance light railway line. It starts at the entrance to the palace gate and ends outside the empress dowager's bedchamber. Everything is complete. It is slightly smaller than the usual. The person who built this line was a Chinese New Party official who wanted to make the empress dowager aware of the convenience of the railway and its interests. In this way, the empress dowager was enticed to build a plan to build a railway in China. However, the empress dowager did not like to travel here, so the sound of the steam engine was too concussive and the saddle was too deaf. Another one is that the car is also. All of the more than ten vehicles in Ouchi were presented by Chinese officials who went abroad, and those who were pleased by bloggers were also presented. One of them is made of yellow, painted with double dragons, and the glass room has a throne one, which is the car used by the empress dowager. ”
Obviously, the rumor that Yuan Shikai only donated one car is wrong. The media said that eight cars were given away, and Ms. Carr said that she had seen more than a dozen, and although the data was slightly different (probably because there were others who gave them away), they all showed that Cixi owned more than one car that day.
Yuan Shikai paid tribute to Cixi's car. This is a later restoration, which is different from the style of the royal car described by Ms. Carl as "painted with double dragons" and with a "glass chamber".
As for why Cixi did not take the car, Ms. Carl's statement goes like this:
"The Empress Dowager never gave her a try. Then there is a difficult problem to solve. According to the story, the palace supervisor is not allowed to sit in front of the empress, and driving a car must sit. If so, when the empress dowager rides in a car, a driver must sit on her side in front of her seat. Isn't it in great contradiction with the old practice, and there is a loss of the Lord's body? The people in the Forbidden City had been discussing for a long time, and they could not make a decision in the end. However, the empress dowager was eager to try it out, even though it was not a broken rule. In the end, he was discouraged by others. In addition to contradicting the old practice, there is still a fear of unexpected danger. Therefore, when it was given to Ouchi, the empress dowager never tried it. However, Empress Dowager Yuyi's ambition is extremely firm, and she will finally fulfill this wish."
In short, having the driver sit in front of Cixi and drive was indeed a matter of disagreement with the old practice, and it did cause controversy in the palace at that time. But Cixi still decided to put aside the old practice and try the feeling of riding in the car. Unfortunately, others still stopped Empress Dowager Cixi on the grounds of "fear of the danger of accidents.".
"Cixi Portrayal"
This record, and the aforementioned mother of Yu Rongling, on the grounds that "people who do not understand machines, it is dangerous to drive" to persuade Cixi not to try, can be mutually corroborating.
At that time, there were no drivers in the palace who could drive cars skillfully. At that time, cars had just entered China, not to mention the palace, and it was difficult to find Chinese who could drive cars skillfully. It is not convenient to invite foreigners to stay in the harem. The lack of qualified drivers is indeed a problem.
Moreover, even if there is a qualified driver, the people around Cixi will try their best to prevent her from riding in the car in order to be blameless. An example for reference is: in 1890, the Guangxu Emperor got a bicycle from a foreigner stationed in Beijing, rode it once in the Forbidden City, and fell because the braids stuck into the rear wheel, and the people around him never dared to let Guangxu touch the bicycle again.
Moreover, around 1904, the Chinese media was also full of discussions about automobile safety. Kang Youwei, who has traveled overseas and has seen far more than Cixi, has a section in his "Datong Book" (written about 1901~1902) dedicated to "the pain of car collision", and is extremely worried about the car's "galloping electric speed and moving forward", and the slightest carelessness is "the whole car is broken, the characters are flying, the heads and arms are intertwined, and the flesh and blood are in disarray". Kang Youwei, who had traveled overseas, was still like this, and it was understandable that the people in the palace did not want Cixi to risk riding in the car.
From left, Concubine Jin, Rong Ling, Cixi, De Ling, Rong Ling's mother, and LongYu
So, where does the saying that "Cixi let the driver drive on his knees" come from?
According to my speculations, it probably comes from a misinterpretation of Paul Samuel Reinsch's memoirs.
Reinsch served as U.S. Minister to China from 1913 to 1919, publishing his memoirs in the United States in 1922 and dying in 1923. In 1982, the Commercial Press published Chinese edition of Reinsch's memoirs, entitled "Memoirs of an American Diplomat: Memoirs of a U.S. Minister to China from 1913 to 1919."
There is a passage in the book that reads:
At that time, except for the use of cars in the palace courtyard, cars were rarely seen in Beijing; soon hundreds of cars were shipped due to road improvements. Empress Dowager Cixi had a large number of foreign-made cars before her death, and she was very interested in them: but until her death, the Rebbe had not solved the problem of how she could ride in the car when one of her servants, the driver, was still sitting in the car. I thought that if they had more time, they might come up with a way to get the driver to drive the royal car on his knees. But in fact, the poor Empress Dowager Cixi never enjoyed the pleasure of the ride she desperately wanted to try. ”
Rui Enshi only came to China in 1913 and did not have the opportunity to contact Cixi. His above-mentioned text is obviously derived from hearsay - Ms. Carl's memoirs about Cixi have been circulated in the United States, and When Reinsch came to China as a minister to collect information related to China, he probably read Ms. Carl's books. However, Ms. Carl did not mention that the Ministry of Rites participated in the discussion of Cixi's car ride, and there is no evidence that the Ministry of Rites discussed the matter in the existing historical records. The "rebbe" is a personal "assumption" from Reinsch.
Reinsch (1869–1923)
In addition, there are two other noteworthy aspects of Ruiensch's recollection:
(1) According to the original text of the memoir, "Cixi let the driver drive on his knees" is not a historical fact, but a personal idea of Rui Enshi. Reinsch said it very clearly: "I think if they could have more time, they might come up with a way to get the driver to drive this royal car on his knees." This means that "Cixi asked the driver to kneel and drive" did not happen. Unfortunately, after the Chinese edition of Rui Enshi's memoirs was released by the Commercial Press in 1982, the hypothesis of "Cixi let the driver drive on his knees" was misinterpreted as a kind of "historical fact" and appeared in various historical books (according to the author's limited observations and searches, before this, Chinese intellectuals could hardly find the saying that "Cixi let the driver kneel and drive").
(2) In Ms. Carl's memoirs, Cixi is a person who is willing to break the old routine and try to ride in the car. She was unable to get into a car because people around her were worried that the car was dangerous and tried to stop it. In Ruienshi's pen, Cixi's willingness to break the old routine was omitted, and the reason why she could not get into a car became that she still stuck to the old routine. This change may be explained by the "Trap of the King of Lu"—in the Analects, Zigong once lamented: "It is better to be bad than to be good." It is the evil of a gentleman who is inferior, and the evil of the world is returned. The King of Lu did a lot of bad things, but not to the extent of the rumors. However, because he has done a lot of bad things, the bad things in the world have slowly all come to him. The same was true of Empress Dowager Cixi. In the later years of her life, she made the strengthening of imperial power the first priority, and there were many measures that hindered the change of the times (she was not even willing to abolish the imperial examination, and finally the local governors united to take advantage of the great shame and humiliation of the Russo-Japanese War, and Cixi reluctantly agreed). She dug herself into a "trap for the king" and jumped into it. Therefore, in the impression of Reinsch, she should be a stubborn person who insists on not allowing the coachman to sit in front of her.
Returning to the real reason why Cixi was unable to get into a car—being stopped by those around her for lack of safety—we can see another interesting fact: Behind many "old-fashioned" behaviors, there are tangible considerations, not because the brain can't keep up with the times, nor is it conservative for the sake of being old-fashioned. For those who serve Cixi, the greatest interest is that no accidents should happen to Cixi, and in order to ensure their own interests, they must do everything they can to prevent Cixi from touching new things in life. Just as the eunuchs around Guangxu tried their best to prevent Guangxu from riding a bicycle.
Another similar case can be used. Around 1921, Puyi decided to install telephones in the Forbidden City, and the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs rose up against it. Reginald Fleming Johnston, an Englishman, Puyi's foreign teacher, believed that the opponent's reason was: "If the emperor installs a telephone, anyone who knows the emperor's telephone number can call and chat, which is a loss of the emperor's majesty; in addition, if some revolutionary parties and opposition are let know, they may call to insult and insult the emperor." ”
Johnston was a foreigner who did not understand the rules of the Game in the Forbidden City, so he took the statement of the Ministry of the Interior seriously. On the contrary, his student Puyi is well aware that the "conservative" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has practical interests in consideration:
"What the Interior Ministry is most afraid of is not that [outsiders] will offend 'Tianyan', but that I will have more contact with the outside world through the phone." Having a talkative Johnston by my side, especially with twenty or so newspapers, was enough for them. Opening the Beijing newspaper at that time, almost every month there was at least one statement refuting rumors from the Qing Dynasty Office, either denying the Qing Dynasty's contacts with a certain provincial authority or a certain dignitary, or denying that the Qing Room had recently mortgaged or sold any antiquities. Nine times out of ten of these rumors were true, and at least half of them were things they didn't want me to know. With those newspapers, plus a Johnston, they have already been scrambled, and now they have to add a phone, as a third bridge between me and the outside world, will not they be even more defenseless? So they do their best to oppose. ”
Guangxu could not ride a bicycle, Cixi could not sit in a car, and Puyi installed a phone and the crowd around him objected, and its internal logic was basically the same. (Author 丨 Yan Jiulin)
(Source: Tencent News)
Yu Rongling, Trivia of the Qing Palace, Beijing Publishing House, 1957, p. 79.
Kang Youwei, Book of Datong, Chapter 2 of the First Part, "The Suffering of Natural Disasters".
(Us) Paul S. Reinsch, "Memoirs of an American Diplomat: Memoirs of the U.S. Minister to China, 1913-1919," The Commercial Press, 1982, p. 89.
Ai Xinjue Luo Puyi, "The First Half of My Life", Oriental Publishing House, 2007, pp. 24, 119.
Ms. Carr, translated by Chen Tingrui: A Portrait of Cixi, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1917 edition, pp. 176-177.
Johnston, translated by Fu Qiang, Twilight of the Forbidden City, Translation Forest Press, 2016, p. 152.
"Letter of Explanation of the Automobile", The News, April 4, 1904