Compiled by Lim SK Illustrated by Tian Hengyu

Translated by Victor Petersen & Clara Show

About the Illustrator

Born in Hejian county, Hebei province in 1941, Tian Hengyupublished his first cartoons when he was still in middle school. He stoppeddrawing cartoons for nearly 20 years after leaving school but took up art againin the late 70s.

His works cover a wide range of themes: ancient and modern, Chinese andforeign. They have appeared in more than 30 magazines. One of his cartoonstrips, Unofficial Biographies of Fools, was serialised in the China PictureStory magazine for several years and honoured as one of the 10 best cartooncreations. It received an award for excellence in both text and pictures. Anotherwork of his, Dictionary of Idioms (Humorous Editions), was also a greathit.

Asiapac Titles illustrated by Tian Hengyu

Popular Chinese JokesBest Chinese JokesPopular Chinese FablesGreat Chinese EmperorsInfamous Chinese EmperorsSecrets of the Chinese PalaceWu Zetian: The Mighty Woman Sovereign of China

Guide to Reading

Opening PageThematic Coverage

Topical Feature

ComicsEasy reading

Illustrated Pages AccessibleComics

Part 1 - Palace Life 1Prologue 2The Chinese Imperial Palace 3The Emperor’s Crown 6The Emperor’s Dragon Robes 7The Emperor’s Diet 8The Imperial Toilet 10Education in the Imperial Palace 11Strictures on Education 12

Part 2 - Members of the Palace 13The Emperor 14Empresses and Concubines 15Selecting the Empress 16Lost an Empire to Make the Empress Laugh 20The Big-footed Empress 33The Empress Dowager who Ran the Government 35Selecting a Concubine from a Picture 49The Goat Cart Selects the Concubine 53King’s Predilection for Tiny Waists 54Palace Women 55Palace Women Plotted To Murder the Emperor 57Eunuchs 64Shu Diao 65Zhao Gao 71Wei Zhongxian 78Li Lianying 85Other Members of the Palace 92

Contents

Part 3 - The Lesser-known Stories of the Emperors 93The Mystery of the Birth of Emperor Qin Shihuang 94Emperor Han Wudi’s Mother was a Divorcee 107Son Marries Stepmother; Father Marries Daughter-in-law 120Was Zhu Yuanzhang a Muslim? 121Zhu Yuanzhang’s Looks 123Shunzhi’s Mysterious Death 124Emperor Qianlong’s Death 125

Part 4 - The Power Struggles 127Parricidal Emperor Yangdi 128Li Shimin Killed Two Brothers 129Emperor Taizong Fights His Brother 131Did Yongzheng Change the Imperial Edict? 133The Jade Seal of State 135Empress Lü Kills Her Enemy 137The Rise and Fall of Wei Zifu 149Zhao Feiyan and Her Sister 165

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The Chinese Imperial Palace

The palace was both the emperor’s home and a symbol of his authority. Forthese reasons, most emperors in ancient times invested large amounts of humanand material resources into making a palace that was suitably large and luxurious.

Qin DynastyThe Xianyang Palace of the Qin Dynasty is said to have covered over70 square kilometres both within and outside the city of Xianyang. The palacehad 270 buildings which were interconnected by covered passages. It is saidthat during the wars that led to the unification of China, as each of the sixkingdoms was vanquished, Emperor Qin Shihuang would build a replica of thatkingdom’s palace in Xianyang into which he would install all the beautiful womenthat had been taken as bounty from the original palace, together with the drums,bells and other insignia from the captured palace.

Qin Shihuang started building the even larger Epang Palace (also spelled as AfangPalace) , but only the front building was constructed within his lifetime.This building was so large that it was said that ten thousand people could sitwithin it, and that 10-metre-high flags could be erected inside. When the QinDynasty eventually fell, Xiang Yu set fire to Epang Palace and it burnedfor three months.

Han DynastyThe capital of the Han Dynasty was Chang’an. Among its famous palaces wereChangle Palace , Weiyang Palace and Jianzhang Palace .Changle Palace was built upon the ruins of Xingle Palace which wasbuilt during the Qin Dynasty. It was here, in Changle Palace, that Liu Bang

, the founder of the Han Dynasty, reigning as Emperor Gaozu , heldcourt.

The Weiyang Palace was also built during the reign of Emperor Gaozu andafterwards expanded by Emperor Wudi . Weiyang Palace was a statelypalace and magnificent. After the reign of Emperor Gaozu, Weiyang Palacebecame the place where the Han emperors held court and managed the government.

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Built during the time of Emperor Wudi, Jianzhang Palace was known as QianmenWanhu since being of such enormous scale, it seemed capable ofhaving 1,000 doors and 10,000 windows. Its most interesting feature was that itsuccessfully brought together palace halls, smaller buildings and gardens togetherinto a single entity.

Tang DynastyChang’an was also the capital of the Tang Dynasty. During this time there werethree major palaces: Taiji Palace , Daming Palace and XingqingPalace . Taiji Palace had been built during the Sui Dynasty as DaxingPalace and renamed Taiji Palace under the Tang. During the early TangDynasty, Taiji Palace was the centre of government. It was from here thatEmperor Taizong ruled over one of the most culturally dynamic periodsin Chinese history, the Reign of Zhenguan . The north gate of TaijiPalace, Xuanwu Gate, was famous for the Xuanwu Gate Incident .It was here that Li Shimin , before he became Emperor Taizong, killedhis brothers, the heir apparent, Li Jiancheng and the Prince of Qi, LiYuanji .

The scale of Daming Palace was even larger than Taiji Palace and XingqingPalace. Construction started during the reign of Taizong and after the expansionunder Gaozong, it became the place of court and the residence of the imperialfamily.

Xingqing Palace was originally the residence of Emperor Xuanzong when helived with Yang Guifei . Later it was converted to a magnificent palace.

Song DynastyThe Northern Song Dynasty capital, Kaifeng, was divided into three regions: theouter city, the inner city and the palace city. The palace city was located at thecentre of the inner city. The palace was not large compared to that of otherdynasties. However, it was exquisitely opulent. The main buildings of the palacewere designed in an H-shaped layout. This type of building shape greatly influencedthe palaces of future dynasties. During the time of Emperor Huizong, the imperialgardens of Huayang Palace (also called Genyue ) were built in theinner city to the east of the palace city. Dotted around the outer city were manysmaller palaces and gardens.

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Qing DynastyThe most complete ancient palace today is Gugong (the Forbidden City

) in Beijing. This was the palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties inwhich 24 emperors lived.

Gugong was built during the reign of theMingDynasty Emperor Chengzu(better known as Yongle) and subsequently extended many times. The palace islaid out in two sections: the outer court and the inner palace. The outer courtwas where the monarch and ministers held government and where all forms ofceremonies were conducted, the principal buildings being Taihe Hall ,Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall . The inner palace was where theemperor, empress and the concubines lived. The most important buildings of theinner palace were Qianqing Palace , Jiaotai Hall , Kunning Palace

and the six East-West Palaces.

According to folk legend, Gugong has 9,999 rooms. The reason for this unusualnumber is that the palace must not offend heaven. The Jade Emperor , thesupreme deity of Taoism, is said to live in a heavenly palace with 10,000 rooms.As a mere vassal of heaven on earth, the emperor could not be so presumptuousas to overtake heaven, and so Gugong was built with half a room less. A scientificaudit of Gugong, however, reveals that there are only 8,707 rooms.

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The Emperor’s Crown

During important ceremonies, theancient emperors wore ceremonialhats called mian on which beadsof jade were hung at the front andback. On top of the mian was arectangular shape called yan ,which was high at the back andsloped towards the front. The yanwas slightly sloping to the front,symbolising the fact that the emperorwas looking downwards at the peopleand caring about them.

In front of the yan were hung threadsof jade beads called liu . Accord-ing to the Ming History, at the frontand back of the yan hung 12 liu; oneach liu were 12 beads of jade, thecolour of which were red, yellow,blue, white and black. The liu hungdown, blocking the emperor’s viewand reminding him that he should notventure to see things that should notbe seen.

There were holes on either side of the crown through which hairpins were insertedto hold the crown onto the bun of the emperor’s hair. On one end of the hairpinwas tied silk thread, which passed under the chin and was tied to the other pin.On either ear were hung decorative jade called ear plugs. These were to remindthe emperor not to listen to rumour. It is said that the inventor of the crown wasthe mythical Yellow Emperor, or Huangdi , who through the crown taughtthe proper way to look and listen, influencing enlightened behaviour. Originallydukes and princes wore nine, seven or five liu, while the son of heaven wore 12.Later, the yan and liu became the exclusive right of the emperor to wear.

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The Emperor’s Dragon Robes

In ancient China, the symbol of the dragon was associated with the emperor andimperial power. On the emperor’s ceremonial robes were drawings of dragons,usually nine in number: three each on the front and back, one each on the leftand right shoulder and one dragon hidden within the lapel. The ‘dragon robes’were for the exclusive use of the emperor.

Another type of robe similar to the dragon robes were the ‘python robes’. Py-thons had four claws, one fewer than dragons, and were the robes that courtofficials of the Ming and Qing Dynasties wore during court and at ceremonies.

The dragon robes that the emperor wore were yellow, it being the symbol of theemperor. During the Qin Dynasty the emperor wore black clothing, since theQin liked the colour black. In theHan Dynasty, yellow was chosenand this trend developed until in theTang Dynasty it became law thatonly the emperor could wear yellowclothing and yellow became thesymbol of the emperor.

Why was yellow chosen? Each ofthe five directions, north, south,east, west and centre had its owncolour and yellow was the colourof the ‘centre’. For this reason itwas considered appropriate that theemperor who was at the centre ofthe empire should use this colour.

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The Emperor’s Diet

During the Shang Dynasty, there were very strict customs regarding food rank.Each day the son of heaven ate three meals and the menu typically included sixgrains, six meats, six drinks, 120 delicacies and eight rarities. When the son ofheaven ate, musicians played to stimulate his appetite. Food doctors also came toselect medicinal food for the son of heaven.

During the Qing Dynasty, the emperor had two proper meals each day, breakfast(usually at between 6 and 7 in the morning) and lunch (between 12 and 2 duringthe day). The place where meals were taken was usually the bedroom or office.

Before the emperor ate, the eunuchs would test the emperor’s food with silkutensils and taste a few mouthfuls to guard against poisoning. It was only whenthey were sure that there was nothing irregular that the emperor would starteating. Standing to one side, the eunuch who served the food would watch theemperor’s eyes and if the emperor looked at any dish would quickly take it to theemperor’s side.

The Qing Palace had a rule that “food shall not exceed three mouthfuls”, whichis to say that the emperor would not eat more than three mouthfuls of any food.The purpose of this rule was to stop people knowing what type of food theemperor liked, in order to prevent people from poisoning his food.

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In addition, it was to safeguard the emperor against indigestion (they were wor-ried that if the emperor ate too much of the food he liked he would have indiges-tion) and becoming partial to certain food.

Thus when the emperor ate, although there were abundant delicious food available,he could only eat a little of the food that he really liked and his meal could not beenjoyed to the fullest. The emperor usually ate by himself, and although he couldsummon a wife, prince or princess to eat with him, he would focus strictly on themeal while eating, unlike a commoner who could happily eat with his family,talking and laughing at the same time. After the emperor had eaten, the leftoverfood would be given to the concubines and ministers.

Following the meal, the emperor would gargle, drink tea and eat fruit and theeunuch in charge would hand over the cards for the officials requesting anaudience, letting the emperor decide who to meet. After finishing tea, the em-peror would change clothes and prepare to meet the ministers.

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The Imperial Toilet

According to records, the palaces of the Han Dynasty had commodes andchamber pots made out of jade that were called huzi (meaning ‘little tigers’).The emperor’s retainers would hold the huzi to make it convenient for the emperorto go to the toilet whenever he wished. In the Tang Dynasty, huzi were calledshouzi (meaning ‘little beasts’) or mazi (‘little horses’). The Qingemperors, empresses and concubines used toilets that were called guanfang

(‘official houses’) which were looked after by special eunuchs.

According to records, the Empress Dowager Cixi’s guanfang wasmade from sandalwood and on the outside was carved a large gecko. The gecko’smouth was slightly opened to hold the toilet paper. Along the gecko’s back wasa lid which could be opened to enable the user to sit and use it. In the guanfangwas sprinkled some dry pinewood sawdust to mask the unpleasant odour.

Empress Dowager Cixi liked to fuss over her guanfang. The palace womenwould run about getting things ready, then the eunuchs would wrap the guanfangwith embroidered cloth and carry it on their heads to just outside the EmpressDowager’s sleeping quarters where it would be taken into a clean room for theEmpress Dowager to use. After ablutions were performed, the palace womenwould carry the guanfang out and give it to the eunuchs. The eunuchs wouldonce again wrap it in cloth and carry it out. After washing, they would replacethe pinewood sawdust and make sure that it was ready for the Empress Dowagerto use whenever needed.

11

Education in the Imperial Palace

The education of the imperial children of the Qing Dynasty ranks as perhaps thestrictest in Chinese history. When the sons of the emperor were six, they went tothe upper library to study. The upper library was specially built as the school ofthe imperial sons, its location close to the emperor’s living quarters to make itconvenient for the emperor to oversee what was happening whenever he wished.

Supervising the education were masters and anda (a Manchu word meaning‘teacher’). The masters taught the five classics, poetry and other Chinese texts.There were several anda, teaching the Mongolian and Manchurian languages,archery and shooting from horseback.

The sons of the emperor would go to the upper library early in the morning andwould study until the afternoon. While studying, their clothing would have to beneat, their actions proper and the children would have to show respect to theirteachers.

The imperial sons were not allowed to take holidays from study whenever theywished. Holidays for the children were very rare and on only a few specialoccasions each year could the children takea day off school. These occasions wereNew Year, the Emperor’s birthday,Dragon Boat festival, Mid-Autumnfestival and on the student’s ownbirthday.

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Strictures on Education

In order to teach their children and grandchildren, the emperors left behind alarge number of household rules.

Han Dynasty founder Liu Bang wrote the PersonalEdict for the Prince in which Liu Bang reflectedon how he himself had not studied well in the pastand instructed his son to be diligent in his studies.

Tang Dynasty Emperor Taizong wrote for hisson, Prince Li Zhi (later to becomeEmperor Tang Gaozong ) abook about the principles of themonarch called The Emperor’sRules. Through an analysis ofthe success and failure ofancient emperors, he set out a list of actions which the emperor should eitherconscientiously do or stringently avoid.

Zhu Yuanzhang , founder of the Ming Dynasty, led the editing of TheMing Ancestral Training , which besides serving as training for hissons and grandsons, became the basis for all the ground rules upon which theMing imperial family functioned.

Qing Dynasty Emperor Kangxi loved learning and was very involved yetstrict towards the education of the princes. He would often go to the upperlibrary and personally check the progress of the princes’ education. He stressedthe importance of the moral education of the princes. The book Maxims onFamily Education collected and recorded his instructions to his sonsand grandsons. For example, they should respect their elders and ancestors;they must be diligent in study and persevere; they should live simply, and shouldnot become addicted to alcohol and sex.

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The Emperor

In the ancient dynasties, the emperor was thesupreme ruler, also called ‘son of heaven’,expressing the view that the Chinese monarchyreceived its authority from heaven.

Since the emperor’s authority came directly fromheaven, if his actions offended heaven, as incommitting tyrannical and unjust acts or makingthe populace suffer, then the people had the rightto overthrow him.

The title of ‘emperor’ or huangdi inChinese was created by Emperor Qin Shihuang.After unifying the six kingdoms, he felt that hehad the virtue of the three huang (Suiren ,Fuxi , Shennong ) and the ability of five di (Huangdi , Zhuanxu

, Diku , Yao , Shun ) and so combined the expressionshuang and di, previously used as polite forms of address, and called himself ShiHuangdi or Emperor Shi. The use of the expression huangdi or emperor continuedthroughout history.

Although the emperor had absolute power and could enjoy the highest standardof living, there were not many emperors who lived to a ripe old age. The palacewas a place of trickery and deception, full of competition for power and throughoutthe dynasties, there were innumerable instances of treachery as claimants forthe throne competed with one another. This environment undoubtedly cut shortmany emperor’s lives. Furthermore, early marriage and the numerous concubinesthat the emperor was obliged to enjoy would have also adversely affected hishealth.

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Empresses and Concubines

The emperors were allowed to have more thanone wife. The legal wife of the emperor wascalled the empress; the others were referredto as concubines. The emperor could havemany concubines, but only one empress. Thejewelled throne of the empress was thereforecoveted by all women of the palace.

How did someone become empress? For mostemperors, their first empress was not chosenby himself but rather by the empress dowagerif he had already become emperor, or by hisfather the emperor and the empress if he wasstill yet to ascend the throne. The vast majority of these empresses came fromhigh-ranking noble families. If the empress did not secure the love and approvalof the emperor, her position would be in danger. The emperor could find one ofmany excuses to depose an empress and install a new one in her place. The fateof a deposed empress was for the most part very tragic. Some were imprisonedaway from sight; others killed or forced to commit suicide in order to avoid evenworse punishments.

After an emperor died, the crown prince would ascend to the throne as the newemperor and the old empress, the new emperor’s mother, would become theempress dowager. In the event that the emperor wasstill an infant, the empress dowager would hold courton his behalf. The empress dowager would hold courtin the front palace, meeting with the ministers as theemperor himself would. However, since men andwomen were not allowed such contact, the empresswould sit behind a curtain so thatthe ministers could not seeher face. This was called“listening to court frombehind the curtain”.

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Though the emperor could have numerousconcubines, there could only be oneempress. Naturally, selecting the empresswas a stringent procedure. One of the moredetailed records of such a procedure couldbe traced to the reign of Liu Zhi, also knownas Emperor Huandi of the Han Dynasty.

On the 25th day of the 5th lunar month, AD 147,Emperor Huandi summoned a female palaceofficial, Wu Shuo.

Thisis my notice

of selection ofempress. Hand

it over toShan Chao.

Yes.

The following day, Wu Shuohanded the notice to ShanChao.

News of the virtuousand gentle Liang Ying,daughter of the lateGeneral Liang Shang,has reached thepalace. I hereby orderShan Chao and WuShuo to visit the Liangresidence to observeLiang Ying’s behaviourand examine her looksand figure. I expect atrue and thoroughreport for I intend topick her as a candidatefor empress.

Selecting the Empress

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Mrs Liang, getready to receive

the imperialedict.

Pleasehave a seat.

My daughter willbe here in a

moment.

Miss Liangdoes have anelegant figure

and poise.

Please returnto your room. I’m

under instructions togive you a thorough

checkup.

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Bright andexpressive eyes,crescent brows,

cherry lips, pearlyteeth, ingot-likeears, lily-white

complexion, well-balanced nose,full chin, lovelycheeks. Perfect

features!

Jet-black hair that shines,makes eight full rounds whenbound around the hand,reaches all the way to the floorwith another 12.5 centimetresto spare.

I’m done withyour face and hair.

Please take offyour clothes.

Don’tbe shy. Athorough

checkup is amust in the

selectionprocess for

empress.

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I’m going to sealmy report and give itto the Emperor and

the EmpressDowager.

The EmpressDowager and Ihave read yourreport. We’revery pleased

with it.

Minister of Rites,Yang Shan’an! At your

service.

I hereby orderyou to overseethe wedding

arrangements.

Yes!