XXII. THE COURT AND THE NEW EDUCATION



I

The Empress Dowager-Her Early Life

All the period since 1861 should be rightly recorded as the reign
of Tze Hsi An, a more eventful period than all the two hundred
and forty-four reigns that had preceded her three usurpations. It
began after a conquering army had made terms of peace in her
capital, and with the Tai-ping rebellion in full swing of
success. . . .

Those few who have looked upon the countenance of the Dowager
describe her as a tall, erect, fine-looking woman of
distinguished and imperious bearing, with pronounced Tartar
features, the eye of an eagle, and the voice of determined
authority and absolute command. --Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore in
"China, The Long-Lived Empire."


I

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--HER EARLY LIFE

One day when one of the princesses was calling at our home in
Peking, I inquired of her where the Empress Dowager was born. She
gazed at me for a moment with a queer expression wreathing her