travel was by sedan chair and the distance from our house to the
Palace was about thirty-six Chinese li (a three-hour ride), we had
to start at three o'clock in the morning, in order to be there at
six. As this was our first visit to the Palace, Prince Ching's
message threw us into a great state of excitement, and we were
naturally anxious to look our best and to be there on time. It had
been the dream of my life to go to the Palace and see what it was
like, and up to this time I had never had an opportunity, as most
of my life had been spent out of Peking,--in fact, out of China.
Another reason why this chance had never come before was, that my
father had never registered our names (my sister and myself) in
the Government book for the registration of births of Manchu
children, in consequence of which the Empress Dowager did not know
until we came back from Paris that Lord Yu Keng had any daughters.
My father told me the reason why he did not put our names in this
book was, that he wished to give us the best education obtainable,
and the only way he could do it was not to let the Empress Dowager
know. Besides this, according to the Manchu custom, the daughters
of all Manchu officials of the second rank and above, after
reaching the age of fourteen years, should go to the Palace, in
order that the Emperor may select them for secondary wives if he
so desires, and my father had other plans and ambitions for us. It
was in this way that the late Empress Dowager was selected by the
Emperor Hsien Feng.

(comment: li is 1/3 mile or 1/2 km)

We started at three o'clock that morning in total darkness riding
in four coolie sedan chairs, one on each side of the chair. In
going such a long distance it was necessary to have two relays of