Project Gutenberg's Two Years in the Forbidden City, by The Princess Der Ling

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Title: Two Years in the Forbidden City

Author: The Princess Der Ling

Posting Date: August 6, 2008 [EBook #889]
Release Date: April, 1997

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY ***

Produced by Charles Keller for Sarah

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

By The Princess Der Ling

First Lady In Waiting To The Empress Dowager

TO
MY BELOVED FATHER
LORD YU KENG

FOREWORD

THE author of the following narrative has peculiar qualifications for
her task. She is a daughter of Lord Yu Keng, a member of the Manchu
White Banner Corps, and one of the most advanced and progressive Chinese
officials of his generation. Lord Yu Keng entered the army when very
young, and served in the Taiping rebellion and the Formosan war with
France, and as Vice Minister of War during the China-Japan war in 1895.
Later he was Minister to Japan, which post he quitted in 1898 to become
President of the Tsung-li-yamen (Chinese Foreign Office). In 1899 he was
appointed Minister to France, where he remained four years. At a period
when the Chinese Government was extremely conservative and reactionary,
Lord Yu Keng labored indefatigably for reform. He was instrumental
in reorganizing China's postal service on modern lines, but failed in
efforts to revise the revenue system and modernize the army and navy,
from being ahead of his times. He died in 1905. The progressive spirit
of Lord Yu Keng was shown in the education of his children. When it
became known that his daughters were receiving a foreign education--then
an almost unheard--of proceeding among high Manchu officials-attempts
were made to impeach him as pro-foreign and revolutionary, but he was
not deterred. His children got their early education in missionary
schools, and the daughters later attended a convent in France, where
the author of this work finished her schooling and entered society.
On returning to China, she became First Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress
Dowager, and while serving at the Court