Cixi wore expensive earrings for photographs
Empress Dowager Cixi covered the sky with her hands behind the curtain, and controlled the ministers obediently, and even Prince Gong Yi, who helped her achieve a crucial victory, was also trained by her to obey. Many written records are already vague and not intuitive enough, as we can see from the hundreds of photographs left by Cixi.
Cixi never trusted his subordinates, and he did not easily see his subordinates to maintain his own sense of mystery. The communication between Cixi and her subordinates was all based on eunuchs to pass on the words. Therefore, after a long time, the eunuch habit became a problem that the tail could not be lost, and the eunuch was also lawless to the prince and the minister. We can see these details from historical materials. Even from Cixi's photos, some phenomena can be seen. From Cixi's photos, it can be seen that Cixi never took photos with ministers.
Why didn't Cixi take a picture with the chancellor? It is generally believed that it is because men and women are not intimate, but this reason is untenable. Because Cixi accepted photographs after 1900, a large number of her photographs are from this time. At this time, Cixi was already an old woman and did not need to worry about these things. The reason why Cixi did not take pictures with the ministers was because of the eunuch's encouragement.
The reason why Cixi accepted photographs was largely because she saw pictures of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and there were many photos of ministers. Among these photos, male and female group photos are very common, presumably Cixi is not afraid to take photos with male courtiers. She didn't take a picture with her courtiers, mainly because the eunuch asked her not to take a picture with her subordinates.
So who did Cixi take a picture with? As you can see from the photos, Cixi only took photos with two types of people. The first category is the female relatives in the palace, as well as the Fujin and Gege of the princes and ministers, as well as the female officials of the imperial court. Summed up in one sentence, Cixi often took photos with these women. The lowest status among these women is probably Li Lianying's sister. A photograph of Cixi on a boat in the lake features the figure of Li Lianying's younger sister. Li Lianying was castrated, and his sister had a very low status. Cixi condescended to take a photo with her, and must have looked at Li Lianying's face.
Cixi often took photos with another type of person, that is, eunuchs. Eunuchs were an important group of people who served in the palace and were also the people who conveyed Cixi's edicts. Between Cixi and their status, there is a difference between cloud and mud. But the distance from their lives is much closer than the distance with the courtiers. This is also the reason why Cixi took more photos with eunuchs.