Cixi Yuelian was the most criticized woman in the Qing Dynasty, and as the de facto supreme ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, she exercised power for nearly half a century. In the past half century, the Qing Dynasty has gone downhill with an irreparable decline, and when the Qing Dynasty was declared demise in 1912, even though she had been dead for 4 years, she could not help but be blamed for becoming a sinner of the Qing Dynasty.
It is said that the life of ancient women was quite miserable, and the concubines who married into the palace were not much better, and if they did not get the favor of the emperor, their lives would be quite difficult. However, Cixi clearly did not fall into this category, she was born in 1835, drafted into the palace at the age of 17, and then was favored by the Xianfeng Emperor for 9 years, and was allowed to express political opinions.
In 1861, when the Xianfeng Emperor died, Cixi was only 26 years old, and she became the empress dowager at a young age, which was really quite pitiful. However, after 47 years of widowhood, Cixi, who should have been sympathetic, was not only disliked by many ministers because of her behavior of pro-court title, but also her popular opinion of the people became worse and worse.
After Cixi's death, many rumors and gossip about her spread in folk and wild history, and they became more and more popular. However, many of the stories were fabricated in order to smear Cixi and satirize Cixi for missing the Qing Dynasty, and the authenticity still needs to be examined, among which the one that has been widely circulated is the gift of "jade lotus" to Cixi's confidant, Grand Eunuch Li Lianying.
It is said that Li Lianying once created a jade lotus root for Cixi, which has green lotus leaves and pink lotus flowers. What's more, there are still a few black water chestnuts hanging next to the lotus, smooth and warm. After Receiving Li Lianying's gift, Cixi loved it very much, and would take it with her every day to play with it and wear it when she slept. Later, when Cixi died, he also asked that the jade lotus must be buried with him.
Jade lotus should be a symbol of auspicious objects, not to mention that the ancients believed in the best jade to raise people, often worn around can also be soft and strong bones, dredging blood veins. However, this jade is a jade lotus that will make people think of it, and the person who is the jade lotus is Li Lianying, who originally had an ambiguous message with her, which inevitably will not make people have a rumor about Cixi.
Later, the word "jade" in the jade lotus was also passed down as "desire", and "lotus" was passed on as "even", alluding to the shameful things between Cixi and Li Lianying. This kind of thing is untenable, but in order to support their own views, the rumors have forced Li Lianying not to be clean.
Folk who do not like to listen to the gossip of the royal family, especially the scandal of the empress dowager, who is hated by everyone, everyone is more willing to believe. In this regard, the palace ladies or eunuchs who had served Cixi in the imperial family all came out to refute the rumors. Rong'er, a palace maid who had served Cixi for 8 years, once talked about Cixi's private life in the "Palace Women's Past Talks".
Rong Er said that there was absolutely no such thing in the palace, and it was not allowed to happen. Don't look at the group of palace women around Empress Dowager Cixi, but more to "monitor" Cixi's every move. All her words and deeds will be recorded, and the palace maid will be on duty 24 hours a day.
Rong Er has never heard of any scandal after staying with Cixi for 8 years, and can only lament that even if she is the supreme ruler of the dynasty, as a widow, she is not free enough. And even if the jade lotus really has that kind of use, Cixi, as a widow, can't remarry, and there is nothing wrong with using it, but she dares to say something else.
Then again, the "jade lotus" was rumored to have a nose and an eye, but Cixi's jade lotus had never been seen by anyone. In 1928, Sun Dianying also went to steal the Bodhisattva Yuding Dongling Tomb where Cixi was buried, and looted all the gold and silver jewelry inside.
There are countless national treasures circulating from Cixi's mausoleum, such as the night pearl, blue tourmaline dragon pendant, emerald cabbage, etc., all produced by Cixi Mausoleum, but no one has ever seen the jade lotus that Cixi wants to designate for burial. Some people say that this jade lotus has been lost, after all, there are also national treasures such as jade watermelons, jewelry on the Linglong white jade pagoda, and coral trees. However, the jade lotus was difficult to distinguish whether it was true or false, and it was difficult to distinguish whether it had ever existed or not, and it could only "grievance" Cixi who had been carrying the insult.