The Transformation of the Qing Dynasty from strong to decay began after the death of the Qianlong Emperor, and after the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, Cixi's reign brought the Qing Dynasty to its demise. As the ruler of power, Cixi did not think about the future at all, only caring about the luxurious enjoyment at that time, for example, Cixi had many rules for going to the toilet, and its degree of luxury was surprising.
Paper is definitely needed to go to the toilet, and ordinary people are definitely straw paper. And Cixi must have used paper, but the paper she used was different, and the paper she used was white cotton paper. Hearing this name is not ordinary, its production process has many steps, very cumbersome, so the price of a piece of paper may be ordinary people's three meals a day, just from the toilet here to know, Cixi's clothing and food is how luxurious.
However, Cixi also has a special habit when she goes to the toilet, that is, she needs the palace maid to take a sip of warm water when she goes to the toilet, so what is this warm water for? Of course, it is certainly not washed as everyone thinks, and although the white cotton paper is good, it has a very obvious disadvantage. For example, in the summer, white cotton paper is easy to dry.
Therefore, Cixi let the maid take a sip of warm water on the side, the purpose of which was to keep the white cotton paper moist and not dry at all times. Moreover, the white cotton paper should not be too dry, nor too wet, otherwise the palace maid would be punished very severely. When you see Cixi going to the toilet, you can know why the late Qing Dynasty was so corrupt and weak.
Even Cixi's living quarters are so luxurious, so whenever he has encountered such a thing, he must have been greatly involved. When outsiders came to attack the Qing Dynasty, Cixi did not care about running her own big birthday, rather than using money to resist foreign enemies. At the same time, I also had to sigh that serving the empress dowager in the palace was also a very hard thing.