Empress Dowager Cixi's life was extravagant. During the Qing government's war with foreign countries, the local government did not even have silver dollars to buy weapons to prepare for the war, but Empress Dowager Cixi still asked her subordinate officials to present treasures to her. Even in the case of the Qing government's heavy debts, she did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to organize a birthday party for herself.
Since she has enjoyed countless treasures in her life, why would she have a fondness for a jade lotus and not allow others to touch it?
What is the function of Cixi's jade lotus? Is there really another untold story between Cixi and Yu Lotus? What is the role of the jade lotus that can win the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi? Or is it that this jade lotus doesn't actually exist at all, but people are spreading false rumors?
First, the tradition of jade
China's jade culture is very long-standing, since ancient times there is a story of "complete Bi return to Zhao" to prove that the ancients valued jade.
In ancient times, people believed that jade had aura, could be auspicious and avoid evil, could maintain health, could prevent diseases, and could not invade all evils. Li Lianying could not sleep day and night because Empress Dowager Cixi could not sleep, so she sought out this jade lotus and dedicated it to the empress. Although these effects of jade may seem like nonsense in today's scientifically advanced era, they were still believed in the feudal and backward dynasties at that time.
As the saying goes, jade has spirituality, "people raise jade for three years, and jade raises people for a lifetime."
The ancients believed that jade could prolong their life and strengthen their bones and bones. The health benefits of jade are also recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica. At that time, Empress Dowager Cixi was already the actual controller of power, and in her old age, those who had been at the peak of their power since ancient times were afraid of death. Empress Dowager Cixi was even more afraid that she would die prematurely because of her sleeplessness. The first record of Empress Dowager Cixi's illness in the Diary of Weng Tonggong:
"Guangxu 6th year of February 3rd Empress Dowager Cixi Eucharist Violation"
From that day on, Weng Tonggong entered the palace almost every day to take the pulse of Empress Dowager Cixi and watch the party.
Although historical materials record the date of Empress Dowager Cixi's illness, the causes of illness are always difficult to overlap, but according to common sense of life, coupled with the background of the times, the medical skills and medical conditions at that time,
We can also deduce that although Empress Dowager Cixi was not infected with serious illnesses, she was certainly plagued by minor illnesses. Empress Dowager Cixi played with the jade lotus day and night, afraid that instead of hoping that the jade lotus would absorb the aura of the jade lotus, she would also let the jade lotus absorb the "dirt" on her own body and drain the sick qi.
Second, symbolize beauty
Empress Dowager Cixi's beloved jade lotus is made of fine mutton fat jade. The size and shape of the jade lotus are similar to the arms, the whole body is crystal clear white, the texture is delicate and moist, "white as a truncated", not mixed with other colors.
In ancient times, there was a saying that "beauty is like jade", and the jade lotus was shaped like an arm, as if it symbolized that Empress Dowager Cixi's arm was as smooth and delicate as white jade, and it was a disguised praise for Empress Dowager Cixi's still young and beautiful appearance.
Although Empress Dowager Cixi manipulated the Qing government's finances, she was essentially a woman and most important to her own appearance. For a jade lotus that can symbolize her own charm, Empress Dowager Cixi seems to have a special love for it.
Jade also symbolizes beauty and nobility in China, symbolizing a noble status. In ancient times, many rich disciples and high-ranking officials and nobles wore jade pendants and jade ornaments around their waists to show their noble status.
In the historical records, Empress Dowager Cixi was particularly fond of lotus flowers, and for a jade lotus that was snow-white and carved from the finest mutton fat jade, everything was so perfect that it was in line with Empress Dowager Cixi's hobbies and could also symbolize her noble status. Then Empress Dowager Cixi's act of loving this jade lotus can also be understood.
Third, the companionship of lovers
In the history of the wilderness, there is also a saying that the jade lotus was originally the property of Empress Dowager Cixi's first love, RongLu, and Empress Dowager Cixi was engaged to Ronglu at an early age.
When Rong Lu heard that Empress Dowager Cixi was unable to sleep at night because of the pressure of the major events in the DPRK, he gave his jade lotus root to Li Lianying, the favorite eunuch of Empress Dowager Cixi's side, and Li Lianying gave it to Empress Dowager Cixi, hoping that this jade lotus could accompany Empress Dowager Cixi instead of himself and let her sleep peacefully.
After receiving the jade lotus, Empress Dowager Cixi loved the jade lotus, and played with it until late at night without knowing it, nor did she allow the maids around her to touch half a point, such as loving the house and wu, seeing the behavior of things and thinking about people.
However, the theory of the source of the jade lotus and whether there was really a marriage contract between Empress Dowager Cixi and Rong Lu has not yet been found for the time being, and can only be listened to as a small folk story, and cannot be fully believed.
When the Xianfeng Emperor died, Empress Dowager Cixi was only 28 years old, and it was said that "a woman is thirty like a wolf, forty is like a tiger", and Empress Dowager Cixi was in the year of a tiger and a wolf but unfortunately widowed.
In some materials, even the specially written book "Biography of the Western Empress" describes the character and harem life of Empress Dowager Cixi, and there have been many folk legends of her affair in the harem, which can be said to be comparable to Wu Zetian.
The arrival of this jade lotus seems to have provided a channel for Empress Dowager Cixi to relieve herself, which inevitably did not arouse people's reverie. However, who can know the affairs of the harem, no historian will specifically record the daily life of the harem concubines. Is this jade lotus really a tool for Empress Dowager Cixi to relieve her?
What the truth is, it is impossible to investigate for the time being. These statements may just be jokes made by harem concubines, maids, and ordinary people when they get together when they are bored, and finally they are heard, so that they are spread, and finally there is a phenomenon of false rumors; it may also be that foreigners look down on the backwardness and decay of the Qing government and deliberately describe these ideas in an attempt to worsen the image of the government.
4. The whereabouts are unknown
In 1928, in order to obtain funds for the replenishment of military supplies, Sun Dianying, a great thief of Tanglin, led a team of more than a dozen people to loot the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi. The burial items inside, such as emerald watermelons and emerald cabbage, were displayed in front of the world with the theft of the tomb. Only Empress Dowager Cixi's favorite jade lotus has since disappeared.
Empress Dowager Cixi's scandals have been going on since she was given the title of "Lan Guiren" in 1852, but most of them were deliberately fabricated by Cixi's political opponents such as "full-liners", reformers, and revolutionaries for public opinion propaganda, and some of the gossip only needed a little distinction to distinguish between true and false.
For the source of the jade lotus, its usefulness, a thousand people have a thousand views, perhaps until one day the jade lotus reappears in front of the eyes of the world, find enough information for historians to study, we can glimpse one or two of these problems.
There is nothing convincing in the world, and for wild history, you can discern and choose to believe, but it is better to believe in books than to have no books. The same is true for history, to keep yourself sober, to think about the meaning of a thing, an object. As Will Durant put it, "Most of history is guessed, the rest is biased."
Text/Not a shocking hit
Resources:
1. "Guangxu Sixth Year (1880) Empress Dowager Cixi's Medication File Confusion Examination", Zhuang Wenyuan, Yang Dongfang
2. "Qingsue Japan"
The Image of Empress Dowager Cixi and Its Influence created by a book" Pan Xiyan
3. "Cixi's Private Money" Jiang Hanqiu
4. Cixi: The Biggest Two-Faced Man in Chinese History
5. "The Correct Solution to the Cixi Doubtful Case", Li Yin and Wang Daocheng
6. "Cixi Waiji", (English) Puland Baike Haosi
7. "The Truth about the Third Opening of the Coffin of Empress Dowager Cixi", Li Baocai