The Purple Spring Palace locked yanxia and wanted to take Wucheng as the emperor's family. The jade seal does not return to the corner of the sun, and the golden sail should be to the end of the world. - Li Shangyin, "Sui Palace"
If there is one of the most mysterious and sacred places in modern Chinese history, it must be a description of the Forbidden City. As an ancient royal palace, it is magnificent, majestic, and inherently gives people an inaccessible sense of high coldness. But it is also this feeling, it is like a cage, the people inside want to come out, the people outside want to go in.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, there were only four kinds of people who could enter the Forbidden City, harem concubines, emperors, eunuchs and courtiers, in front of this majestic palace, there were hidden killing machines everywhere. So whenever you enter here, without extreme caution and alertness, you may be able to provoke the disaster of killing yourself that day.
And our protagonist today is such an "unlucky" eunuch, who has lived in Bauhinia City for many years, has seen the world's cold and warm, the royal family alternates, and has seen the luxurious life and people's livelihood hardships. In the end, he wrote his story into a biography and made a movie, and he was the last eunuch of the Qing Dynasty, Sun Yaoting.
1. Sun Yaoting, who was born in a bitter background
All along, the voice of all eunuchs has been: "If it is not a poor family, who wants to be a eunuch?"? That's a good thing to say. Although eunuchs can enter the court, if they are clever and alert to serve the emperor, then the future prospects are unlimited. But under such a bright future, hidden is the loss of man's dignity.
Not only that, the ancients once said: "No filial piety has three nothings to be greater"! The eunuch who has lost his life root can be imagined as humble as an identity. In addition, as a profession of serving people, it is always facing the disaster of killing. If you say something wrong, you may face death, so at that time, all the eunuchs and palace ladies in the court were in awe, but they wanted to survive.
Our protagonist today, Sun Yaoting, is one of the most alert and intelligent eunuchs. Sun Yaoting's family is also very poor, although he has been exposed to basic education and has been in school for a few days, but because the family has no money, he was finally arranged to go to the palace, but the most interesting scene happened!
When Sun Yaoting entered the palace to prepare to become a eunuch, in fact, the reform of democracy and republicanism had begun outside the palace. However, Sun Yaoting did not know the news, and after the net, he was in pain and unconscious for three days. Three days later, Sun Yaoting woke up, the world had changed, there was no longer a so-called emperor, and the imperial system that had lasted for thousands of years in China was overthrown.
At this time, Sun Yaoting fell into a dilemma, first of all, his own knife had already been beaten, how to bring into the palace as a eunuch. However, according to the laws of the Republic of China, the profession of eunuch was no longer allowed, and the imperial system was overthrown, and he was confused about where to go.
So he chose to wait. Not that Yuan Shikai usurped the fruits of the revolution, Puyi openly recruited eunuchs in disregard of the provisions of the laws of the Republic of China. I heard that I could be a eunuch again, so Sun Yaoting seized the opportunity and chose to enter the palace. In 1916, the 15-year-old Sun Yaoting entered the palace as he wished, becoming a real eunuch.
Although being a eunuch is a very hard and humble profession, even so, it is impossible to enter the palace and become a eunuch without money. The eunuchs who have been dealing with money for many years are all snobs, and if they want to come here, they must have power without money. However, Sun Yaoting's family had neither money nor power, and his life was very bitter.
But fortunately, Sun Yaoting was very clever, and he served the imperial concubine Duan Kang and the last empress Wanrong in his life, and it was this experience that allowed him to learn many royal secrets. It was also this rich experience that made him look down on the suffering of the world and the grace and magnificence of the palace, and finally published an interesting book in his later years.
2. The last eunuch of the Qing Dynasty
Although Sun Yaoting entered the palace, the first test soon came. His own family is poor, his body is relatively weak, coupled with his young age, the heavy physical work in the palace makes him a little overwhelmed. Doing the most inferior work every day, he has been stoic, he is waiting for an opportunity.
Soon this opportunity came, there was a chance for the Imperial Princess to listen to the play, and the story of Sun Yaoting's astuteness reached the ears of the Imperial Concubine, and the Imperial Concubine was very interested in this eunuch, so she summoned him to serve. Sun Yaoting's keen intuition thought that this was a perfect opportunity to ascend to the throne, so he desperately expressed himself, and the imperial concubine was very happy and let the little eunuch serve him.
Since then, Sun Yaoting, who served around the Imperial Princess, could not only catch enough oil and water, but also no longer had to do dirty work. Because Sun Yaoting has read books for several years, coupled with many years of mixing at the bottom, his ability to sneak around and observe the color of speech can be described as a must. Soon his second opportunity came.
Soon Empress Wanrong also took a fancy to the little slave and transferred him to her side. Here, Sun Yaoting can be regarded as the peak of the eunuch, but at the peak must be very careful, Sun Yaoting understands this truth very well. In Bauhinia City, life was no longer his own, so Sun Yaoting had always been very careful.
According to Sun Yaoting's memoirs of "The Last Eunuch of the Qing Dynasty", he said: "During the service to the empress, not only did he not worry about money, but he could also see many secret anecdotes." So what is the so-called anecdote secret in his mouth? Let's take a look at his memoirs!
3. Memoirs of Secret Stories
According to Sun Yaoting's memoirs, Empress Wanrong has many anecdotes and secret histories, and the most impressive thing is that when Wanrong bathed, she did not shy away from men. It is said in the record that when the queen took a bath, the whole process was not done by herself, and the whole process was done by the eunuch to undress, pour water, and so on.
And in this process, all the water temperature is to be strictly controlled, if the water temperature is too low or too high, it may lead to the disaster of killing. After the bath, Wanrong usually had to look at her figure in the mirror, and the eunuchs had to kneel the whole time in the process, often taking a bath, and their legs were sore.
From this point, it can be seen that Wanrong's living state at the end of the Qing Dynasty was still very luxurious, although it was not as good as the bathing specifications of Empress Dowager Cixi, but this specification was not low. Their extravagant lifestyle has become a norm, and the royal family's interpretation of the clothes to reach out and eat to open their mouths has accelerated the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
There are many more such stories in Sun Yaoting's memoirs, and the secrets of the court recorded in his memoirs can be said to be the epitome of every dynasty. Perhaps it is the accident of history that allows him to reappear in the human world, allowing us to see how the real royal family lived.
epilogue:
The profession of eunuch is very tragic, as the opening chapter says: "If it is not a poor family, who wants to be a eunuch"? But Sun Yaoting's life was wonderful, he had the privilege of seeing the establishment of new China, and published the mysterious court anecdotes to let everyone know.
Today, there is no bauhinia city anymore, and it has become a more monumental Forbidden City. At the same time, the Forbidden City is no longer a cage of freedom and thought, under the baptism of new ideas, it has become a mirror for us to remember history, let us know that the rise of new China is so necessary.
Reference: Sui Palace, The Last Eunuch in China