"The Palace Maid's Conversations" basically restores the whole process of Cixi's daily bathing.
There are 3 things to highlight that I want to mention.
A: The dragon chair used by Cixi to sit when she bathed.
B: Silver bathtub.
C: Hundreds of bath towels.
When washing the upper body, use its bathtub A, Cixi wears special bath pants, unbuttons her jacket, sits down for a while, and waits for the 4 bathing maids to act. The whole process is more like a bath than a water bath.
The 4 slaves and maids who were only present couldn't be completed, and there were rough palace maids outside the bathhouse.
Then there's soap.
Wipe dry.
Upper flower water.
The last step: sweep the tail.
It should be noted that the water in the silver basin should not be stained in the slightest. That is, the towel can only be wet once. After use, throw it away and replace it with a new one. Therefore, wiping the upper body consumes nearly 70 towels. After washing, the bath water in the tub is still clear and bright.
Then wash the lower half of the body.
It wasn't until Cixi changed her clothes and got up from the dragon chair that the whole process was over. The tarpaulin laid on the floor after Cixi's departure had to be kept clean, thanks entirely to the careful and skillful operation of the palace maids.
How is it not complicated, and it is not arranged in a row?
The aristocracy used slaves and maids, just like ordinary people today use air conditioners, unkempt heads, and bath bombs when bathing. It's not just about solving problems, it's about mood, convenience and efficiency.
Slaves and maidservants must go through many years of training before they can be selected as valets.
The requirements for details are very strict, even the action of lighting a cigarette for Cixi, practicing for 6 months, is very proficient at the age of 60, and has become muscle memory.
Cixi went to the toilet. When you send the toilet, you can't use your hands, but you can use your head to feed it, and when it's over, you leave with the toilet full of yellow and white things on your head.
Both Cixi and the palace maids took this for granted.
Different slaves and maids have different levels of clothing and movements, just like your family's bath bomb brand, you think it is more advanced than the neighbor's.
The shoes mentioned in this article are equivalent to luxury brands in the eyes of passers-by when we go out.
If you want to learn more about the daily life of ancient nobles, you can read "The Records of the Palace Maids". This is not my current YY online article and TV series, which basically restores many details in the palace, so that you can really understand what a feudal dynasty is.
Meat eaters can reveal all their privacy without embarrassment under the gaze of their slaves, because the slave is an object in front of the nobility, detached from the definition of a person, in addition to the function of use, but also the slave itself.
Every expression and movement of the slave and maid must go through harsh training, and in the repeated training, the slave and maid slowly accept the definition of becoming an object.
The standard format for itemization.
It can be specific to every detail of life.
The rules of use of itemization.
Ontological cognition of objectification.
These palace maids have no culture, and the meaning of survival is to serve people to the extreme. With this premise, the nobility is really the embodiment of wisdom and taste in front of them. If the Empress Dowager Cixi is in a good mood and gives a smile, it is estimated that she will feel how magnanimous her master is and what a great reward she has given.
It's just a fleeting illusion, and most of the time you have to think of yourself as a take-and-take, just like you are a non-verbal appliance.
In the end, in order to make myself forget the trauma caused by the long-term inhuman experience, I have to hypnotize myself and treat it as beautiful and proud. As the palace maid who left the Forbidden City, the feeling of glory revealed from the text has not diminished for decades.
How could it be embarrassing for an ancient female nobleman to be served by such an objectified slave when she was bathing?
Are you embarrassed to towel when you take a shower?
Piggybacking, introducing 3 other details of Cixi's life, how can modern film and television dramas be able to express it in case.
Using socks to peek at the leopard, you can roughly speculate on the extravagance of the queen mother's clothing.
One of the three processes involved in making pollen cosmetics.
What is the palace product? It is how to waste it, how to come to it, how to cumbersome how to come.
When you wake up, you need slaves, and when you fall asleep, you are also meticulous.
A hierarchical selection process.
An ordinary meal for the Empress Dowager Cixi.
All the cutlery is silver and can be poisoned. The cooking process in the palace is extremely strict, and the "Shou Dining Room" is a forbidden place, and outsiders are not allowed to enter. The three processes of each dish are completed by three people separately and are recorded. If an accident occurs, it will be investigated and will fall on the head.
If it's a banquet, it's a different story.
The royal family only wants to do things in a row, and will never worry about money and energy.
Now you understand why the Forbidden City didn't allow cars to be used back then, right?
For the royal family, speed is not important, but rank is very important, and the driver is not allowed to sit in front of Cixi and look at her with the back of her head.
The telephone is also too sloppy, and a microphone can connect the slave and the maid with the master, how can it reflect the master's sense of mystery and class? Lafayette's will must be conveyed at the level according to the rules.
The camera is a good thing, and when you are happy, you can take a few pictures and have fun, but how can it be compared to the ritual sense of the royal painter who paints for himself alone?
Science narrowed the gap between the rich and the poor, so the ancient aristocracy was not interested in science.