As the last ruler of the Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi has long been known for her extravagant life. The amount of money she needs every day is staggering. According to historical records, her daily diet alone is extremely luxurious, each meal must be 108 dishes, and there are all kinds of delicacies from the mountains and seas. In addition to this, the clothes, shoes and socks she wears every day are also a huge expense, and the well-made clothes are worn only once and never reused. Not to mention the lavish celebrations she had held for herself, the cost of a sixtieth birthday alone was enough to buy several of the most advanced warships of the time. So, if such a luxurious and erosive lifestyle were placed today, how many yuan would it take to maintain it every day?
1. The root cause of the Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant life
The Empress Dowager Cixi lived in the Forbidden City since she was a child and was surrounded by the extravagance of the court from an early age. She was born in a family of Manchuria with yellow flags, and her ancestors had outstanding military exploits, so she was instilled with the idea of "superior to others" since she was a child. In the process of her growth, the eunuchs in the palace all regarded her as a "little master" and waited for her every move in every way. This spoiled lifestyle allowed Cixi to develop an arrogant character from an early age.
As she grew older, Cixi became more and more interested in luxury. She likes to collect all kinds of precious jewelry and jewelry, and also has a unique taste for silk embroidered clothing. In her opinion, these luxuries can not only satisfy her vanity, but also be a symbol of status and status. As a woman, she aspires to assert her prestige through these luxuries.
In addition to personal hobbies, the deep-rooted concept of "dignity" in the court culture was also an important reason for the Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant life. In feudal society, members of the royal family were regarded as "sons of heaven" and deserved to live a luxurious life like no other. As such, everything in the palace was built to cater to the tastes of the royal family, from the Imperial Dining Room to the Imperial Dressing Room. This cultural atmosphere undoubtedly deepened Cixi's pursuit of luxury.
What's more, the Empress Dowager Cixi also used this extravagant lifestyle as a political tool. She believed that through a lavish lifestyle, she could demonstrate the prestige of the royal family and thus consolidate her dominance. Therefore, she did not hesitate to spend a lot of money on the state, built a large number of buildings, built palace courtyards, and purchased rare treasures, the purpose of which was to show the wealth and dignity of the royal family.
The Empress Dowager Cixi lived a extravagant life, both for personal reasons, such as her origin, hobbies, etc., and for social and cultural reasons, such as the concept of "dignity" in court culture. Moreover, she also used luxury as a political tool, further intensifying her pursuit of luxury. This extravagant lifestyle not only consumed a lot of the country's wealth, but also accelerated the decline of the Qing dynasty.
2. The components of the Empress Dowager Cixi's daily living expenses
The cost of ingredients in the imperial dining room can be said to be a major part of the daily expenses of the Empress Dowager Cixi. According to historical records, every meal of the Empress Dowager Cixi has 108 different dishes, and they are all delicacies from the mountains and seas, and there is no duplicate. These delicacies naturally require a lot of ingredients. Every day, the Imperial Dining Room had to source fresh ingredients from all over the country to satisfy the discerning tastes of the Empress Dowager Cixi.
In addition to the main course, the imperial dining room also needed to prepare a large number of seasonal fruits for the Empress Dowager Cixi. According to the "Memoirs of the Old Eunuch", at least a dozen different varieties of fruits are needed every day, and the quantity is so large that even ten Empress Dowagers Cixi can't eat them all. These fresh fruits not only need to be carefully selected from all over the country, but also need special preservation methods to ensure that they are still fresh when they arrive in the Forbidden City.
Another huge expense was the luxurious clothes made by the Imperial Clothing Workshop for the Empress Dowager Cixi. The Empress Dowager Cixi was very particular about her taste in clothing, and the tailors in the imperial clothing workshop were carefully selected skilled craftsmen. They need to use high-quality silk, embroidery and other materials, and it takes a lot of manpower and time to complete a garment. What's even more staggering is that these well-made clothes are often worn only once by the Empress Dowager Cixi and then no longer used.
In addition to clothing, the Empress Dowager Cixi's requirements for shoes were equally demanding. Every day she needs to change into different embroidered shoes, and these shoes are embroidered by the embroidery girls in the royal clothing workshop. It is said that at that time, there were hundreds of embroiderers in the imperial clothing workshop, who were responsible for embroidering shoes for the Empress Dowager Cixi.
In addition to these expenses, the Empress Dowager Cixi also had a lot of expenses, that is, the cost of the horses of the imperial horse supervisor. As an empress who is keen on riding and archery, the Empress Dowager Cixi is naturally extremely demanding on good horses. There were hundreds of horses in the Imperial Horse Prison for the Empress Dowager Cixi to choose and use. And the breeding and care of these horses, as well as the logistical support such as grooms and stables, require a lot of money investment.
The other expense is the labor cost of Jinyiwei. The Jinyi Guard is a personal guard team that is responsible for the security of the royal family, and thousands of guards need weapons and equipment, training expenses, etc., which is also a large amount of money. Moreover, these brocade guards are around the Empress Dowager Cixi around the clock, so they naturally need a certain amount of living expenses.
In general, the daily living expenses of the Empress Dowager Cixi, including the cost of ingredients in the imperial dining room, the cost of clothing in the imperial clothing workshop, the cost of horses in the imperial horse supervisor, and the labor cost of the brocade guard, can be described as a huge expense. These expenditures needed to be maintained by collecting taxes from all over the country, which can be said to have crushed the Qing government, which was already on the verge of bankruptcy at that time.
3. The huge expenses of the Empress Dowager Cixi's celebrations
In addition to the extravagant expenses of daily life, the various celebrations organized by the Empress Dowager Cixi for herself are a huge expense. Among them, the most eye-popping is the celebration of the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1894.
For this grand celebration, the Imperial Dining Room began preparations in advance. A large number of ingredients have been collected from all over the country, and there are all kinds of delicacies from the mountains and seas. The chefs in the Imperial Kitchen work day and night to prepare a variety of delicacies. It is said that just for this celebration, the imperial dining room consumed tens of thousands of taels of silver.
In addition to food, a larger expense was the dress that the Empress Dowager Cixi had purchased for the celebration. At that time, the tailors and embroiderers in the imperial dress workshop were gathered to make luxurious dresses for the celebration. They used a lot of fine silk, precious embroidery threads, and it took them months to complete this priceless dress. According to Shen Weibin, a professor of history at Fudan University, the production cost of this dress alone is as high as hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. For this celebration, the Forbidden City was also extensively renovated and furnished. The craftsmen of the Imperial Prison were summoned to repair the buildings in the palace and arrange various ornate ornaments. What's more, a large number of exotic flowers and plants were requisitioned from all over the country and arranged in the gardens of the palace.
In addition to the setting up of the venue, the celebration itself is a huge expense. At that time, a large number of opera troupes were recruited from all over the country to perform plays for the Empress Dowager Cixi for several months. And the food and performance expenses of these troupes are naturally a lot of money.
What's even more staggering is that in order to celebrate this grand ceremony, the Empress Dowager Cixi also recruited a large number of rare and exotic beasts from all over the country. It is said that hundreds of camels, elephants and other rare animals were transported to the Forbidden City for the Empress Dowager Cixi to watch and play. And the cost of transportation and feeding of these animals is a huge expense.
The expenses of this 60th birthday celebration are staggering. According to Shen Weibin, a professor of history at Fudan University, the total cost of the celebration was at least 6 million taels of silver. At that time, the most advanced Jingyuan armored cruiser purchased by the Beiyang Navy was only 1.73 million taels of silver. It can be seen how much wealth the Empress Dowager Cixi spent for this celebration.
In addition to this 60th birthday celebration, the Empress Dowager Cixi also likes to visit palaces in various places. Whenever she goes out to visit, she needs to carry out large-scale repairs and decorations of the palace in advance, and the expenses are naturally huge. What's more, she also needs a lot of transportation and accompanying people, and these expenses add up to a lot of money. It can be said that whether in the Forbidden City or on an excursion, the Empress Dowager Cixi is a huge "money-burning machine", which consumes a lot of the country's wealth.
4. The Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant life brought a heavy burden to the country
Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant lifestyle brought a heavy burden to the Qing Dynasty at that time. First of all, it has increased the tax burden on the people.
In order to maintain the Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant living expenses, the Qing government had to greatly increase the taxes on the common people. At that time, taxes were raised drastically throughout the country, and in some places they were even several times as high as before. And these taxes are ultimately borne by ordinary people.
It is conceivable that in that agrarian society, the life of ordinary peasants was already very poor. The sudden increase in the tax burden has undoubtedly made their lives worse. Many peasants had to sell their land to survive in order to pay their taxes. Worse still, some poor peasants could not even pay their taxes, so they had to be arrested for the army or sold into slavery.
In addition to increasing the burden on the people, the Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant lifestyle also seriously affected the Qing Dynasty's national defense and military expenditures. At that time, the Qing Dynasty's treasury was already very small, and the Empress Dowager Cixi's huge annual expenditure made the treasury fall into an empty situation.
There is a vivid example of this. In 1894, the year of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Empress Dowager Cixi held a grand celebration of her 60th birthday. The cost of this celebration alone was as high as more than 6 million taels of silver. In the same year, the Beiyang Navy purchased the most advanced Jingyuan armored cruiser at that time, which was only 1.73 million taels of silver.
It can be seen that the Empress Dowager Cixi spent the cost of several state-of-the-art warships for a personal celebration. At the same time, due to the shortage of funds, the Beiyang Navy even had the embarrassment that the shells on the ship were filled with sand. This kind of absurd thing was indeed common at that time.
What's more, the extravagant life of the Empress Dowager Cixi also accelerated the decline of the Qing dynasty. At that time, the Qing Dynasty had fallen into the predicament of internal and external troubles, and the Empress Dowager Cixi ignored the fate of the country, only immersed in a luxurious and erosive life. Her behavior undoubtedly exacerbated the internal friction of the Qing Dynasty and accelerated the decline of the dynasty.
Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant lifestyle brought a heavy burden to the Qing Dynasty at that time. It not only increased the tax burden of the common people, affected the expenditure of national defense and military spending, but also accelerated the decline of the entire dynasty. It can be said that the extravagant life of the Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the important reasons for the fall of the Qing Dynasty.