Two Years in the Forbidden City

Description

Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess Der Ling is among the most exciting and most insightful accounts ever published about what life was like in the imperial palace of Chinese royal family in Beijing called the Forbidden City.

Princess Der Ling was the daughter of Yu Keng, a diplomat who served as the minister of China to Japan and then to France (minister in this sense is a diplomatic rank similar to the rank of the ambassador, but ministers are heads of a legation, rather than of an embassy).

The Princess received her education in France and, upon her return to China, she became first lady-in-waiting to the Empress Dowager Cixi, the regent who controlled the government of China for almost half a century, from 1861 until her death in 1908. Der Ling served as both personal assistant and interpreter for the Empress Dowager until 1905 when she left the service to spend time with her father who was critically ill and died the same year in Shanghai. Two years after leaving the court Der Ling married an American and moved to the United States where she wrote and published her memoirs in 1911.

The book provides an account of the life of the Chinese court not only from the perspective of a Chinese noblewoman, but also by adding a Western perspective, making the social, cultural and historical context easier to comprehend. The Imperial Court of China was a very tough and very strange world and the reader has the chance to see it through the naïve, young, inexperienced, but very keen eyes of a young woman.

The book offers an excellent opportunity to learn not only about the political tension that characterized the atmosphere at the court, but also about everyday life there, about clothes, food and daily activities and it is also written in a great, structured style – an excellent read, worth your time.
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