Princess Der Ling (1885–1944)
Author of Two Years in the Forbidden City
About the Author
Works by Princess Der Ling
Song of heaven 1 copy
Lotos petals 1 copy
Jades and Dragons 1 copy
Xiang Fei 1 copy
TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY ( ILLUSTRATED ): The Untold Story Of Empress Dowager Cixi (2021) 1 copy
Son of Heaven 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- White, Elizabeth Antoinette
Yu, Lizzie Der Ling
裕德齡
Yù, Délíng
Yü, Tê-ling - Birthdate
- 1885-06-08
- Date of death
- 1944-11-22
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- princess
- Short biography
- The daughter of a Manchu aristocrat and diplomat (who served a term as ambassador to France) known for his progressive views, Der Ling received a Western education and studied dance with Isadora Duncan in Paris. Upon her family's return to China, Der Ling was appointed, at age 18, to be a lady-in-waiting and interpreter to the Empress Dowager Cixi. She served in this position until 1905. In 1907, Der Ling married Thaddeus C. White, an American. Using the controversial title of Princess, Der Ling wrote about her experiences of life at the Imperial court in her memoir Two Years in the Forbidden City (1911) and several more books. A biography of Der Ling, "Imperial Masquerade: The Legend of Princess Der Ling," by Grant Hayter-Menzies, was published in 2008.
- Nationality
- China
- Places of residence
- Beijing, China
Shanghai, China
Berkeley, California, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- China
Members
Reviews
Published in 1911, 'Two Years in the Forbidden City' is the memoire of Der Ling, daughter of a prominent Manchu official, concerning her two years in the service of the cunning, conservative and rather narcissistic Dowager Empress Cixi from 1903 to 1905.
It is primarily valuable for its fascinating account of Manchu court ceremonial in the last days of its dynasty when the Dowager Empress had neutered (metaphorically speaking) the gentle and intelligent Emperor and now ruled through influence show more rather than policy.
Although Der Ling is at pains to emphasise her own modernising credentials, there is little practical politics in the book beyond brief accounts of the mother's earlier coup against her son, the remaining trauma of the Boxer Rebellion and passing references to the Russo-Japanese War.
Der Ling (who became an American citizen) is probably 'talking her book' on reform for her audience and remains loyal at all times to her Empress. She was by all accounts a favourite of Cixi although this did not give her much political influence beyond translating foreign journals.
More important to us is the picture of the Imperial Throne as the surprisingly impotent apex of a sclerotic traditional society aware of the threats posed by modern or modernising (Japan) foreign powers but unable to organise itself to resist them.
Cixi's loathing of the missionaries comes through but the Boxer method of dealing with such influences had proved disastrous causing one of the few political struggles of consequence - between reactionaries and conservatives - around the throne.
Instead the bulk of the book is about a closed world, an elite of immense wealth given to shuttling between palaces, court etiquette, dressing up, present exchanges, theatricals, flower growing, playing at farming and sericulture and very petty intrigue between eunuchs and 'court ladies'.
It might have gone on for ever, merely being displaced by another set of emperors when the Mandate of Heaven was withdrawn from the Manchus, if it had not been for the incursion of the West whose humiliations present an important back drop to current Chinese attitudes. show less
It is primarily valuable for its fascinating account of Manchu court ceremonial in the last days of its dynasty when the Dowager Empress had neutered (metaphorically speaking) the gentle and intelligent Emperor and now ruled through influence show more rather than policy.
Although Der Ling is at pains to emphasise her own modernising credentials, there is little practical politics in the book beyond brief accounts of the mother's earlier coup against her son, the remaining trauma of the Boxer Rebellion and passing references to the Russo-Japanese War.
Der Ling (who became an American citizen) is probably 'talking her book' on reform for her audience and remains loyal at all times to her Empress. She was by all accounts a favourite of Cixi although this did not give her much political influence beyond translating foreign journals.
More important to us is the picture of the Imperial Throne as the surprisingly impotent apex of a sclerotic traditional society aware of the threats posed by modern or modernising (Japan) foreign powers but unable to organise itself to resist them.
Cixi's loathing of the missionaries comes through but the Boxer method of dealing with such influences had proved disastrous causing one of the few political struggles of consequence - between reactionaries and conservatives - around the throne.
Instead the bulk of the book is about a closed world, an elite of immense wealth given to shuttling between palaces, court etiquette, dressing up, present exchanges, theatricals, flower growing, playing at farming and sericulture and very petty intrigue between eunuchs and 'court ladies'.
It might have gone on for ever, merely being displaced by another set of emperors when the Mandate of Heaven was withdrawn from the Manchus, if it had not been for the incursion of the West whose humiliations present an important back drop to current Chinese attitudes. show less
A non-fiction book on Empress Cixi of China, written by one of her favorite ladies in waiting. The author thought the western books and authors where telling such tales about the last empress that she felt compelled to tell her story of the woman she knew and loved. A really good read and a book I will keep. If you are interested in the last empress this is worth reading. I'd say it is middle ground compared to the awful westerner's stories and Jonathan Spence's book -- not as evil as the show more western books tell it, and not as innocent as Jonathan Spence tells it. show less
Statistics
- Works
- 12
- Members
- 91
- Popularity
- #204,135
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 37