Page:China Under the Empress Dowager - ed. Backhouse and Bland - 1914.pdf/147

 was well aware that Tzǔ An could never become, of herself, a formidable rival, but should she hereafter enjoy the Emperor's confidence and support, and instigate him to become the centre of a faction against her (which he did), there might be danger in the situation for herself. As the Emperor's minority approached its end, it therefore became the more necessary for her to take all possible precautions. She had no intention of sharing the fate of that Empress Consort of Ch'ien Lung who was banished to the "Cold Palace" and whose honours and titles were taken from her on charges of "wild extravagance, love of the theatre and insubordination to the Emperor's mother."

A further cause of friction occurred between the two Empresses Regent on the occasion of the Imperial progress to the Eastern tombs, in 1880, when the boy Emperor was nine years old. On this occasion, Tzǔ An, evidently prompted by Prince Kung to assert herself and her rights, insisted on taking precedence in all the ceremonies of the ancestral sacrifices at the Imperial Mausolea and at the prostrations which custom decrees shall be made before each of the "Jewelled Cities," as the mounds are called which cover the Imperial grave chambers. When Their Majestics arrived at the grave of Hsien-Feng, there was serious friction. Tzǔ An, as the senior Consort of the deceased monarch, claimed as her right the central position, at the same time relegating her colleague to the place on her right, leaving the place of honour on the left unoccupied. Not content with this, Tzǔ An went on to remind her Co-Regent that, where sacrifices to Hsien-Feng were in question, Tzǔ Hsi was entitled only to claim precedence as a senior concubine, her elevation to the position of Empress Mother having taken place after his decease. As a concubine, etiquette required her, during the sacrifice, to take a position on one side and slightly in the rear, while the vacant place of honour to Tzǔ An's left belonged to the shade of Hsien-Feng's first consort, who had died before his accession, but had been posthumously raised to the rank of Senior Empress. Tzǔ Hsi, realising that this indignity was put upon her at the