Puyi spent 5.5 million taels on his wedding and asked Mei Lanfang to play Farewell My Concubine

Wanrong was the last empress in Chinese history. She entered the palace in December 1922 and was expelled from the palace by Feng Yuxiang together with the last emperor Puyi in November 1924. She lived in the Forbidden City for two years. year time. How did Wanrong get married into the palace? What was her life like in the palace? Through the original Qing palace archives, we can have a general understanding.

Wanrong entered the palace without going through the Qing Dynasty

Puyi got married on December 1, 1922. He and Wanrong were both 17 years old that year. The Qing Dynasty emperor's wedding was called a big wedding. Although the Qing Dynasty had been overthrown for 11 years at this time, according to the preferential treatment conditions of the royal family, Puyi still maintained the honorific title of emperor and continued to live in the Forbidden City, so it was still called a big wedding internally and externally. This time, in addition to Queen Wanrong, Concubine Shu Wenxiu was welcomed into the Forbidden City.

It took a lot of trouble for Wanrong to be chosen as the queen. When the news spread that a queen was to be chosen for Puyi, people came one after another to propose marriage. However, according to the customs of the Qing Dynasty, the queens were selected from the daughters of Manchu and Mongolian princes and ministers. Therefore, people like Xu Shichang and Zhang Zuolin who proposed marriage proposals were politely declined. It is said that on the table of Puyi's uncle Zaitao, who was responsible for summarizing the marriage proposal at that time, the girl's photos could be bound into a book. Among this dazzling group of women, after repeated screening, 4 people were shortlisted as candidates. After careful selection, Wanrong and Wenxiu were left.

There is only one queen, whether to choose Wanrong or Wenxiu. There are intrigues within the royal family, especially the concubines, who all want the little emperor to choose the girl they like in order to consolidate their power in the palace. . After fighting like this, each refused to give in, and finally had to let Puyi be the "sacred judge". After seeing the photos of Wanrong and Wenxiu, he finally selected Wanrong as the queen and Wenxiu as the concubine Shu. According to folklore, Wanrong's father Rongyuan spent 200,000 taels of gold to buy the queen's phoenix crown for his daughter. This is just a rumor and it is difficult to confirm.

The etiquette and ceremony for marrying Wanrong as queen were all conducted according to the old practices of the Qing Dynasty, and were divided into four steps: the betrothal ceremony, the grand recruitment ceremony, the registration ceremony, and the grand wedding. The betrothal gift with engagement significance was received on October 21, 1922. Puyi sent his envoys and deputy envoys with a guard of honor of nearly a thousand people and more than 100 gifts carrying sedans to Wanrong in Maoer Hutong outside Di'anmen in Beijing. family, and sent a betrothal gift to his father Rongyuan. In the next two months, the grand ceremony and the registration ceremony were held successively. The grand ceremony was to tell the woman's family the exact date of marriage, and the registration ceremony was to officially give her the title of queen. Speaking of which, Wanrong's wedding is still a bit regretful. According to the practice of the Qing Dynasty, when welcoming a queen into the palace, no matter where the queen's home lives in the capital, the welcoming procession must pass through the Qing Gate and then enter the palace through the Meridian Gate, the main entrance of the Forbidden City. Except for the empress dowager and the emperor who can come and go at any time during the Qing Dynasty, no ministers or servants are allowed to walk without authorization. The empress can only enjoy it once on her wedding day. But Wanrong did not enjoy this honor. Not only did she not go through the Qingmen Gate when she entered the palace, she also did not go through the Meridian Gate. Wanrong walked through Donghuamen Street and entered the palace from Donghuamen. From this point of view, she, the queen of the small court era, is still different from the real queen of the Qing Empire. At this time, Puyi was the abdicated emperor. Although he was allowed to live in the harem, the area south of the Qianqing Gate in the Forbidden City had been owned by the Beiyang Empire, so he could no longer be so particular.

Counting to the present day, the 10 emperors of the Qing Dynasty who entered the country have successively established 24 queens. If Wanrong can still be called a queen, then she is the 25th and an out-of-print queen in ancient China.

Mei Lanfang performed "Farewell My Concubine" for Wanrong's wedding

In the preserved Puyi archives, there are two gift account books from the wedding ceremony, with the following words on the cover: The "Wedding Ceremony Named Items List" lists the names of the people giving gifts, the types and quantities of the items, etc. In the list, there are not only the old officials of the Qing Dynasty, but also important officials of the Republic of China, warlords and politicians, and foreign envoys. The then President Li Yuanhong sent a special envoy to congratulate him with 20,000 silver dollars. Important figures of the Republic of China such as Cao Kun, Wu Peifu, Feng Yuxiang, Xu Shichang, Zhang Zuolin, and celebrities such as Kang Youwei also gave Ruyi, furniture and other gifts.

In order to organize the wedding, the small court at that time established a special "Grand Wedding Preparation Office". They consulted the "Great Qing Hui Dian" and the archives of the weddings of previous emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and finally decided to follow the wedding ceremony of Emperor Tongzhi. It was a big wedding because it cost less. Although the small imperial court could no longer afford to be too extravagant, in the end, it still cost more than 400,000 silver dollars. At that time, two yuan could buy a bag of flour. The wedding of Emperor Guangxu actually cost 5.5 million taels of silver!

During the wedding, the palace performed operas for three consecutive days, which cost more than 30,000 silver dollars. It is worth mentioning that Mei Lanfang and Yang Xiaolou were specially invited to perform in the play "Farewell My Concubine". At that time, someone suggested that it would not be appropriate to perform such a sad drama on such a happy day. But Puyi thought it didn't matter and decided to act. When the play reached an emotional point, the concubine and the prince's female relatives all shed tears. After the opera ended, some old ministers of the prince were worried and thought it was an ominous sign. Two years later, when Puyi and Wanrong were kicked out of the palace, some people said: This was all caused by performing "Farewell My Concubine" during the wedding!

Wanrong’s English name in the palace was Elizabeth

In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor’s birthday was called the Wanshou Festival and the queen’s birthday was called the Qianqiu Festival. Whenever such a festival occurs, There will be singing and opera in the palace to celebrate for several days. September 1923 was Wanrong's first Qianqiu Festival after entering the palace. Although she repeatedly told others to be frugal, she still sang for a day in Shufangzhai in the Forbidden City, and rewarded the eunuchs and palace staff with silver coins. The minimum is 2 yuan or 5 yuan, and the maximum is more than 10 yuan. Even in normal times, Wanrong's daily living expenses would cost one or two hundred yuan.

It is said that Wanrong, who grew up during the Republic of China, was influenced by her father who was a businessman and received a lot of Western education. In the Forbidden City, Wanrong and Puyi often rode bicycles and played ball together. Wanrong also taught Puyi how to eat Western food. Puyi, Wanrong and Wenxiu, the masters of the small court, also took many photos in the palace, leaving behind their beautiful figures.

In Puyi’s archives, there are also many English text messages that Wanrong wrote to Puyi in the palace. The two of them could see each other every day and communicate in English, which shows that their relationship at that time was still good. In order to learn English, Wanrong hired two American female teachers in the palace to teach her specifically. Wenxiu also learned English, but she hired a Chinese female teacher. In Wanrong's letters to Wenxiu, there are also some English words mixed in from time to time. At that time, Wanrong also had an English name called Elizabeth, which she transliterated as "Yili Sabo". Puyi's English name was Henry. Westernization has entered and affected the life of the last court.

On November 5, 1924, Feng Yuxiang's army entered the Forbidden City. Lu Zhonglin, who was the commander of the Beijing garrison at the time, came to the inner court with more than 20 policemen, forcing Puyi's small court to accept the revised "preferential treatment conditions" and to leave the Forbidden City that day. There was a panic in the palace. Puyi put his hands on his chin and remained silent. Wenxiu said helplessly: "It's better to move out, so you don't have to worry about it here!" Only Wanrong had a tough attitude and shouted: "Anyway, I'm determined, I won't be here today." Move, you can’t move!” However, regardless of whether they were willing to move or not, the army entered the palace at 9 a.m., and at 4 p.m. Puyi handed over the two seals of “Treasure of the Emperor” and “Treasure of Xuantong” with Wanrong and a group of family members around her took five cars and temporarily moved to the residence of Prince Chun, her father Zaifeng. The last emperor Puyi and the last queen Wanrong left the Forbidden City forever.