Empress Dowager Cixi: 8am summon, 3am wake up, the secret behind is too shocking!

During the final years of the Qing Dynasty, power was almost entirely in the hands of Empress Dowager Cixi. The book "Palace Maid Talks" records many special details in the life of Empress Dowager Cixi.

This historical document mentions that the mandarins were shocked when they learned that she often woke up at 3am when the court session was scheduled for 8am. What did she do during those 4 to 5 hours?

First of all, we need to learn about the "alarm clock" of Empress Dowager Cixi. That clock is her special palace maids, they must be girls with sweet and skillful voices. To wake Empress Dowager Cixi, the palace maids will continuously whisper the phrase "Old Buddha auspicious" into her ear until she is completely awake. This process usually takes half an hour.

After the Empress Dowager Cixi opened her eyes, the palace maids immediately lit the lamps in the palace. This was considered a signal to all the palace maids and eunuchs who were responsible for taking care of the Empress Dowager: The Empress Dowager had woken up, everyone had to quickly prepare. The entire palace then became more bustling: Boiling water, preparing breakfast,...

The first thing Empress Dowager Cixi did when she woke up was to wash her face, then start putting on makeup. One of the reasons Li Lianying became her close eunuch was because he had special strengths such as knowing how to comb her hair so that it wouldn't fall out too much. Empress Dowager Cixi spent about an hour to complete this task.

After finishing her makeup, Empress Dowager Cixi would smoke to get her spirits up for the new day. What was special was that she would not personally hold the pipe, but the palace maid standing next to her would do it. Empress Dowager Cixi would just sit there and smoke and then spit out the cigarette. If the palace maid did not coordinate well with her master, she would be punished.

After finishing the smoking process, Empress Dowager Cixi would rinse her mouth and throat. The thing she used to rinse her mouth was human milk. The process of smoking until rinsing her mouth took more than an hour.

Finally, Empress Dowager Cixi would have breakfast. After finishing all the above, it was almost 6am. Empress Dowager Cixi's breakfast usually had more than 20 dishes. She only needed to move her finger a little bit to have a palace maid or eunuch bring it to her mouth.

Empress Dowager Cixi's eating habits were also very special. She always chewed slowly and leisurely, and by the time she was full, nearly an hour had passed. After finishing her meal, she continued to smoke another pipe, and by the time she finished that pipe, it was almost time for the court session. Empress Dowager Cixi would then change into her court attire.

The series of preparations before the Empress Dowager Cixi's court hearings may sound quite ordinary, but they required a large number of palace maids and eunuchs to serve her. She used a lot of human and material resources for her own enjoyment.

Born on November 29, 1835, from a young age, Cixi was recruited to serve Emperor Xianfeng as a palace maid. In 1856, she gave birth to a prince, named Tongzhi, who later succeeded to the throne. From then on, Cixi's life was filled with luxury, in stark contrast to the miserable life that the masses of the time were enduring.

Cixi lived a lavish life before and after her death. Her funeral was held in a grand manner with many activities continuously for 12 months. There were nearly 10,000 funeral and liaison teams, including thousands of coffin-bearers, thousands of funeral processions and countless cadres and bodyguards accompanying her.

Cixi loved jewelry throughout her life. Therefore, the bottom of the coffin was covered with precious golden silk, a phoenix crown on her head was inlaid with a pearl the size of an egg, on the coffin were mounted 2,500 pearls, 6,000 jades, 203 white gemstones... Even when she died, the palace maids placed a night pearl in her mouth for some reason.

Cixi believed in Buddhism. Therefore, the outside of her coffin was engraved with Tibetan Buddhist scriptures. There were many monks and lamas in the funeral procession, chanting along the way. Not only that, the funeral procession also had hundreds of terracotta and paper horsemen lined up neatly, which were burned before the funeral took place.

Empress Dowager Tu Xi's younger brother is considered a tool to win grace and steal the throne Hoàng Phúc21:13:01 01/06/2025Few people know that, besides the illustrious reputation of Empress Dowager Tu Xi in history, she also has a beautiful biological sister, but her life is taken advantage of by her own sister as a chess piece in a political chess game full of calculations.