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Memoirs of a Palace Maid of Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dynasty

Amimisu

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This video covers the real life story of Rong'er, a palace maid who served Empress Dowager Cixi inside the Forbidden City during the final years of the Qing Dynasty. Her firsthand accounts, originally recorded by Jin Yi in the book Memoirs of a Palace Maid (宮女談往錄), offer a look at the strict rules, secret survival tactics, and daily routines inside the imperial palace. Discover how a teenager from a poor Banner family rose through the ranks to join Cixi's inner circle, survived the Boxer Rebellion, and navigated life after the fall of imperial China.

Historical Sources:
Gongnv Tan Wang Lu (Memoirs of a Palace Maid) - 宮女談往錄
Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty - 清實錄
Imperial Household Department Archives - 清宮內務府檔案
Draft History of the Qing - 清史稿
Gazetteer of the Palace Museum - 故宮志
Jiudian Beizheng - 舊典備徵
Classified Anecdotes of the Qing - 清稗類鈔
Palace Museum Publications - 故宮博物院出版物
Journal of the Palace Museum - 故宮博物院院刊

Footage used in this video:
The Firmament of The Pleiades - 蒼穹之昴
Story of Yanxi Palace - 延禧攻略

00:00 - Introduction
01:21 - Entering the Palace
05:49 - The Training
10:12 - The Pipe
13:18 - Warmth Inside the Palace
16:36 - The Rules of Imperial Mealtime
19:09 - The Inner Circle
24:26 - The Marriage
29:40 - After the Palace
33:45 - Final Thoughts

Disclaimer: Visuals used in this video are for reference/illustrative purposes and are not intended as accurate historical depictions.

#chinesehistory #qingdynasty #palacemaid #forbiddencity #imperialpalace #cixi

20 Comments

@MustardLadySaveMe 2 months ago

The aura of someone who is talking about something they are a true expert in is unmatched. It must have felt magical listening to Rong'er talk about the tiniest details of palace life that she had mastered through years of blood, sweat, and tears that she had forgotten how to let out.

@VictoriaMeerman 2 months ago

I hope the relationship Rong’er had with Jin Yi’s family gave her comfort. Watching over the children, making them baby clothes, trusting them enough that they were the family she visited before her end. I’m glad Jin Yi and his family showed her that kindness.

@bfarewell296 2 months ago (edited)

The imperial family's status games were just evil. Girls being abused so that the Empress can have her fingernails wrapped in silk. Their lives being threatened if they make the smallest mistake. Such elaborate system, so much suffering and so much capital wasted, for such ridiculous reasons.

@lostfairy_00 2 months ago

People often like to stay in their days of "glory", so did Rong'er. Palace had structure but outside world had pure chaos.

@ZiggyWhiskerz 2 months ago

There's never excuse for abuse no matter the time. I will never understand it. Like, you build fierce loyalty and bonds with kindness.

@jennymulhall816 2 months ago

The part at the end, about the last visit, brought tears to my eyes. In Ireland, we have the ‘last look’. I brought my father for a drive around Dublin and he marvelled at how it had changed since he ran those streets as a boy in the 50s. From China to Ireland, things are very different but also much the same.

@FlaviusTheGrumpyCat 2 months ago

Jeez, these control tactics make some of the worst cults seem freeing by comparison. Hitting people for sleeping in the "wrong" position and making them do manual labor while also maintaining zero body odor is crazy.

@camilla9075 2 months ago

so fascinating hearing about an actual maid

@speedracer1177 2 months ago

I love hearing these stories. This one is bittersweet. Imagine feeling so important only for that to diminish after you can no longer be in that position.

@thesharmat9956 1 month ago

Empress Dowager Cixi was such a fascinating but also terrifying woman. Love hearing all these anecdotes about her from the people around her. Paints a more complicated picture of her than the typical negative characterization she’s usually given in most historical assessments

@takayanagi-senseissurprise2104 2 months ago

God 😭 Imagine having a boss like Empress Dowager CiXi

@TerRa-p4u 2 months ago (edited)

" a women who does not bother with her appearance has given up on life" I wonder if she still would feel this way if she had to actually do it herself, bath herself, dress herself, do her own hair and makeup, do her own fingernails, make her own makeup,soap, wash her own laundry, make her own meals, raise her own children, fix her own pipe or even clean her own room, what she cant because she has an office job?

@jmarshal 2 months ago

Working back then sure has a stark difference to working now! In good and bad ways. Imagine sitting on the cold, hard floor your entire shift with nothing to do, no break, only counting the amount of time someone rolled over. Then you have to help the Empress Dowager get ready for the morning before you can even think about ending your shift and going to eat or finally sleep yourself.

@katmatthys9708 2 months ago

I would have loved to have had a conversation about palace life with rong’er she sounds like she lived a truly fascinating life I don’t think any of us could truly understand. She served the most powerful woman at the time and seemed to be favored too. I wish she had a happier ending to her story though

@DewdewDC 2 months ago

Than you for this. I am slowly getting a better understanding of China. It's vastness over time and physical space is awesome and a little daunting, yet you always manage to share videos that explore people and events in such warmth and detail.

@The_Golden_Imp 2 months ago

P.S. Could you do an episode on how eunuchs left the palace and their lives afterward?

@BYPBoutiqueandMe 2 months ago

This was so well done. Learning how things were really done made made me appreciative of being born now. It does make me feel sad that someone had to live like this. We today are more blessed by God than we realize. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

@FrostWolfPack 2 months ago

Once again interesting dip on a life in the past and the oddities of Royal life from the eyes of the servants.
Thank you of this vid

@pythonBlender7 2 months ago (edited)

Cixi literally matchmaking a palace maid and eunuch is WILD. I never would have conceived such an event.

@meinorha9370 2 months ago

Stories like this are so interesting. It’s fascinating to learn how people like her viewed their life and circumstances! I wish she would have said more about the fall of the last dynasty though, I’m left wondering how she really felt about the system or if she even really thought about it all.