THE TRACK OF CIVIL WAR

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 81, 29 December 1928, Page 22

THE TRACK OF CIVIL WAR

AN EMPRESS’S TOMB RIFLED TREASURES OF PEKING An outrage perpetrated at the Imperial, tombs after the fall of Peking when the collins of Manchu Emperors were rilled of the wealth of jewels they contained has brought to light a remarkable description of the treasures of gold, pearls, jade, and other gems in which the body of the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi, the “Old Buddha” as she was affectionately known, was literally packed. For anything like it one must go to the “Arabian Nights” (writes the Shanghai correspondent of the London “Tinies”). The Old Buddha had a favourite eunuch named Li Lien-ying. He amassed a colossal fortune, wielded more power than any Viceroy, and incidentally kept a diary, which would probablv be as interesting a document as any ever written. From this diary his grand-nephew, Li Ying-chou, has now published all the circumstances of the burial of the Empress Dowager, with a list of the treasures put into her coffin. In view of the habits of Oriental potentates, there seems no reason to disbelieve this record, especially as it can hardly be supposed that LI Lien-ying ever thought of its being published. It is recorded that before the Dowager Empress was laid in the coffin the bottom was spread with a mattress of gold thread, seven inches thick, in which was woven an embroidery of pearls. On top of the mattress was laid a silk embroidered coverlet strewn with a layer of pearls. In the pearl layer was a lace sheet of pearls, into which was woven a figure of Buddha. At the head there was placed a jade ornament resembling lotus leaves and at the foot a similar ornament of jade in the shape of a lotus Hower. These were arranged in their places and then the body was lifted into the coffin. The head of the Dowager Empress rested on the lotus leaves and her feet on the lotus flower. She was dressed in a ceremonial robe on which pearls were embroidered in gold thread, and over that an embroidered jacket with a rope of pearls; also, a rope of pearls encircled her body nine times, and 18 pearl images of Buddha were laid by her arms. All these were gifts sent by private persons for the Imperial obsequies; they are not included in the official list of valuables. Marvellous Craftsmanship. These private gifts having been so disposed, the body was covered with the sacred Tolo pall, on which are written prayers in Manchu script. A chaplet of pearls was placed on her head, and by her side were laid gold, jade,'and gem Buddhas to the number of 108. On each side of the feet, right and left, were placed one water-melon, two sweet melons of jade, and gems made in the shape of peaches, pears, apricots, dates and other fruits, to the number of 200. By the Empress’s left side was placed a gem shaped like a lotus root, with leaves and flowers sprouting from the top. On the right there was a coral tree. The interstices were filled with scattered pearls and gems until the whole was level, and over all was spread a network covering of pearls. As the attendants were in the act of placing tlie inner lid on the coffin a certain princess entered and took from a casket a gem irnament of eight galloping horses and another of 18 Buddhist Lohan. She removed the covering and placed them by tlie side of the body. She replaced the coverlet, and this concluded the ceremony of encofflning the body of the Old Buddha. Li Lien-yinq engaged an expert to value the contents of the coffin, and has left a list from which I quote some of the principal items, in sterling, taking the tael as worth roughly 2s. 6d., although it is at the moment a little above that. The stolen treasures would certainly be worth much more now than when they were buried. Tlie gold mattress was valued at £10,500, the pearls, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, atad jade with which it was interwoven at £112,500. The jade lotusleaf ornament, of which the leaves were green and the veins natural, not engraved, was valued at £100,250, and the emerald lotus flower, which weighed nearly 37 Chinese ounces, at £93,750, but the diarist’s nephew thinks, probably rightly, that this is far too little. Pearls by Thousands. The ropes of pearls worn by /he Empress and the pearl-embroidered jacket (the work of embroidering alone cost £1000) contained 420 large pearls, 1000 medium and 4500 small. Other gems, large and small, numbered 1135, the value of the whole being £1,500,000. Three Court necklaces, two of pearls and one of rubies, are estimated at £300,250. The chaplet of pearls on the head, the making of which cost nearly £7OOO, and which is said to have included a pearl weighing 40z., was valued at £1,250,000. The two jade watermelons placed by the Empress’s feet—they had a green rind, red fruit, and white seeds —were estimated to be worth £275,000. The gem lotus root placed at the left side was three sections long and had grey earth adhering to it; from the top sprouted green lotus leaves and a white flower with a black corolla. This was valued at £125,000, but Li’s grand-nephew thinks it was really rarer and more valuable than the melons. Finally, 7 on the body were laid 500 large pearls, 1000 of medium and 2200 of smaller size, besides 2200 sapphires to the value of £228,750. The items in the valuation given by Li Lien-ying add up to about £6,250,000. But many gifts by Manchu Princes are not included. The finest of these, says Li, were the eight galloping horses and IS Buddhist Lohan. The horses were 2in. in length and each carved from a separate gem, and the colour of each was different. The 18 Lohan were also all different. It would be interesting to know into whose hands all these marvels have passed since the Old Buddha’s body was torn from among them and left lying on the unfeeling earth.