A WOMAN OF THE MOMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11346, 14 April 1900, Page 6 (Supplement)

A WOMAN OF THE MOMENT.

THE EMPRESS-DOWAGER OF CHINA, ■■• ■ ■■<? The report that the Emperor Kwang-shu has been compelled to abdicate the Chinese throne once more brings into prominence the real ruler of . China—the EmpressDowager Tze Hsi. Her name, being interpreted, means "paternal love" and "joy," the last syllable being pronounced like " she." She is a most remarkable woman, and has controlled the destinies of China for over 27 years, (she usurped this power; for,' by Chinese usage, the concubine of an emperor can never become empress-dowager. Tze Hsi, nevertheless, was the concubine of the Emperor Hien Feng. ' She is a gifted and. ambitious woman, who knows what she wants, and stops short of no means to attain her ends. , She is said to be an excellent artist and no mean poet, having presented six hundred stanzas of her poetry to 'the Hamlin College. REMOVING RIVALS. FROM HER PATH. -

The Dowager-Empress is more than suspected of having caused the death of several of her near relatives. The deaths of the Emperor Hien Feng and her own son, Tung Chien, are laid at her door. She is also accused of having caused the death of her sister, the mother of the Emperor Kwangshu. Tho two ladies (we are told) had a violent altercation about the upbringing of the child, and two ' days afterwards the mother died—from "pent-up anger in the heart," to quote the official announcement. Her daughter-in-law, the beautiful Aleute, took her own life, but the Empress-Dowager is generally supposed to have instigated the deed which removed a possible rival from her path. A KIXG-MAKER.

j Kwang-shu was not the rightful successor to the Chinese throne. He possessed, however, a supreme advantage in the eyes of his ambitious aunt. He was the very youngest person who had any claim to the throne. Tze Hsi thus secured to herself a long reign of omnipotent power. The little Kwangshu was only four years old when his aunt stole him from his cradle to place him on a throne which was not his by right, and which she never intended should be his in reality. It is said that the child cried, as well he might, had he been gifted with the faculty of foreseeing what was in store foi him in the future. The Empress is openly accused of'having taught him to play.cards and drink wine, and in every way to have undermined his constitution. The Empress herself is popularly supposed to he exceedingly fond of gambling, and to be possessed of a passion for money. " Never have I heard any Chinaman suggest that she bad the least care of any sort for the interests of China or the Chinese," Mr. Archibald Little reports. " They do not speak of her as clever. They speak of her generally in connection with' Li Hung Chang, the unscrupulous, and they shake, their heads over them both. According to report, she lias a piercing eye. But a lady who had been some years in the palace embroidering implied that she had never noticed it." ' .

THE EMPEROR : A PEN' PORTRAIT. S' Now the Emperor Kwang-shu has gone the way of all those who thwart the designs of the ambitious Tze - Shi. She has never been able to forgive him for lending an "' to the talk of the reformers, and for on« brief period asserting a power with which he was,nominally clothed. A.graphic hut not altogether pleasing picture of the unfortunate Emperor is given by a member of one of the European-Embassies, who wis present at the audience granted) by t'ie Emperor in 1898. "To the right KM left of the monarch stood motionless wrf corpse-liko two mandarin princes. His Majesty the Emperor Kwang-shu, who looks somewhat older than he is, g' l2^ ! shyly at the ambassadors with tired eyes, into which the aid of opium had impart™ for this most trying day an artificial brilliance. A sad, depressed, somewhat childish smile played about his mouth. The lips open, several long, badly-preserved, yellow teeth protruded; whilst' the hollow of the cheeks indicate the lack of a good many masticators. A face which inspires neither sympathy or aversion, but simply a feeling of indifference— any capacity, used-up, half dead-such "is ntf impression of Kwang-shu. He appeared ■ to take no interest in the scene going on before him, the whole proceedings seenieo : incomprehensible to him. Aftjr gazing f. a distance of three paces ior a quarter °' an hour, at the face of this ruler over Bidlions of men, a feeling of compassion f° r him overcame me." -.v - ;>