Chapter 16 Five Johnston

The first time I saw foreigners was when the Empress Dowager Longyu entertained the wives of foreign ministers for the last time.When I saw the exotic clothes of those foreign women, especially the colorful eyes and hair, I thought they were cold and scary.At that time I had not seen a foreign man.As for foreign men, I got my initial understanding from lithographic pictorials: they all have mustaches on their mouths, a straight line on their trouser legs, and a stick in their hands.According to the eunuchs, the beards of foreigners are very hard, and a lantern can be hung on the beard tip, and the legs of foreigners are straight. Therefore, in the year of Gengzi, a minister advised the Queen Mother that to fight with foreign soldiers, you only need to use bamboo poles. The stick stabbed them down, and they couldn't get up.As for the sticks in foreigners' hands, according to the eunuchs, they are called "civilized sticks" and are used for beating people.My master Chen Baochen had been to Nanyang and met foreigners. The foreign knowledge he told me gradually replaced my childhood impressions and the legends of eunuchs, but when I heard that a foreigner was coming to be my master When I was fourteen years old, I was still full of novelty and uneasiness.

The day when my father and the Chinese masters "introduced" Mr. Lei Zhaneld John Fleming Johnston was March 4, 1919, at Yuqing Palace.First of all, according to the ceremony of receiving foreign ministers, I sat on the throne, he bowed to me, I stood up and shook hands with him, he bowed again, and exited the door.Then, he came in again, and I bowed to him, which was regarded as a gift of apprenticeship.After all these ceremonies were over, I sat down with Master Zhu Yifan and began to give me a lecture. I don't find Master Johnston very scary.His Chinese is very fluent, which is easier to understand than Master Chen's Hokkien dialect and Master Zhu's Jiangxi dialect.Master Zhuang was about forty years old at that time, he looked older than my father, but his movements were agile and dexterous.His back is straight, and I even suspected that there was some iron frame in his clothes to support it.Although he doesn't have a mustache or a civilized stick, and his legs can bend, he always gives me a hard feeling.Especially his blue eyes and yellowish white hair are very uncomfortable to watch.

About a month after he came here, one day he was lecturing for a while, then he suddenly turned his head and gave the eunuch standing in front of the wall a vicious look, blushing, and said to me angrily: "It's very impolite for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to treat me like this. Why do other masters have no eunuchs in their classes, but only mine has an eunuch standing there? I don't like this." He pronounced the sound of "Xi" as see, "I don't like it, I want to bring it up to President Xu, because I was invited by President Xu!" He may not have actually gone to the president.Qing Shi asked him to be my master, at least half of it was to rely on his "bodyguard", so he didn't dare to offend him.As soon as he blushed, the prince and the ministers immediately gave in and withdrew the eunuch.I felt that this foreigner was very powerful. At first, I learned English from him in a proper manner. I didn’t dare to talk nonsense when I got bored of reading like I did with my Chinese master, and even asked the master to take a holiday.

After only two or three months like this, I discovered that this British master has more and more similarities with Chinese masters.Not only did he respectfully call me the emperor like the Chinese master, but he also pushed the book away to chat with me when I was tired of reading, and told some anecdotes about mountains, south, sea, north, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign.According to his suggestion, an accompanying student was added to the English class.He also did exactly the same as the Chinese master. This old Scottish master is a Master of Arts from Oxford University.He was recommended by Li Jingmai (son of Li Hongzhang) of the old Westernization School to teach in the palace, and after President Xu Shichang negotiated with the British Legation on behalf of him, he was officially hired by the Qing Dynasty.He used to work as a secretary in the British Governor's Mansion in Hong Kong. Before entering the palace, he was the chief executive of Weihaiwei, a British leased land.According to his own statement, he has been in Asia for more than 20 years. He has traveled all over the inland provinces in China, visited famous mountains, great rivers, historical sites and scenic spots.He is well versed in Chinese history, familiar with local conditions and customs in various parts of China, has studied Confucianism, Mohism, Buddhism, and Laozi, and has a special appreciation for ancient Chinese poetry.I don't know how many subsets of classics and history he has read. I only see him reading Tang poems in rhythm, shaking his head like a Chinese master.

He is as proud of my reward as the Chinese masters.After he got the first product, he specially made a set of Qing Dynasty robes and coats and crown belts. He wore them and stood in front of his villa in Xishan Yingyinggou, under the four-character plaque I wrote "Lejing Shanzhai". Photos for friends and relatives.The Ministry of Internal Affairs rented a courtyard house in No. 1 Di'anmen Paint, for the bachelor's master to live in.He arranged the small courtyard like a residence for the elderly.As soon as you enter the door, you can see four "door seals" with red background and black characters in the door opening. Reward wearing mink coats with strands."Whenever he receives a major reward, he must give thanks.The following memorial was written after receiving the reward of the second rank Dingdai for the first time:

Johnston adopted the phrase "a scholar is committed to Taoism", and gave himself the nickname of "Zhidao".He admires Chinese tea and Chinese peonies very much, and often talks about the past and the present with the elders.After he returned to China for the elderly, he set up a special room at home to display my gift and his Qing Dynasty court clothes, top wear, etc., and hung the national flag of "Manchuria" on the small island he bought to show his respect for the emperor. loyalty.However, it was his patience that first created the rapport between our teachers and students.Looking back on it today, it is not easy for this red-faced Scot to treat a student like me like that.Once he brought me some foreign pictorials, all of which were pictures about the First World War, mostly airplanes, tanks and cannons that showed the might of the Allied forces.I am fascinated by these novelties.He saw my interest, so he pointed to the things in the pictorial and explained to me, what is the role of tanks, which country's planes are good, and how brave the Allied forces are.At first I could hear it, but after a while I got bored again as usual.I took out the snuff-box, poured the snuff on the table, and drew flowers on it.Master Zhuang put away the pictorial without saying a word, and waited for me to play snuff until get out of class was over.Another time he brought me some foreign sweets, and I was delighted in that handsome light-iron box, with its silver wrapping paper, and the scent of various fruits.Then he told how the taste of the fruit was produced chemically, and how the neat shapes were made by machines.I don't understand anything, and I don't want to.I ate two candies and thought of the ants on the juniper tree and wanted them to have a taste of chemistry and machinery, so I ran to the cross yard.The old Scottish master then guarded the candy box and waited there until get out of class was over.

I gradually understood Master Zhuang's painstaking efforts in educating me, and I was happy and willing to obey.What he taught was not only English, or English is not important, he paid more attention to educating me to be like an English gentleman as he said.When I was fifteen years old, I decided to dress myself exactly like him, and asked the eunuch to go to the street and buy me a lot of suits. "I put on a suit that didn't fit at all and was too big, and I tied the tie outside the collar like a rope. When I walked into Yuqing Palace like this and he saw it, he was really angry. I was trembling, and told me to go back and change it. The next day, he brought a tailor to measure me, and ordered an English gentleman's suit. Then he said:

"If you don't wear a well-fitting suit, it's better to wear the original gown. Those who wear clothes from the clothing store are not gentlemen, but..." What is it, he didn't go on. "If the emperor appears in London, England," he once said to me, "he will always be invited to the tea party. It is a relatively casual but important gathering, and it is held mostly on Wednesdays. You can meet nobles and scholars there. , celebrities, and all kinds of people that the emperor has to meet with. Clothes don’t have to be too particular, but politeness is very important. If drinking coffee is like pouring boiling water, eating snacks as meals, or if the fork and spoon are clanging, then it’s broken .In the UK, eating snacks and drinking coffee is Refreshment, not eating..."

Although I can't fully remember Master Johnston's persuasiveness, I often forget the vigilance of the first piece after eating the second piece of dessert, but the airplane cannons in the pictorials, the chemical candy and the etiquette at the tea party can't bear it. The Western civilization it represents is still deeply imprinted in my heart.From watching the pictorials of the European War, I developed a hobby of reading foreign pictorials.I first got the impulse from the advertisement in the pictorial, and immediately ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to order foreign dogs and diamonds from foreign countries like the ones in the pictorial. The floor was installed, and the red sandalwood Kang table with copper work was replaced with a Kang table with foreign varnish and white porcelain handles, making the room nondescript.Following Johnston's example, I stocked up on the odds and ends of my body: pocket watches, watch chains, rings, pins, cufflinks, ties, and so on.I asked him to give me a foreign name, as well as my younger brothers and sisters and my "concubine" and "concubine". My name is Henry, and Wanke's name is Elizabeth.I imitated his way of speaking in both Chinese and English, and talked with my companion readers all day long:

"William (Pu Jie's name), quickly sharpen the Pencil (pencil) for me...OK, put it on the desk (table)!" "Arthur (Pu Jia's name), today (today) call Lily (my third sister's name) and the others to come and hear (listen to) foreign military music!" When he said it, he was triumphant.Master Chen Baochen frowned and closed his eyes, as if his teeth were sour. In short, in my eyes, everything about Johnston is the best, even the camphor smell on his clothes is fragrant.Johnston convinced me that Westerners are the most intelligent and civilized people, and he is the most learned of Westerners.I'm afraid even he himself didn't expect that he could exert such a great charm on me: the woolen clothes he wore actually shook my value of Chinese silk and satin, and the fountain pen in his pocket unexpectedly It makes me feel inferior because the Chinese use brush rice paper.Since he brought the military band of the British barracks into the palace to play, I feel that the Chinese strings are even more unpleasant, and even the majesty of Danbi Dale has been greatly weakened.I cut off the Chinese braid only because Johnston sneered that it was a pig's tail.

Since the second year of the Republic of China, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of China has sent letters to the Ministry of Internal Affairs several times, asking the Forbidden City to help persuade the bannermen to cut off their braids, and hoped that the Forbidden City would also cut it off. The tone was very gentle and did not mention my head and hair. the heads of the ministers.The Ministry of Internal Affairs used many reasons to evade the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and even the use of braids as a sign to identify the entrance and exit of the palace became a reason.This matter has dragged on for several years, and the Forbidden City is still a world of braids.Now, after being promoted by Johnston, I first cut the braids.After I cut it, thousands of braids disappeared in a few days, only three Chinese masters and a few ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs remained. Because I cut the braids, the toffees cried a few times, and the masters looked gloomy for many days.Later, Pu Jie and Yu Chong also cut their braids at home under the pretext of "following the order".Facing his bald disciples that day, Master Chen was stunned for a long time, and finally he sneered at Yu Chong and said, "Sell your braids to foreign women, and you can get a lot of money!" Those who don't like Johnston the most are the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.At that time, the palace expenses were still very large, and the funds stipulated in the preferential treatment conditions were in arrears every year.In order to raise funds, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has to sell and mortgage antiques, calligraphy, paintings, gold, silver and porcelain every year.I gradually learned from Johnston that there was a ghost inside.Once the Ministry of Internal Affairs wanted to sell a golden pagoda as tall as a person. I remembered what Johnston said. The gold and silver products sold by the Ministry of Internal Affairs are of high value if they are sold as works of art, but every time Selling by weight, I suffered a lot.According to Johnston, only a fool would do it.I called the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and asked how the golden pagoda was sold.Sure enough, they said they sold by weight, and I lost my temper immediately: "It's only a fool's job! Don't you have a wise man?" The people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs thought that it was Johnston who dismantled them, so they came up with a way to carry the golden pagoda to Johnston's home, saying that the emperor asked him to sell it.Johnston immediately saw through this trick, and said angrily, "If you don't take it away, I will play it to the emperor!" As a result, the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs obediently carried the golden pagoda away.They have nothing to do with Johnston, because he is not only the bodyguard who clears the room, but also has my full trust. In the last year of Yuqing Palace, Johnston has been an important part of my soul.We talk about extracurricular issues, taking up more and more class time, and talking about a wider range of topics.He told me about the life of the British royal family, the political system and national conditions of various countries, the strength of the great powers after the war, the scenery around the world, the scenery on the land of the "British Empire where the sun never sets", the civil war situation in China, and China's "vernacular language movement" ( He called the relationship between the May 4th New Culture Movement) and Western civilization, and he also talked about the possibility of restoration and the unreliable attitude of warlords. ... Once he said: "It can be seen from every newspaper that the Chinese people miss the Qing Dynasty and everyone is tired of the Republic. I don't think I need to care about the attitude of those soldiers for the time being, and His Majesty doesn't have to spend so much time to learn from the Qing Dynasty. It goes without saying that there is a difference between their ultimate goal of advocating restoration and saving the Republic. In a word, what Chen Taifu said is correct. His Majesty’s holiness is the most important thing. But the holiness of the day, It cannot always be in the Forbidden City. In Europe, especially in the land of His Majesty the King, in Oxford University where the Prince Edward studied, His Majesty the Emperor can acquire a lot of necessary knowledge and broaden his horizons..." Before I moved the idea of ​​studying in the UK, he had already opened up a lot of "eyes" for me.After his introduction, the Commander of the British Navy and the British Governor of Hong Kong appeared in the Forbidden City. Everyone respected me politely and called me His Majesty the Emperor. My fascination with European life and my imitation of Johnston did not completely satisfy this foreign master.For example, when I wear clothes, he has another opinion, or he has another interest in me.On my wedding day, I made an appearance at a reception for foreign guests.After toasting the wine and returning to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, I took off my dragon robe and changed into a casual robe, suit pants and a peaked cap.At this time, Johnston came with his friends.A sharp-eyed old foreign lady first saw me standing under the porch, and asked Johnston: "Who is that boy?" Johnston saw me, took a look at my attire, and immediately blushed. I was shocked by the look, and I was baffled by the disappointed expressions on the faces of the foreigners.After the foreigner left, Johnston's anger still persisted, and he said to me in a frenzy: "What does it look like? Your Majesty! The Emperor of China wears a hunting cap! My God!