Deux années dans la Cité interdite: Récit d'une dame de cour auprès de l'impératrice Cixi

by Der Ling

De 1903 à 1905, la jeune Yu Deling, fille d'un diplomate chinois de haut rang et de son épouse sino-américaine, et éduquée en France à l'occidentale, occupa les fonctions de dame de cour de l'impératrice douairière Cixi à la cour de la dynastie Qing
finissante. Quelques années plus tard, elle rédigea à Shanghai la chronique intime de cet extraordinaire moment.

Ce récit est pour la première fois traduit en français, plus d'un siècle après sa parution en 1911.

Témoignage personnel et passionné, l'ouvrage a longtemps été sujet à caution, mais a été réhabilité à la fin du XXe siècle et est désormais considéré comme une source historique importante sur la vie de la cour impériale chinoise.

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2022

About the author

"Princess" Der Ling (Chinese: 德龄, pinyin: Dé Líng) (1885 – 1944) was a Han bannerwoman, the daughter of Yu Keng (裕庚). Yu Keng was a member of the Hanjun Plain White Banner Corps(正白旗) and according to his daughter was a Lord. This is of some doubt. After serving as Chinese minister to Japan he was appointed minister to the French Third Republic for four years in 1899. He was known for his progressive, reformist views, as well as for his unvarying support of the Empress Dowager Cixi. In 1905, Yukeng died in Shanghai. YuKeng's story is retold in the movie Dai noi kwan ying.
Yu Keng's daughters Der Ling and Rong Ling (1882–1973, the future Madame Dan Paochao of Beijing) therefore got a western education, having studied dance in Paris with Isadora Duncan.Upon return from France, Der Ling became the First lady-in-waiting to Empress Dowager Cixi, as well as a translator. She stayed at court until March 1905. In 1907, Der Ling married Thaddeus C. White, an American. Der Ling had a brother, Xunling (ca. 1880–1943), who studied photography in France and later took the only photographs of Empress Dowager Cixi still in existence.[1]
Using the title of princess, which would create controversy for her in both China and the United States in the future, Der Ling wrote down her unique experience in court in her memoirs Two Years in the Forbidden City, which were published in 1911, and wrote about the experience through her next seven books. "Two Years" gives historical insights into life at court and Der Ling's service to the Dowager Empress, essentially a world that has disappeared.