CHAPTER XVII. 149 THE SUMMER PALACE The Empress Dowager’s Favorite Palace--The Marble Terrace-- The Hills of the Summer Palace--The Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas--Memorial Arches--The Marble Bridge--The Canals--Camel-back Bridges--Chinese Architecture--Utilitarian Spirit of the Chinese--Flowers and Fields in the Park of Summer Palace--Grand Peony Mountain--The Sacred Buddha-Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas--Ruins of Old Summer Palace-- Views from the Summer Palace Belvederes--When Their Majesties Go Abroad. CHAPTER XVIII. 156 FESTIVAL OF THE HARVEST MOON The Chinese Love of Festivals--The Fruit of Immortality--The Little Handmaiden and her White Rabbit--The Play at the Palace Theater on the Mid-Autumn Festival--Dinner in the Imperial Loge--Procession to the Moonlit Terrace--Floral Pai-lou to the Moon--“Bowing” to the Moon--The Poem to the Moon--The Burnt-Offering--Return to the Palace on the Moonlit Lake--Continuation of the Portrait--Some Disadvantages of Too Much Pleasure--Hospitality of the Empress Dowager--Chinese Conventions and Traditions--Wonderful Opportunities for Picturesqueness in Painting the Empress Dowager--Restrictions Imposed by Chinese Tradition--First Exhibition of the “Sacred Picture”--Description of First Portrait of the Empress Dowager--How I Should Have Liked to Paint Her. CHAPTER XIX. 165 A GARDEN PARTY Reception to the Diplomatic Corps and Ladies of the Legation--The Ceremony of Reception of the Ladies--The Empress Dowager’s Cordiality--Taking Tea in the Audience Hall--Luncheon in the Throne-room--Promenade on the Lake-- Visit to the Palace and Temple on the Island--The Marble Boat--Lack of Harmony among the Guests at Garden Party-- Chinese Comment on our Costumes and Appearance--Dislike of Blonde Hair. CHAPTER XX. 171 BEGINNING A SECOND PORTRAIT OF THE EMPRESS DOWAGER Putting the Characters Representing Her Majesty’s Titles and her Two Seals on the Portrait--Beginning the Small Portrait-- Toilette d’Intimité--“Hailo” and “Shadza”--The Palace Painters--Their Manner of Working--New Variety of Chrysanthemum--The “Peafowl Feather”--The Audience Hall Pianos--Her Majesty’s Ideas of Dancing. CHAPTER XXI. 178 A EUROPEAN CIRCUS AT THE PALACE The Posters--Sites for the Ring--The Turnip Field--Their Majesties Go in State across the Lake--The Houseboats--The Young Empress’s State Boat--The Imperial Loges at the Circus--Invited Officials--Bands of Music--A Glimpse of the Manchu Princes and Some High Officials--The Son of the Imperial Princess--The Opera Glasses of Their Majesties--What Interested Them Most.