XXIV

The Empress Dowager’s quarters at the Winter Palace are separated by high walls and guarded gates from the Emperor’s. The pavilions of the Emperor’s enclosure are on a more magnificent scale even than those of the Empress Dowager. The Audience Hall of the Winter Palace is in the Emperor’s enclosure. In Her Majesty’s enclosure, there is a Theater, but the Imperial loge is small, indeed, when compared with the splendid hall at the Summer Palace. Tradition seemed to be more rigidly observed here than at the Summer Palace, and everything seemed to be referred to the Emperor; whereas Her Majesty seemed to be the first figure at the Summer Palace, and there, traditional laws were often in abeyance.