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Cixi is one of the most famous women in modern history. She is a female politician who has ruled the empire for nearly a year. People are also very curious about his private life. Next, let’s take a look at how Cixi took a bath.
Cixi believes that the upper part of the human body is the sky and the lower part is the earth, and the earth can never cover the sky, so when taking a bath, the upper and lower body should be washed separately, and a new set of utensils should be changed when washing the lower body—the Empress Dowager Cixi always loves to dress up , especially pay attention to bathing, once a day in summer and once every 2 to 3 days in winter. The time for Cixi to take a bath is not fixed, but most of them choose about an hour after dinner.
Whenever the Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to take a bath, the eunuchs first prepared the bathtub, water, towels, soap, perfume and other items, and sent them to the door of the Empress Dowager’s bedroom, and then the maids sent these things into the bedroom. After pouring the water, the Queen Mother was asked to take off her clothes and enter the bath. Waiting for the queen mother to take a bath are four strictly selected and specially trained court ladies. When bathing, the four maids stood around the queen mother, and then one of the leading maids picked up a stack of towels (25 in total) and put them into the water. After soaking, take out 4 and wring them dry with both hands. Distribute it to the other three people at the same time, open it at once, spread it on the palm of the hand, and then gently wipe the chest, back, armpits and arms for the Queen Mother. After scrubbing like this six or seven times, put on soap, which is rose soap made by the palace. The four court ladies had to work together to spread the soap on the towel and help the queen mother wipe her body (the towel was thrown away after one wipe). Then, re-soak a fresh stack of towels in the water.
After the towel was soaked and pulled out, it was not wrung out very well. Use this kind of wet towel to gently wipe off the soap on the Queen Mother’s body. It must be wiped over and over again until it is completely clean and there is no suds on the body. The last thing is to apply perfume to the Queen Mother. In summer, winter-resistant toilet water is often used, while in autumn and winter, rose water is used. The dosage is large and the usage is also special. Pat the cotton sheet on the body to spread the perfume evenly. After wiping off the perfume, the four maids lightly brushed all parts of the Queen Mother’s upper body with dry towels, and then put on the queen mother’s shirt and pajamas. After washing the upper body, wash the lower body. The Queen Mother believes that the upper body is the sky, and the lower body is the earth, and the earth can never cover the sky, so when washing the lower body, a new set of utensils must be changed, and the washing method is similar to washing the upper body.
The Empress Dowager Cixi used 100 towels every time she took a bath, because she was not allowed to put the towels back into the water after they were taken out of the water, so they had to be thrown away after one use. Even after she took a bath, the water in the bathtub was clean without any dirt.
