The end of the wedding banquet marks the end of the most important part of the wedding. Then there will be a series of wedding ceremonies, such as court meetings, temple fairs, imperial edicts, banquets, etc., which will be announced to the world and celebrated by princes, ministers, officials and officials. During the late Qing Dynasty, all the great powers came to China. When Emperor Guangxu got married, countries naturally gave gifts as a courtesy, but there was an episode that made Cixi very unhappy.
On this festive day of the Great Qing Dynasty, Queen Victoria of England sent representatives to send gifts. The Englishman was very serious and sent a "clock" with a pair of couplets engraved on it: "The sun and the moon are bright and auspicious at twelve o'clock; Heaven and earth are in harmony, celebrating 100 million years of wealth and Shou Kang. " The antithesis is neat, in line with each other's identity, implying auspicious words such as nature, and "day" and "sky" are metaphors for the emperor. The latter metaphor "moon" and "earth" is a rare combination.
Moreover, couplets are all good words. It can be seen that the blessing of the British people is sincere. After receiving this gift, Guangxu didn't feel anything wrong, and specially thanked the representative sent by the Queen of England. However, Cixi flew into a rage after reading it. It turns out that although this is the original intention of the British, isn't this "sending the clock" equal to "sending the last"?
The British launched two Opium Wars, burned the Yuanmingyuan and almost wiped out the Qing Dynasty. This time, they sent western clocks and watches. Does this mean that they want to die for the Great Qing Dynasty? Cixi didn't want to accept it and didn't dare to throw it, so she had to order someone to accept it and throw it directly into the corner of the treasure house.