Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagant diet is famous in Chinese and foreign history. Every time she eats, she has to fill three or four assembled dining tables. There are often hundreds of dishes, including hot and cold dishes, barbecue dishes and various snacks. As soon as she finished eating, eunuchs, large and small, lined up to wait, the dishes would be set immediately, and several special ones would be served together. After the food was served, Cixi wanted to have a look, left when she was satisfied, and left immediately if she didn't want to eat.

De Ling, a female official who once worked beside Cixi, has the following comments on Cixi in Yu Xiang Lu: ... There are two meals a day, and at these two dinners, this 100 bowl of dishes should be served neatly according to the regulations. Besides these two dinners, there are two snacks called snacks. Of course, they won't be as rich as dinner. But the queen mother is always too casual. "So every snack, there are at least 20 bowls of food, usually around forty or fifty bowls. "

Of course, Cixi can't eat that much. "... there are only three or four products at most, and the rest can be discarded immediately, or enjoyed by higher-level female officials, maids and eunuchs in turn. "That is to say, the purpose of Cixi's dining is to eat on the one hand, and to show off her status and ostentation on the other.

On the 10th day of October in the 20th year of Guangxu, Cixi celebrated her 60th birthday. In the eighteenth year of Guangxu, the imperial edict was issued, and a banquet was held more than a month before her birthday. There are more than 29 170 glazed bowls, plates and plates in Jiangxi province, which are painted with the words "Long live without borders" and auspicious and festive patterns. The whole celebration cost nearly12 million taels of silver, which is unprecedented in the history of China.