Early emperors used bands to entertain them at dinner. Later emperors only used bands on birthdays or celebration dinners. However, putting on airs while eating was carried forward until the late Qing Dynasty. The emperor spent several hundred taels of silver on a meal, which was enough for an ordinary peasant family to eat for ten years. As the supreme ruler, the emperor seems to have nothing to eat. Although the emperor can eat hundreds of dishes at a time at most, the emperor can eat three dishes at most. After eating, the eunuch will remove the dishes and will not serve them again for half a year.
The emperor is not unable to eat more, but dare not eat more. Once someone knows what the emperor likes to eat, they can control his diet and manipulate him. The second is that once you know the emperor's favorite, someone will poison the dish if they want to assassinate him, which greatly increases the chances of the emperor being assassinated successfully. Eat only two meals a day, called breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is usually from 6: 00 to 8: 30 in the morning, and dinner is in the afternoon 12:00-2:00, one hour earlier in summer and autumn.
After two main meals, add a snack each. Time is not fixed. The emperor wants something to eat temporarily and can pass it on at any time. According to the regulations of the Qing Palace, the Imperial Tea Room under the Ministry of Internal Affairs was responsible for the emperor's daily meals, and all kinds of banquets were jointly undertaken by the Rite Department, the Rite Department and the Imperial Tea Room of Guanglu Temple. The Imperial Tea Restaurant includes a restaurant, a tea room and a green tea room, in which the restaurant is equipped with three directors, two funerals, fifteen funerals, three waiters and twenty waiters. There are more than 120 people in the imperial tea room and green tea room, in addition to 150 and 60 eunuchs. The emperor's daily meals were first listed by the officials of the Imperial Tea Restaurant, and then examined and filed by the competent minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs before cooking.
The place where the emperor usually eats is not fixed, mostly in the east, west or office of his bedroom. For example, in the book My First Half Life, Puyi said that when eating, eunuchs would ask them to pass the meal, and then they would walk out of a distance and ask them to pass the meal. After that, the eunuchs will spread the sound to the imperial kitchen step by step, and then the eunuchs in the imperial kitchen will line up to deliver meals. Before the echo disappeared, a team like a dowry had walked out of the royal kitchen. This is a team of dozens of well-dressed eunuchs, carrying seven dining tables and holding dozens of red paint boxes with golden dragons on them, heading straight for hall of mental cultivation.
The general standard of the Qing court is 120 dishes. When eating, the emperor is not alone, surrounded by some minions and princes, waiting for the emperor to finish eating the reward. Therefore, after the emperor's meal is generally finished, he will reward the servant and eat it standing up. This is the rule. On one occasion, a dust-free princess stayed with Cixi in the palace for two years. During this period, she said that after eating, Cixi would release it.
The rewarded person can only stand at another table and eat. Because it was given by the emperor, even if you don't want to eat it, you have to eat it, which means "delicious" After Xianfeng's death, during the joint administration of Ci 'an, Cixi and Gu Ming, eight ministers, Ci 'an changed the course 120 to 64 and then to 24 in order to save money. However, after Cixi monopolized the power, she immediately resumed the curriculum system of 120 and wanted to serve food.