During the Qing Dynasty, emperors were very particular about eating. There were clear rules for the emperor’s meals. Each meal had more than 120 dishes, which did not include the staple food, snacks and snacks that the emperor ate. As for fruits, later the treasury was depleted, and the 120 dishes gradually dropped to 64, 32 and so on. But when Cixi came to power, the life of the Empress Dowager Cixi was very extravagant. Even though the treasury was extremely empty, she still had to eat more than 100 dishes for each meal, and there were no duplicate dishes. Cixi also emphasized eating small meals and frequent meals, which means that every day It takes a lot of meals.

It is said that when Cixi was out on the train, the temporary imperial dining room occupied 4 carriages. Each carriage was equipped with 50 stoves. More than 100 kinds of main dishes and 100 cakes and fruits were prepared every day. There are many kinds, and 150 cooks were recruited in one day. Even on the way to escape, Cixi was not ambiguous about eating. Whenever she felt hungry, she would stop and cook. But after the meal was ready, she might not be hungry anymore, so the meals were wasted again.

Then historical records say that one meal of Cixi’s meal can equal the money an ordinary person spends on eating in a year. Is this true? In fact, what you eat in one day is far more than what an average family eats in a year. Because the corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs was very serious at that time, an egg was quoted for dozens of taels of silver. Emperor Guangxu always thought that eggs were a luxury item that ordinary people could not afford. Later, even though the treasury was extremely empty, Cixi still felt that the food was too little. Many times when eating, she looked unhappy. One tael of silver at that time is equivalent to 100 to 200 yuan in RMB today. Therefore, Cixi spent millions of RMB on meals a day, which is more than what ordinary people spend in a year. .

Later, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China, Cixi fled in a hurry. At that time, she no longer cared about fine food. On the way to escape, it is said that Cixi ate a steamed bun and after devouring it, she felt that it was her The best food I've ever had in my life.