The beauty secrets of Empress Dowager Cixi are highly favored and adopted by the high society around the world, including the Beckham couple.
Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) is regarded as the “second queen” of China after Empress Wu Zetian. Before her death, Cixi maintained good health, smooth skin, a radiant face, intact teeth, and a strong spirit, thanks to her keen attention to beauty care methods.
In the Imperial Fragrance Notes (a practical record of Empress Dowager Cixi’s daily life) written and published in 1933 by Yuyun Ling, a close female official of Cixi, it is noted that despite her advanced age, Cixi still had skin as white, smooth, and soft as a “young girl.”
In the portrait of Cixi, American artist Katharine Augusta Carl painted her from 1903 to 1904, describing the nearly 70-year-old empress as “looking no more than 40,” with a noble aura that immediately endears her to newcomers.
Empress Dowager Cixi from youth to old age.
The secret to Empress Dowager Cixi’s beautiful skin is ginseng, pearls, and especially the Pearl Powder, a cosmetic she used throughout her life, according to Yuan Hongqi, former director of the Palace Museum.
Pearl Powder was specially formulated by the imperial physicians of the Qing Dynasty for Cixi to use in the sixth year of the Guangxu era (1881), based on the Eight White Powder formula used by court women during the Jin Dynasty, which included white clove, white tatarian aster, white licorice, white peony, white angelica, white powder, white fat, and white poria.
White clove refers to the droppings of male sparrows, which are bitter and warm, slightly toxic, used to eliminate wrinkles, brighten the eyes, detoxify, and reduce swelling. The book “Japanese Herbal Classics” from the Yuan Dynasty describes white clove as helping to “eliminate freckles and acne.” Many skin whitening formulas in traditional Chinese medical texts contain ingredients derived from bird droppings.
Pearl Powder uses only 6 out of the 8 types of herbs found in the Eight White Powder, adding 8 additional herbs including white lotus flower stamens, eagle droppings, pigeon droppings, windbreak root, tangerine peel, turmeric root, white yam, and white eucalyptus. The ingredients are ground into fine powder, mixed with water to form a thick paste used for massage and cleansing the face. It should be applied 2-3 times a day.
This method helps brighten the skin, prevent wrinkles and blemishes. Dr. Huang Yingtin, deputy head of the Dermatology Department at Guangdong Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, states that traditional medicines made from bird droppings have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat gynecological diseases, tumors, and skin conditions.
Bird droppings enhance blood circulation, break blood stasis, clear heat, reduce swelling, and dissolve clots. Additionally, they can treat certain skin diseases caused by blood stasis and heat generation.
“However, today it is difficult to find ingredients like white clove and eagle droppings in pharmacies and also quite challenging to verify their quality. Clinical trials rarely utilize them,” Dr. Huang said.
One of the four portraits of Empress Dowager Cixi painted by American artist Katharine Augusta Carl.
Today, there is a beauty treatment involving bird droppings, which are sterilized and turned into masks. This type of mask is used by some wealthy and famous individuals around the world, including the Beckham couple.
According to Dr. Huang, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it is important to note that some types of bird droppings can be slightly toxic. “For beauty treatment and care, bird droppings are rarely used alone but are often combined with various traditional herbal medicines to eliminate blemishes and whiten the skin,” the doctor said. “Today, these bird droppings are hardly used as medicine in clinical practice due to safety concerns and associated risks.”
In addition to the facial washing method mentioned above, Empress Dowager Cixi also placed a strong emphasis on beauty nourishment through medicinal cuisine, employing over 200 chefs and eunuchs dedicated to this purpose.
Some beauty recipes that have been passed down to this day include:
Drinking Pearl Powder
In the “Imperial Fragrance Notes” by Princess De Ling, it is recorded that Cixi “over 60 years old, yet her skin is as smooth as a virgin girl,” thanks to her persistence in drinking pearl powder daily to maintain youthfulness. Pearls are ground into a fine powder. Every night before sleeping and upon waking, she would take a spoonful of the powder mixed with water to form a thick paste, place it in her mouth, and drink a cup of warm water to swallow the powder. Cixi adhered to three principles when consuming pearl powder: drink at the right time, the right amount, and without interruption.
Bao Yuan Soup
This is a special carp soup, also known as Longevity Nourishing Soup, offered by a court physician surnamed Liu to the Qing court during the Qianlong era, which was once considered a secret recipe. The preparation method is simple yet highly effective for beauty, enhancing vitality, and promoting longevity.
The method involves using a fresh carp weighing about 1 kg, 0.5 kg of beef, a pig trotter, 100-200 grams of hawthorn, and 10 red dates. The carp is scaled and gutted; the beef is minced and stuffed into the carp’s belly; the pig trotter is cleaned; the hawthorn and red dates are pitted. All ingredients are placed in a pot with about 2 liters of water, simmered on low heat for an entire day or night. Afterward, the solids are filtered out, and only the broth is kept in the refrigerator or frozen. The next day, the solidified fat on top is skimmed off, and the broth is reheated. This broth is consumed three times a day, one cup at a time, with more made as necessary.
Ginseng Lozenges
Empress Dowager Cixi sucked on ginseng throughout her life. Every morning, a palace maid would present her with 10 grams of ginseng. She would not chew or swallow it but would keep it in her mouth until it dissolved completely. Thus, many times the empress spoke unclearly due to having ginseng in her mouth, not because of any tongue disease as many rumors suggested.
Chrysanthemum Extract
Cixi had a great fondness for the scent of chrysanthemum flowers, and the imperial physicians created this extract to help her enhance vitality, improve eyesight, and strengthen her heart. The method involves picking many fresh chrysanthemum flowers, boiling them in water until soft, filtering out the solids, reducing the liquid until thick, and mixing in a suitable amount of honey to create a thick extract, then storing it in a clay jar. Each dose is 15-20 grams taken with cool water.
