The Emperor's birthday, as its name showed, was the festival to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor. As usual, people would have three-days off for this festival. On the exact day of the Emperor's birthday, the celebrations were livelier. In an important sense, the ceremony for the Emperor's birthday was more important than the ones for the Empress Dowager's birthday and the Empress's birthday.

However, the Emperor was tired of superficial things. The more he stayed on the ...