'Transmit the viands!' called the young Emperor Pu Yi, imperiously. Dinner time was whenever he felt like eating, there were no fixed hours. 'Transmit the viands!' called the junior eunuchs to the other eunuchs standing in the main hall. The order passed like a Chinese whisper from eunuch to eunuch, until it finally reached the yu shan fang, the Imperial Viands Rooms, as the kitchens were called. The cooks leapt into action. Before long, the eunuchs, in procession, were scurrying towards the emperor's quarters with dozens of red lacquered food boxes painted with golden dragons, and the tables on which to serve them. There were no dining rooms in the palace, so they set the tables up wherever the emperor happened to be, six or seven of them: two for main dishes, another in winter for the various soups and stews that sat over flickering flames, one for cakes, one for rice, one for congees, and another for salted vegetables.

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