Back before the Qing took control of China in the XVII century, the Ming Dynasty was the most developped country in the world. It is said that Victorian UK barely reached the same development during late XIX Century.<br /><br />Anyway, the forbidden palace was home to the imperial dynasty and many legends, far from the commoners eyes.<br />One particularly, talk about a empress dowager, who was turned into a sort of vase, and would advise and keep a strong influence over the court for several decades...<br /><br />She would have been clearly no threat to the new empress, but she took in high esteem by the nobles and her former husband fortune gave her power and ability to hire hundreds of maid servants.