Emperor monologue (Act 1) — The Daughter of Heaven

The Pavilion of the Ladies-in-Waiting----So there are also Ladies-in-Waiting here? In very truth, it seems to me that I am dreaming. Yet I knew what I came hither to find that after three centuries of reign the Emperors of my dynasty had never succeeded in subduing the secret resistance of the conquered--I knew that. That in the Southern Provinces the rebels had never yet bowed the head, aye, I knew that. That Nanking was their capital and that here a descendant of the Mings had even reigned. For more than seventeen years before being crushed by our armies, of all that I was aware----But I thought this phantom empire was more mysterious, more hidden in the dark, and here I find a palace as beautiful as mine, with guards, dignitaries, ministers, a ceremonial regulated as at my own Court----Our Empire is too large it seems, to be governed by one head alone----I wished to see with my own eyes. I was prepared for all surprises, yet this is beyond me.