- Empress Dowager Ci Xi (1835-1908). She liked flowers very much.
- She ordered eunuchs to plant about three to four thousand pots of chrysanthemum flowers in the Summer Palace. She loved lotus and magnolia too. Every spring and summer flowers were collected to be the material of cakes.
She paid special attention to her meals. Honey, walnut, pine nut, wolfberry fruit, dry Chinese date and sesame oil were her favorites. They were thought to delay aging. She had a good appetite and did not have one-sided diet. After meals, she usually took honeysuckle flower tea, jasmine tea or rose tea.
 
- Dowager Ci Xi often took the Baxian cake (made from eight ingredients) to replenish qi and invigorate the digestive system.
- She stayed in the Summer Palace, breathing fresh air. She got up very early in the morning and after supper she walked around the garden for exercise.
She normally took one teaspoon of small pearl powder once every 10 days for several decades. Every day she drank half bowl of human milk. Usually, there were two or three nannies serving her.
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To prevent wrinkles on her face, she used a small jade roller, to roll her face every morning.
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