5/10/2023 0 Comments Empress dowager cixi by jung changChang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative and cruel despot.Ĭixi reigned during extraordinary times and had to deal with a host of major national crises: the Taiping and Boxer rebellions, wars with France and Japan-and an invasion by eight allied powers including Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States. She inaugurated women’s liberation and embarked on the path to introduce parliamentary elections to China. It was she who abolished gruesome punishments like “death by a thousand cuts” and put an end to foot-binding. Under her the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, the telegraph and an army and navy with up-to-date weaponry. In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change China. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband and made herself the real ruler of China-behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. She ruled China for decades and brought a medieval empire into the modern age.Īt the age of sixteen, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor’s numerous concubines. Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908) is the most important woman in Chinese history.
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