![]() Chang 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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