Jacinta: Yes, there’s so much to write, to put her in context, that a few blog posts wouldn’t be enough. Packed with drama, fast paced and gripping, it is both a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of a woman: as the concubine to a monarch, as the absolute ruler of a third of the world's population, and as a unique stateswoman.Canto: So we’ve written a piece on Cixi (to save time I won’t keep referring to her by full title), touting her as a reformer, within strict limits, but without actually mentioning and discussing any of her reforms. The world Chang describes here, in fascinating detail, seems almost unbelievable in its extraordinary mixture of the very old and the very new.īased on newly available, mostly Chinese, historical documents such as court records, official and private correspondence, diaries and eyewitness accounts, this biography will revolutionize historical thinking about a crucial period in China's - and the world's - history. Jung Chang not only records the Empress Dowager's conduct of domestic and foreign affairs, but also takes the reader into the depths of her splendid Summer Palace and the harem of Beijing's Forbidden City, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs - one of whom she fell in love, with tragic consequences. 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. At the age of sixteen, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor's numerous concubines. She ruled China for decades and brought a medieval empire into the modern age. Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) is the most important woman in Chinese history.

Empress cixi book