She managed to steer the increasingly leaky ship of the Qing state through serious internal rebellions, foreign incursions and wars, trying to make the best of a weak position. Though protocol confined her to palace life and limited ritual journeys, she was eager to learn about foreign countries, customs and fashions and cultivated a shrewd strategic understanding of the world.
That Cixi was a remarkable woman is not in doubt. Born in into a family of Manchu government officials, she entered the Forbidden City as a concubine to the emperor Xianfeng. Although graded third rank, her standing in court improved in when she bore a son, a helpful move for a woman in China, even today. The young emperor Xianfeng was facing enormous problems: the Taiping rebellion was to last 10 years and take millions of lives, the treasury was bleeding, foreign powers were rudely knocking down the empire's closed doors.
Cixi began to offer the emperor unwanted advice, inspiring in him the prophetic fear that she might interfere in state affairs after his death. To keep her under control, on his deathbed he set up an eight-man regency to run China. Formally, Cixi had no power, but she succeeded in mounting a coup against the regents with Empress Zhen, the late emperor's principal wife, before he was buried. Cixi falsely accused the regents of forging the emperor's will, and in the first of what would be a substantial list of Cixi fatalities, ordered the suicide of the most important two.
Her son was crowned Emperor Tongzhi, and Cixi's extraordinary political career was launched. Since she could never sit on the throne herself, her continued power depended on the emperor being a child. In this, one might say, she had a lot of luck. Her own son died as a teenager in and another child, her three-year-old nephew, succeeded as Emperor Guangxu.
Cixi promptly adopted him, though, bizarrely, she instructed him to address her as "my royal father". It was not a warm relationship. The death of the former empress Zhen, which some would add to Cixi's account, left Cixi in sole charge and her reluctance to hand over the reins on the boy's maturity was palpable.
She reluctantly "retired" in and devoted herself to building a pleasure ground on the outskirts of Beijing. It was not the last of her. In life, she took care to re-build her own tomb — Ding Dongling — to make it a much larger, grand complex of temples and gardens. However, her tomb was bombed and destroyed in by the Kuomintang army, who also stole jewels from her coffin, including a large pearl from between her teeth and damaged her corpse.
The complex of her tomb was restored in by the People's Republic of China and can be visited today at the Eastern Qing tombs in Zunhua, where it stands out from the rest of the tombs. Mishandling the Boxers was one serious error on her part. The Boxer Rebellion rose in notoriety with their hatred for the Westerners in China.
Cixi wanted to use this hate towards discouraging foreign armies from invading Beijing, but that did not work well at all. Hundreds of foreigners were murdered, and she had to flee Beijing as well when European allies in China ended the rebellion.
She was also rightfully held responsible for siphoning off vast sums of state money to build a new Summer Palace when the older one was destroyed just before her reign.
She was obsessed with restoring the Summer Palace — a must-visit in Beijing — where she wanted to live out her last days. If you want to immerse in a first-hand Chinese experience that include travel to key places that played a role in Cixi's life, you can customize a tour or use our tailor-made service.
China Highlights uses cookies to give you the best possible service. If you continue browsing, you agree to the use of cookies. More details can be found in our privacy policy. Home Chinese Culture China History. Empress Dowager Cixi. The Forbidden City — residence of Cixi during her reign. The Summer Palace. Related Articles.
The Yuan Dynasty Map. Zhen He's Voyages to the West. China Neolithic Age Map. The Best Times to Travel to China. During her reign, Cixi had to deal with a host of major national crises - the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions, wars with France and Japan, and the invasion by eight allied powers including Britain, Germany and the United States.
In this ground-breaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change China. Under her, the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, telegraph, and an army and navy with up-to-date weaponry. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 15 million copies outside mainland China, where they are both banned.
She was born in China in and went to Britain in She lives in London.
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