![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Cixi's power only increased after this, and she finally exacted revenge on Guangxu just before her death in 1908. The Manchu Empress Dowager Cixi (18351908) is generally thought of as a conservative figure in Chinese history, incapable of defending China’s interests in the second half of the 19th century. Cixi's actions and methods were at times controversial, and in 1898 she thwarted an assassination attempt sanctioned by Emperor Guangxu, her adopted son. Memoirist Chang (Wild Swans) melds her deep knowledge of Chinese history with deft storytelling to unravel the empress dowager's behind-the-throne efforts to "Make China Strong" by developing international trade, building railroads and utilities, expanding education, and constructing a modern military. Cixi did not trust these men to competently rule China, so she conspired with Empress Zhen, her close friend and the deceased emperor's first wife, to orchestrate a coup. When the emperor died in 1861, he bequeathed his title to this son, with regents to oversee his reign. Physical Description: xiii, 436 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates. Literate, politically aware, and graceful rather than beautiful, Cixi was not Xianfeng's favorite, but she delivered his firstborn son in 1856. Empress Dowager Cixi : the concubine who launched modern China / Jung Chang. Born in 1835 to a prominent Manchu family, Cixi was chosen in 1852 by the young Chinese Emperor Xianfeng as one of his concubines. Her original first name was considered too inconsequential to enter in the court registry, yet she became the most powerful woman in 19th-century China. ![]()
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