Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu: The Survival Game in the Chinese Court: The Survival Game in the Chinese Court

Author: He Delan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-10-01
Features: The author of this book is the American Ichabod Taylor Headland (1859–1942), whose Chinese name is He Delan. He was a missionary of the American Board of Missions and came to China in 1888, serving as a teacher of liberal arts and theology at Peking Union College. He witnessed the entire final years of the Qing Dynasty with his own eyes. Having spent a long time in China and having had extensive contact with the upper class, he wrote this book based on his own observations, which provides valuable insights into that era and offers many precious historical materials. For example, while many materials have mentioned Emperor Guangxu's love for reading and Empress Dowager Cixi's interest in calligraphy and painting, the detailed details revealed in the book are previously unknown. The author also provides vivid descriptions of the general social conditions of the time, such as the lack of interaction between Manchu and Han women, the spread of the chastity ideology, and the fervent enthusiasm for establishing schools. The content of the book was written for foreigners, but to this day, our unfamiliarity with this topic may not be much different from that of foreigners at the time. Reading it will at least be quite interesting. The author of this book is the American Ichabod Taylor Headland (1859–1942), whose Chinese name is He Delan. He was a missionary of the American Board of Missions and came to China in 1888, serving as a teacher of liberal arts and theology at Peking Union College. He witnessed the entire final years of the Qing Dynasty with his own eyes. Having spent a long time in China and having had extensive contact with the upper class, he wrote this book based on his own observations, which provides valuable insights into that era and offers many precious historical materials. For example, while many materials have mentioned Emperor Guangxu's love for reading and Empress Dowager Cixi's interest in calligraphy and painting, the detailed details revealed in the book are previously unknown.