War with the Powers -- The Last Stand of the Great Qing Empire

Author: Cui Guangbi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: History is like a farce, loud and flashy. Empress Dowager Cixi is a main character in this play, and those historical events that have been the focus of later generations are merely scenes she performed. Opening this book, we enter this grand historical drama, yet the main character is often hidden in the background. Empress Dowager Cixi was not unaware of the power of the foreign powers. She had experienced two Opium Wars, been driven out of Beijing by foreigners, and the Summer Palace burned down. She also went through the Sino-French War, the First Sino-Japanese War, and was defeated in all of them. Now she is old, yet she dares to train with them and call them "little brothers." Empress Dowager Cixi had victories throughout her life, but only within the country. As for foreign powers, she had failures her entire life. Therefore, this old lady daring to go to war with the foreign powers represented her final struggle in life, and also the final glow of the Qing Dynasty's lamp. After that, the Qing Empire's grand edifice was about to collapse, and it no longer had the strength to hold it up. With a slight push, it would fall. History is like a farce, loud and flashy. Empress Dowager Cixi is a main character in this play, and those historical events that have been the focus of later generations are merely scenes she performed. Opening this book, we enter this grand historical drama, yet the main character is often hidden in the background.