Empress Dowager Cixi

Author: Zhang Yanfen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: A woman obsessed with power, not an emperor but an uncrowned empress with imperial power, a master of palace coups who personally brought down the 300-year reign of the Great Qing, the longest-reigning woman in Chinese history who pushed China into deep suffering with an iron fist. Empress Dowager Cixi, the de facto ruler of the late Great Qing. From the "Xinxiu Coup" to her death, she held military and political power over the Tongzhi and Guangxu reigns for 47 years, making her the longest-reigning woman in Chinese history. Throughout her life, Empress Dowager Cixi lived and died for power. So, what kind of person was Empress Dowager Cixi? Simply put, she was an iron-willed woman obsessed with power; a ruler who was not an emperor but wielded imperial power; a master of palace coups. This book breaks away from traditional methods of character portrayal, not confined to her merits and demerits in life, but focuses tightly on the core of "power." Based on respect for historical truth, it uses reasonable artistic embellishment to vividly recreate Empress Dowager Cixi's unique life—how she grasped power, seized power, and centralized power—and presents a brand-new Empress Dowager Cixi, combining both a woman's tenderness and a feudal politician's ruthlessness. It is believed that readers can truly feel Empress Dowager Cixi's genuine tenderness as a woman, rather than just a cold, powerful empress, from the descriptions in this book and the remnants of her human motherly nature she still possessed.