Empress Dowager Cixi
The book “Empress Dowager Cixi” by Jung Chang really shakes me up.
Before I read the book, I was under the impression (from hear-say and my grandmother’s stories) that:
(1) Empress Cixi was devious and a cruel lady;
(2) She wanted power for herself - so much so that she devised schemes to ensure that her reign would last a long time;
(3) She killed those who disobeyed her commands;
(4) She hated the Europeans and the western influences on China, including the Christian beliefs;
(5) She was much too strict to her servants and subordinates;
(6) She contributed heavily to ‘China’s slide into corruption, anarchy and revolution’;
(7) She spent funds destined for the imperial navy on such extravagant as the Summer Palace.
However, let us read about Empress Dowager Cixi from Katherine Carl, an American painter, who had spent time with her during the year 1903 when she painted Cixi’s portraits.
https://ia802705.us.archive.org/10/items/withempressdowag00carliala/withempressdowag00carliala.pdf
Katherine considered the Empress as a kind and considerate woman and had great presence and charm.
It appears that most of our beliefs of the ‘devious despot’ found in Empress Dowager Cixi originated from the back door gossips written by J O P Bland and Edmund Blackhouse in their book “China Under The Empress Dowager” written in 1910.
https://library.uoregon.edu/ec/e-asia/read/backhouse-2.pdf
They did much to destroy the reputation of the Empress. They were found to be totally bias and very prejudicial against ladies as leaders. Their portrait included many contradictory reports that were manipulative. They were also found to have forged some of the source materials in this book.
Returning to the latest book on the topic by Jung Chang, I found the topics in the book well presented in a chronicle order and they are easily readable. There are, of course, occasions when the “plots” are dragged far longer than they should, but that might just be reflections of the writer’s opinion placing those plots as significantly importance.
The book has the following chapters, tracing Empress Dowager Cixi’s history from the year 1835 to her death in 1908.
Concubine to an Emperor (1835 - 1856)
Opium War to Burning of Old Summer Palace (1839 - 1860)
Emperor Xianfeng’s Death (1860 - 1861)
The Coup that Changed China (1861)
First Step on the Long Road to Modernity (1861 - 1869)
Virgin Journeys to the West (1861 - 1871)
Love Doomed (1869)
A Vendetta against the West (1869 - 1871)
Life and Death of Emperor Tongzhi (1861 - 1875)
Three-Year-Old is Made Emperor (1875)
Modernisation Accelerates (1875 - 1889)
Defender of the Empire (1875 - 1889)
Emperor Guangxu Alienated from Cixi (1875 - 1894)
The Summer Palace (1886 - 1894)
In Retirement and in Leisure (1889 - 1894)
War with Japan (1894)
A Peace that Ruined China (1895)
The Scramble for China (1895 - 1898)
The Reforms of 1898 (1898)
A Plot to Kill Cixi (September 1898)
Desperate to Dethrone Her Adopted Son (1898 - 1900)
To War against the World Powers - with the Boxers (1899 - 1900)
Fighting to a Bitter End (1900)
Flight (1900 - 1901)
Remorse (1900 - 1901)
Return to Beijing (1901 - 1902)
Making Friends with Westerners (1902 - 1907)
Cixi’s Revolution (1902 - 1908)
The Vote (1905 - 1908)
Coping with Insurgents, Assassins and the Japanese (1902 - 1908)
Deaths (1908)
China after Empress Dowager Cixi
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The following excerpts from this book provide us with a totally revised view of this person, Cixi, in our understanding of the history of modern China.
Excerpt # 1: pp 447 - 448 (the last two pages of the book)
“Cixi had struggled to thwart Japan’s attempts to turn China into part of its East Asia empire,and had murdered her adopted son to prevent it. Ironically, if she had delivered China to Japan, it is almost certain that her last resting place - and her remains - would have been respected.”
” … While post-war Japan metamorphosed into a flourishing democracy, China was plunged into an unprecedented abyss by Mao’s twenty-seven-year-rule, which swallowed the lives of well over seventy million people in peacetime - until his death in 1976 put a stop to his attrocities. For his misrule Mao offered not a word of apology, unlike Cixi, who publicly expressed remorse for the damage she had done - whichm though grave, was a fraction of what Mao inflicted on the nation.”
“The past hundred years have been most unfair to Cixi, who has been deemed either tyrannival and vicious or hopelessly incompetent - or both. Few of her achievements have been recognised and, when they are, the credit is invariably given to the men serving her. This is largely due to a basic handicap: that she was a woman and could only rule in the name of her sons - so her precise role has been little known. In the absence of clear knowledge, rumours have abounded and lies have been invented and believed.”
“In terms of groundbreaking achievements, political sincerity and personal courage, Empress Dowager Cixi set a standard that has barely been matched. She brought in modernity to replace decrepitude, poverty, savagery and absolute power, and she introduced hitherto untasted humaneness, open-mindedness and freedom. And she had a conscience. Looking back over the many hottific decades after Cixi’s demise, one cannot but admire this amazing stateswoman, flawed though she was.”
Excerpt # 2: pp 17 - 19 Early days
“Empress Zhen was a brave woman, and her contemporaries also praised her for her kindness. When the emperor was angry with a concubine, she always mediated. Now, it seems, she put in a good word for Cixi. And her argument might well have been that Cixi was only trying - perhaps trying too hard - to express her love and concern for his majesty, At this most vulnerable time for Cixi, Empress Zhen protected her. This helped lay the foundation of Cixi’s lifelong devotion to the empress. The feeling was mutual. Cixi had never been underhand in her dealings with Empress Zhen. Although she must have been dissatisfied with her position at the bottom of the consort ladder, while Zhen rose to be empress, Cixi never did anything to undermine Zhen. Even her worst enemies did not accuse her of such scheming. If there was any jealousy, which is Cixi’s position would seem to have been unavoidable, Cixi kept it well under control and never let it poison their relationship. Cixi was not petty - and she was wise. So, instead of being rivalrous, the two women became good friends, with the empress addressing Cixi intimately as ‘Younger Sister’. She was actually a year younger than Cixi, but this indicated her seniority as the empress.
“Empress Zhen may well have been instrumental in persuading the emperor to promote Cixi in 1854 from Rank 6 to 5, lifting her out of the bottom group. To accompany this elevation, he gave her a new, carefully considered name, Yi, which means ‘exemplary’. A special edict in the emperor’s own hand, in crimson ink that signalled the authority of the monarch, publicly announced Cixi’s new name, together with her promotion. A ceremony was held for her to receive the honour formally, during which eunuchs from Music Department of the court played congratulatory compositions.
“For Cixi, the sole episode taught her that to survive at court she must hold her tongue about state affairs. This was difficult, as she could see the dynasty was in trouble. The victorious Taiping rebels not only consolidated their bases in southern China, but were sending military expeditions with a view to attacking Beijing. Cixi felt that she had practicable ideas - in fact it was under her rule that the Taiping rebels were later defeated. But she could not say a word, and could only share non-political interests with her husband, such as music and art. Emperor Xianfeng was an artistic man. His paintings from his younger years (figures, landscapes, and horses with endearing eyes) were remarkable accomplished. Cixi too could draw. She designed embroidery when she was a young girl, and her painting and calligraphy would blossom in oder age. For now, at least, she could talk about this common interest with her husband. Opera provided closer bond. Emperor Xianfeng not only loved to watch operas, but also composed tunes, wrote lyrics and directed performances. He even put on make-up and took part in acting. Keen to improve his skills, he got actors to teach eunuchs while he looked on, learning by watching. His favourite instruments were the flute and drum, which he played well. As for Cixi, her lifelong love affair with the opera would one day help to create a sophisticated art form.
“On 27 April 1856, Cixi gave birth to a son. This event was to change her destiny.”
Excerpt # 3: pp 57 - 58 The Coup
“On the last day of the ninth lunar month of 1861, while the coffin of Emperor Xianfeng was progressing towards the capital at a stately pace, Cixi ignited the fuse of her coup. She told Prince Gong to bring his associates to her and Empress Zhen, and when they arrived she had the coup edict declared to them. In a winsome show of grief, the two dowager Empresses denounced the Regents for bullying them and the child emperor. All present showed great indignation. In the middle of the denunciation, the Regents who had travelled with cixi rushed into the palace and shouted outside the hall that the women had broken a cardinal rule by calling the male officials into the harem. Cixi, looking mightily incensed, ordered a second edict written and stamped there and then: for the arrest of the Regents, on the grounds that they were trying to prevent the emperor from seeing his officials, which was a major crime.
“The original edict had only ordered the Regents’ dismissal from their positions. Now Prince Gong took the new decree and went to arrest the Regents who had been shouting. They bellowed: “We are the ones who write decrees. Yours can’t be proper since we did not write them?” But the two magic seals silenced them. Guards brought by the Prince dragged them away.
“Armed with yet another stamped decree, Prince Chun arrested those Regents who had just been travelling with the coffin. He went in person for Sushun, their de facto leader. When the prince broke into the house where Sushun was staying the night, he found Sushun, a large man, in bed with two concubines. Sushan roared ‘like a leopard’, refusing to accept the ‘arrest warrant’. This display of defiance to an imperial decree, and the fact that he had apparently indulged in sex when escorting the late emperor’s coffin, gave Cixi the grounds to have him executed.”
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Another piece of recent research worth reading is found in the article “Rethinking Empress Dowager Cixi through the Production of Art” by Li Yuhang (Yale University) [email protected] and Harriet T. Zurndorfer (Leiden University) [email protected]
Concluding Remarks:
I find it true that it is always difficult to make a decision as a leader of any organisation, let alone as a leader of a nation as great in size (and as diverse in races and opinions) as China. Any decision that Empress Dowager Cixi made was bound to have oppositions especially when there were people like Kang Youwei (wild Fox Kang) around who have their personal agendas in mind.
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Watch the above drama video to see how Liang Wenxiu entered the Imperial Court.
苍穹之昴 01
Some Background researches:
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The drama series shown here is named “Land of the Heavens”. It is a Qing Dynasty court drama jointly produced by Japan’s NHK TV and China’s Hualu Baina. Directed by Wang Jun, the cast included Tian Zhongyu, Yu Shaoqun, Zhou Yiwei, Xu Baihui, Yin Tao, and Zhang.
The drama is based on the period between the Sino-Japanese War and the 1898 Coup to couple Empress Cixi. It tells the story of a poor boy who picked up the frozen cow dung and manure and met the astrologer. Her mother-in-law said that he was heavenly. His life was the same as Qianlong and Qin Shihuang. He would “take all Chinese treasures into the bag” in the future. This prophecy supported the hard-won Chun’er who lived. When his elder brother died of hunger, he broke into the palace, and after some struggle and life, he became the person who was often seen to by the side the Empress Dowager Cixi, succeeding Li Lianying. Watch on.
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苍穹之昴 14 NOTE: No Charles Runt’s version. This may not be in sequence.
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苍穹之昴 24 missing from YouTube’s Charles Hunt’s version.
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