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lambsears's review against another edition
3.0
A fascinating biography about a remarkable woman, much of whose work has been lost in distorted history.
I will admit that I found some of the writing a little breathless in it's obvious admiration, but I knew nothing about the Dowager Empress and it seems she has had some pretty bad press since her death. Clearly, she was no saint and made plenty of mistakes, most of which she ultimately put her hands up for, although there is a tendency on the part of the author to gloss over some points. And lets face it, her mistakes were enormously eclipsed by the later disastrous rule of Chairman Mao.
Chang has done some very thorough research here, thanks to the release of hitherto unavailable documentation and presented it in a very approachable fashion, offering a glimpse at a hidden world.
I will admit that I found some of the writing a little breathless in it's obvious admiration, but I knew nothing about the Dowager Empress and it seems she has had some pretty bad press since her death. Clearly, she was no saint and made plenty of mistakes, most of which she ultimately put her hands up for, although there is a tendency on the part of the author to gloss over some points. And lets face it, her mistakes were enormously eclipsed by the later disastrous rule of Chairman Mao.
Chang has done some very thorough research here, thanks to the release of hitherto unavailable documentation and presented it in a very approachable fashion, offering a glimpse at a hidden world.
sevenlefts's review against another edition
4.0
Until I read this, all I knew about Cixi was from the scene at the beginning of the film The Last Emperor in which she bizarrely narrates her own death. I had no idea how powerful she had actually been, or anything about her role in the transformation of China from a feudal empire to a modern state.
Despite being a woman in a society that kept women out of the public eye, she used Manchu standards of filial association to have a strong say in how China was governed for the better part of the 19th century. Though she appointed her son, a nephew and finally a great-nephew as Emperor, she was the one in charge. She was a quick study, and although she made mistakes which led to many conflicts with Japan and western powers, she managed to keep China more or less intact during her lifetime. She made inroads in finance, communication, education, press freedoms and women's rights that are still noticeable in China today.
Cixi was no saint. She had the emperor poisoned with arsenic so that he would die (the day before she died!) and she could appoint his heir. She also had one of his consorts thrown down a well when she refused to commit suicide on Cixi's orders. But through much of the book it appears that Chang is trying to clear-up Cixi's tarnished image as either a despot or a weak ruler. And although Chang clearly admires Cixi's many accomplishments, she does so with a critical eye. In addition to being a solid biography of one of the least-known powerful women in history, it's also a good introduction to the geopolitics of east Asia during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Despite being a woman in a society that kept women out of the public eye, she used Manchu standards of filial association to have a strong say in how China was governed for the better part of the 19th century. Though she appointed her son, a nephew and finally a great-nephew as Emperor, she was the one in charge. She was a quick study, and although she made mistakes which led to many conflicts with Japan and western powers, she managed to keep China more or less intact during her lifetime. She made inroads in finance, communication, education, press freedoms and women's rights that are still noticeable in China today.
Cixi was no saint. She had the emperor poisoned with arsenic so that he would die (the day before she died!) and she could appoint his heir. She also had one of his consorts thrown down a well when she refused to commit suicide on Cixi's orders. But through much of the book it appears that Chang is trying to clear-up Cixi's tarnished image as either a despot or a weak ruler. And although Chang clearly admires Cixi's many accomplishments, she does so with a critical eye. In addition to being a solid biography of one of the least-known powerful women in history, it's also a good introduction to the geopolitics of east Asia during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
callylines's review against another edition
The narrator's pronunciation of Chinese was absolutely HORRIFIC. I had no idea what she was referring to half the time even as someone who has a passing interest in Chinese history and who speaks Mandarin. Also I read that the author completely fabricated Cixi's childhood. I can't invest so much time and energy into a book that isn't even historically accurate lol
paola_mobileread's review against another edition
3.0
This book has a remarkable flow - it took me a while to read it for the simple reason that these days I have very little time.
The other side of the "readability coin" is that this book lacks proper probing of the issues: Chang seems too much in love with her project (offering a portrait of Cixi which is very different from conventional wisdom - at least as far as China's assessment of her goes) to remember to educate her readers on so many other aspects of that long reign that just a modest amount of curiosity makes any reader wonder about. In this sense, then, it is a lost opportunity: we get a lot of the facts, and this is remarkable given that the official Chinese position on Cixi is very different - but a lot is left unexplained. We know that there are the Manchu minority and the Han minority, but beside different dress codes, what else is there to distinguish these two cultures? How did this environment affect Cixi? How did the Manchu manage to achieve and retain power? What was the general situation of China at the time? On these themes it seems that Pearl Buck is more instructive than Jung Chan, which is a pity. Sure, this is not intended to be scholarly work, which is fine of course, but I felt shortchanged nonetheless.
All the narration points towards showing how great a ruler Cixi was - with some flaws, for which however plenty of justifications. Yet there are some sudden changes, both of Cixi's attitude and in the attitudes towards her, that are left unexplained and which are difficult to make sense of: for instance, after the Boxer troubles, first she flees Bejing to escape not just the invaders but the resentful population, then all of a sudden it seems that her people love her again: what happened to bring this change about?
Jung glosses over what are very obviously serious shortcomings in Cixi's personality: in places the facts we are presented with show a woman of many contradictions, and great passions (from allowing almost any licence to her son, to some chilling displays of callousness, e.g. Pearl's murder). But in other places she mellows down (e.g. after returning to Bejing: why?).
It is a real pity that there is no real exploration of Cixi's character - this is a good book, but it could have been much better.
EDIT: I found this review by Patricia Crossley in the London Review of Books illuminating, HT to SteveEisenberg on MobileRead.
The other side of the "readability coin" is that this book lacks proper probing of the issues: Chang seems too much in love with her project (offering a portrait of Cixi which is very different from conventional wisdom - at least as far as China's assessment of her goes) to remember to educate her readers on so many other aspects of that long reign that just a modest amount of curiosity makes any reader wonder about. In this sense, then, it is a lost opportunity: we get a lot of the facts, and this is remarkable given that the official Chinese position on Cixi is very different - but a lot is left unexplained. We know that there are the Manchu minority and the Han minority, but beside different dress codes, what else is there to distinguish these two cultures? How did this environment affect Cixi? How did the Manchu manage to achieve and retain power? What was the general situation of China at the time? On these themes it seems that Pearl Buck is more instructive than Jung Chan, which is a pity. Sure, this is not intended to be scholarly work, which is fine of course, but I felt shortchanged nonetheless.
All the narration points towards showing how great a ruler Cixi was - with some flaws, for which however plenty of justifications. Yet there are some sudden changes, both of Cixi's attitude and in the attitudes towards her, that are left unexplained and which are difficult to make sense of: for instance, after the Boxer troubles, first she flees Bejing to escape not just the invaders but the resentful population, then all of a sudden it seems that her people love her again: what happened to bring this change about?
Jung glosses over what are very obviously serious shortcomings in Cixi's personality: in places the facts we are presented with show a woman of many contradictions, and great passions (from allowing almost any licence to her son, to some chilling displays of callousness, e.g. Pearl's murder). But in other places she mellows down (e.g. after returning to Bejing: why?).
It is a real pity that there is no real exploration of Cixi's character - this is a good book, but it could have been much better.
EDIT: I found this review by Patricia Crossley in the London Review of Books illuminating, HT to SteveEisenberg on MobileRead.
emeraldgarnet's review against another edition
3.0
The prose is easy to understand and I learnt a lot about China and its history. However, while I am not expert in Chinese history, it was obvious that the book was veering into hagiography in its treatment of Cixi at times.