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A review by yanners
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang
3.0
China history never fails to strike me as bad reality TV on steroids. But then again, China imperial families are a whole other breed. No matter how luxurious their lives look there’s always like 1001 nefarious plots to assassinate or force them to abdicate so they have to spend their lives twiddling their thumbs and like spying on people and sending more spies to spy on their original spies.
Introducing (ahem)…Papa Dearest, our shining star—Empress Dowager Cixi
All may bow to the ultimate mastermind who despite entering court as a humble imperial concubine rose the ranks to become important enough for the history books to record her existence!! She’s bitter and will make sure you’re punished if you cross her path (such as taking away your toddler to become the heir apparent and forcing him to effectively marry his cousin) but at the same time she’s the old grandma downstairs who’ve been through like a lifetime worth of modernisation and can perhaps be credited for like half of where China is because she saw how much it sucked having one underserving and corruptible family decide where the country was headed and put her foot down.
At the end of the day, all you need to know is that this is a story about how important it is to keep a diary because Grand Tutor Weng was like hard carrying this book and actually has the time and commitment to record everything. Side note it’s also about Wild Fox Kang and how sucking up to people in power can get you to places. Lots of places.
Bottom line: we love Cixi even though she’s orchestrated the murder of dozens of people (love conquers all baby)
3.5 stars
Introducing (ahem)…Papa Dearest, our shining star—Empress Dowager Cixi
All may bow to the ultimate mastermind who despite entering court as a humble imperial concubine rose the ranks to become important enough for the history books to record her existence!! She’s bitter and will make sure you’re punished if you cross her path (such as taking away your toddler to become the heir apparent and forcing him to effectively marry his cousin) but at the same time she’s the old grandma downstairs who’ve been through like a lifetime worth of modernisation and can perhaps be credited for like half of where China is because she saw how much it sucked having one underserving and corruptible family decide where the country was headed and put her foot down.
At the end of the day, all you need to know is that this is a story about how important it is to keep a diary because Grand Tutor Weng was like hard carrying this book and actually has the time and commitment to record everything. Side note it’s also about Wild Fox Kang and how sucking up to people in power can get you to places. Lots of places.
Bottom line: we love Cixi even though she’s orchestrated the murder of dozens of people (love conquers all baby)
3.5 stars