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A review by sevenlefts
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang
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.