![]() ![]() Based on newly available, mostly Chinese, historical documents such as court records, official and private correspondence, diaries and eyewitness accounts, this biography will revolutionize historical thinking about a crucial period in China's-and the world's-history. Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative and cruel despot. She inaugurated women's liberation and embarked on the path to introduce parliamentary elections to China. It was she who abolished gruesome punishments like "death by a thousand cuts" and put an end to foot-binding. Under her the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, the telegraph and an army and navy with up-to-date weaponry. In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change China. d and made herself the real ruler of China-behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husban. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern ChinaĪt the age of sixteen, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor's numerous concubines. ![]()
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