A queen dowager, dowager queen or queen mother compare. The author writes that instinctively she seems to have known that a government needs dissenting voices, turning her into a sort of chinese counterpart of indias. Bette bao lord s novel spring moon starts in the days of cixi. Jung chang, author of the acclaimed memoir wild swans and a coauthor of the contentious biography mao. Empress dowager cixi by jung chang penguin books australia. In her absorbing new book, she laments that cixi has for so long been. Jung chang writes groundbreaking new biography this article is more than 6 years old empress dowager cixi, which promises to overturn conventional understanding of the. I feel this book helps to give a more rounded view of the empress as all humans have many aspects to their personality. Te ping chen, writing in the wall street journal, found the book packed with details. Cixis power only increased after this, and she finally exacted revenge on guangxu just before her death in 1908.
A new york times notable book empress dowager cixi 18351908 is the most important woman in chinese history. Cixi supervised the tongzhi restoration, a series of moderate reforms that helped the regime survive until 1911. No single book on cixi is adequate by itself, at a minimum, if you are interested in her story you must read at least 4 books. In total contravention to informed opinion, this author holds the dowager empress cixi in awe and considers her a reformer. The concubine who launched modern china is a 20 biography written by jung chang, published by alfred a. Chang presents a sympathetic portrait of the empress dowager cixi, who unofficially controlled the manchu qing dynasty in china for 47 years, from 1861 to her death in 1908. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Jung chang is the internationally bestselling author of wild swans. Empress dowager cixi the concubine who launched modern china. Jung chang writes groundbreaking new biography books. She ruled china for decades and brought a medieval empire into the modern age.
In the case of the widow of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. History often has trouble giving powerful women their due and correctives are in order, but. Empress dowager cixi is a hefty work, close to 400 pages totalby the midway point alone, cixi is already 60 years old, with many assassination attempts. Jung chang portrays the empress dowager cixi as a protofeminist who brought medieval china into the modern age. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the true story of the empress dowager. Questia read the fulltext online edition of empress dowager cixi 2002. Its full meaning is clear from the two words from which it is composed.