21 September 1898, Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power, ending China’s Hundred Days’ Reform
I always love it when I find great books for multiple reading levels about a fascinating subject from outside the United States and Western Europe. The Dowager Empress Cixi is just such a subject. Under various guises, for forty-seven years, Cixi (sometimes spelled Tzu Hsi), was the dominant force behind the Qing dynasty government. A noblewoman who became a concubine – not a bad thing to be in China – she extended her time as the power behind the throne as regent to both her son and a nephew. Finally, in 1898, she dropped all pretense and took power in her own right, holding it until her death ten years later. So, to help situate Cixi into the western timeline, her rule was roughly equivalent to that of England’s Queen Victoria.
Cixi was rigidly isolationist and anti-west, but she was forward thinking in terms of modernizing China’s military, fiscal reforms, and, eventually, the formation of a constitutional monarchy. Despite instigating many positive reforms such as the long-overdue abolishment of slavery and torture, Cixi has a – some say undeserved – reputation for being ruthless, grasping, and reactionary. In short, a despot. More importantly, she is sometimes seen as the destabilizing force that toppled imperial China and opened the door for the new force of communism. While this made her a hero in modern China, it did not do much for her reputation elsewhere. As you can see from the conflicting viewpoints of the authors of the books featured below, the jury is definitely still out, more than a century after her death.
Cixi “The Dragon Empress”
By: Natasha Yim
Series: The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Dastardly Dames
Pages: 32
Suggested for: Dialectic students (publisher suggests 9-13 years-old)
Publisher: Goosebottom Books
This middle grade book portrays Cixi as a pampered, ignorant princess whose blind eye to the needs of the everyman led to the destruction of imperial China. It has fabulously evocative illustrations that bring Cixi’s China to life. It is a great introduction to the empress for those in middle grades. The publisher suggests the book for those as young as nine, but given the content, I would lean more towards those at least a couple years older.
Cixi: Evil Empress of China?
By: Sean Price
Series: A Wicked History
Pages: 128
Suggested for: late Dialectic and early Rhetoric students (publisher suggests 11-17 years)
Publisher: Franklin Watts
We have countless books from the A Wicked History series. Even my graduated seniors could be found tucked away in some spot with a copy of Vlad the Impaler or Genghis Khan. As you might guess from the kinds of subjects chosen for this series and the cover of this book (and all of them), this is another book that definitely portrays Cixi in a less than flattering light. However, it is the perfect length for giving a very good overview of the subject – including the Boxer Rebellion, which it is often difficult to find books on for students of this age.
Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China
By: Pearl S. Buck
Pages: 375
Suggested for: Rhetoric students and adults
This is a work of historical fiction that tends to focus a bit more on the personal life of Cixi (or Tzu Hsi, as Buck uses the Wade Giles spelling) than on the political side of her story. One aspect that makes this telling really stand out is the fact that Buck lived in China not too many decades following the death of Cixi, and her story was still very relevant and fresh in people’s minds. Buck also imbues her tale with lavish descriptions of life in the Forbidden City and the China of the everyday people. Court life, Chinese culture, religion, education, and family life spring vividly into being in Buck’s narrative. Honestly, this is not the most riveting of novels, especially considering the main character. Buck attempts to create a balanced portrayal of the good and the bad in Cixi and does not really succeed. Do keep in mind, this is a novel, and Buck takes lots of fictional liberties. However, if you have a student who likes to delve deep into settings, this would be a novel they should enjoy.
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
By: Jung Chang
Pages: 464
Suggested for: Rhetoric students and adults
Publisher: Anchor
This work of nonfiction, first published in hardback by Knopf in 2013, tapped into many sources that had not been available to earlier biographers. It was greatly lauded and awarded for overturning the despotic label that had clung to Cixi. However, there are still scholars and authors who disagree vehemently with Jung Chang’s interpretation and continue to believe in Cixi’s reputation as the destroyer of Imperial China. They argue that this work is influenced by the author’s feminist biases, that it is her desire to see Cixi as an example of extraordinary womanhood who shepharded China into the modern age. I read this book many years ago, but I remember it as being well-researched, fast-paced, and, I felt, convincingly argued. While there are detractors, most people agree that Jung Chang’s biography is the truest interpretation we have as to Cixi’s character and governance.
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China (Cinese and English Edition)
By: Jung Chang
Pages: 399
Suggested for: Rhetoric students and adults
Publisher: Mai Tian
This readily available edition is a great one for any student studying Chinese. The text is in both English and Traditional Chinese characters. I have not seen a copy and do not read Chinese characters. I am curious as to whether this edition contains the entire book as the page count is lower than that of the English only version. I have included it more for its novelty as a parallel text version.
The True Story of the Empress Dowager: An Insider’s Account
By: Der Ling
Pages: 302
Suggested for: Rhetoric students or adults
Publisher: Soul Care Publishing (reprint of the original 1929 publication)
Often, I do not give insider tell-all books a whole lot of credence. I read them, but I believe that it takes time and distance for truth to sort itself out from the loyalty and devotion those closest to a subject almost always possess. I have not read this memoir, written by a woman who spent two years in Cixi’s court, towards the end of her reign. Der Ling and Cixi had a mutually affectionate relationship, but most reviewers mention that you get both the good and the bad of Cixi (a lot of the bad), leading reviewers to feel that Der Ling’s account is credible. I am unsure if this is a translation or if Der Ling wrote in English (she was a translator for Cixi); either way, it is frequently mentioned that the book is very readable.