The history of Ci Xi

Chinese Legendary Female

       —— The Story of Dowager Ci Xi

Dowager Ci Xi, empress of emperor Xian Feng, mother of emperor Tong Zhi, was the most important female in control of real power in the late Qing Dynasty. She was the very few who had a willful mind for revolution, fighting for Qing’s maintenance of power.

      Ci Xi was elected to the palace at age seventeen, served as emperor Xian Feng’s concubine. Xian Feng loved her so much. In only five years, Ci Xi ranked the highest imperial concubines. The ailing Xian Feng appreciated Ci Xi’s calligraphy, and he granted her the right to write down his feedbacks to the memorials and his thoughts on political decisions. In the year of 1860, the Anglo-French Allied Forces invaded Peking (currently Beijing), and Xian Feng retreated to Re He as a temporary shelter. But Ci Xi persuaded him many times not to leave the capital. Instead, he should stay in the capital and defend. Because of this, Xian Feng got irritated and wanted to kill Ci Xi.

      Because of Xian’s serious illness, he finally died in that temporary shelter. After emperor Xian Feng’s death, Ci Xi was not pleased to see the central power divided by eight court officers in the reign of emperor Tong Zhi, so she planned and arrested the eight officers with Xian Feng’s younger brother, and she executed them immediately. In her early ruling years, Ci Xi put a lot of efforts on weapon production, and her work successfully suppressed Taiping Heavenly-Kingdom Movement and several other uprisings. Ci Xi clearly knew that the sustainability was crucial for Qing Dynasty, so she concentrated on military training. China’s early modernization attributes a lot to Ci Xi’s encouragement on machinery enhancement and military industry contribution. Tong Zhi did not like her mother to have too much power in politics, so he let her mother leave the Forbidden City and moved to Yuan Ming Yuan, a beautiful garden and palace. Therefore, he spent lots of money on the reconstruction of Yuan Ming Yuan, but Ci Xi asked him to stop the work.

       Tong Zhi died when he was only 19 years old, by the time Tong Zhi died, Ci Xi gradually earned almost full control of real power in the court. She claimed her nephew, Guang Xu, as the new emperor. Guang Xu was too young to make any decisions. Therefore, Ci Xi almost took the power over Guang Xu, and she listened to General Zuo’s suggestion, sent troops to Xin Jiang to defeat the invasion of Kokand Khan Country of Central Asia. In the year of 1878, Xin Jiang was recovered by Qing government. Three years later, Russia returned a corner of Xin Jiang and other regions back to China through negotiation. Ci Xi contributed a lot to the completeness of China and gained trust from powerful generals. Ci Xi has her own thoughts and visions on the nation that she was ruling and all these novel ideas shaped her character of independence and decisiveness.

        From the year 1883 to 1885, Franco-Chinese war provoked, both sides endured great losses. Very soon after that, Ci Xi kicked Xian Feng’s brother out, and she began her official dictation. Although Guang Xu was officially in charge at that time, Ci Xi was in control of real power in every way. Plus, Ci Xi always reviewed all the documents that the officers handed into Guang Xu. Step by step, she gained power in her own hands. In this way, she can always be informed to all primary sources and delivered her thoughts straightforward to the emperor. She needed to make sure no one is blocking her way, and if there was, she would clean that one up by herself.

       In the year of 1894, one of the officers named Chun used a lot of budgets on navy forces for the reconstruction of The Summer Palace to celebrate Ci Xi’s 60^thbirthday. At the same time, Japan launched its first Sino-Chinese War. Guang Xu and Ci Xi both were in favor of fighting back. Later on, Qing’s army force kept falling back. Ci Xi wished foreign countries could intervene in this war in order to end the war in advance. But there were no countries stood out, so Ci Xi shifted her attitude and supported Li Hongzhang’s principles to remain peaceful. Furthermore, Ci Xi targeted on Guang Xu and wanted to defeat the hawks. She was aware of the power difference between China and Japan, and she knew that the longer Qing’s army stayed on the battlefield, the sooner Qing’s government would be destroyed. Thus, she was determined to sign the peace contract with Japan.

     Although China was forced to sign several unequal contracts with foreign countries, Ci Xi never surrendered to any of the foreign countries. Indeed, her faith in Qing’s government and the will to win the war diminished by continuous failures. She admitted that there was not much she could do, but she did the best to use the power she had in the very last years of her life.

     Ci Xi issued the “New Policy”, aiming at revolution on the economy, military, education, and bureaucracy. She abolished imperial examination and built up the academy for youth physical training; replaced old army with the new one; and set department of military training. She supervised the construction throughout the process, and she also regulated commercial trade laws, the constitution of transportation, firm, and bank. These institutions promoted freedom in the development of the chamber of commerce groups.

      Ci Xi was the first female ever in Chinese history proposed institutional monarchy, and she listed a nine-year timetable. According to the table, in ten years, China was going to be like Japan and British political system. The monarch is merely the symbol of a country, the legislation was in hands of congress, the administration was in hands of cabinet, and the judiciary is in hands of court. Had she not passed away right after the timetable came out, China might have been in a different political system. Therefore, to some degree, Ci Xi contributed a lot in constructing a new China.

(the photo of Ci Xi when she was sitting on the chair)

(The portrait of young Ci Xi)