The Empress Who Changed China: Empress Dowager Cixi was born into the ruling Manchu Minority, as a rather ordinary Chinese girl named Yehenara on November 29th, 1835. At age 16, she was brought to the Forbidden City to join Emperor Xianfeng's harem of concubines. Yehenara “rose to the top of the concubine ranks when the emperor overheard her singing and asked to see her.”1 Yenahara quickly became part of the nightly roster of chosen concubines who visited Xianfeng's bed-chamber, and bore his son, Zaichun, in 1856. She was bestowed with the title, Tzu Hsi, which means "empress of the western palace," and is known as Cixi today.2 After Emperor Xianfeng’s death in 1861, Cixi’s five-year-old son became the Tongzhi Emperor, and she became the "empress dowager” as well as a regent ruler, inheriting a chaotic, politically divided China. Progressives and reformers, favoring westernization and modernization, were pitted …show more content…
She began following Japan’s lead in sending delegations, and school groups abroad to study constitutional reform and western culture.5 This action westernized China politically, as in 1906, Empress Cixi promised the Chinese people a constitution and representative government, and announced that China would be transformed into a constitutional monarchy with elections. Although this action never successfully occurred, Cixi tried to have Chinese citizens elect monarchs as their leaders, rather than having the emperor/ empress be appointed based off lineage.7 In this reform, western influence is seen politically for the first time under Cixi’s rule. She westernized the government of China by trying to abandon the monarchy of blood lineage, and turn it into a constitutional monarchy with elections, just like Japan’s. Cixi changing of the Chinese government in 1906, although not lasting, was shocking in China, as the government and laws rarely changed, especially incorporating western
Throughout the history of The Roman Empire the government has changed elected consuls to powerful emperors with intent to overall better the empire. Comparatively, China’s empire was constantly adjusted from a simpler bureaucracy to a censorate appointed to provinces, which lead it to be argued as the most unified empire. Rome and China attempted to unify their empires both similarly and very differently because of the different structures of their governments and the culture flowing through the empires. The Roman and Chinese had similar ideas of having a bureaucratic based government to centralize the people under the rule of the emperor like the censorate in China and senate in Rome. On the contrary, those political structures were both
For over 2000 years, China had operated under strict Confucian doctrines. In Confucianism, women are seen as inferior to men and the sexism that was rife in China can be clearly seen in the traditional characters of Chinese, where the characters for “greedy” (貪婪) , “dislike” (嫌), “evil” (妖) and “slave” (奴隸) all include the character for “female” (女). In 2000 years, 20 imperial dynasties and 557 emperors, only three women have ruled; Empress Lu in the 2nd century BC, Empress Wu in the 7thcentury AD and Empress Dowager Cixi in the 19th century AD. Like Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Wu experienced extreme vilification after her death. Alicia Little of The Times believed that “future ages will hold the Empress Dowager in even greater horror than Empress Wu”.
As civilizations arose in the Eastern hemisphere, each developed and succeeded due to the sophisticated techniques of imperial administration. Han China, beginning in 206 BCE, rounded out China's basic political and intellectual structure. About 100 years previous, Maurya/ Gupta India made several political contributions despite the diversity that occurred among the regions. The empire's’ different political structures and values along with similar methods of control helped shape the periods of these great civilizations. Before the Han dynasty came into power, the Uins ruled China with Shi Huangdi as the emperor.
The revolution in 1911 known as the Double Tenth overthrew the Manchu dynasty, and the new Republic produced from that Revolution did not succeed in taking hold of China. China continued to be abused by foreign powers. These foreign powers forced China to agree upon unequal treaties and the reason they did was because they noticed the corruption, inflation, and financial chaos from high ranking powers. They lacked a strong central government. The Chinese Civil War was fought between two opposing forces – the communists and the nationalists – to see who would reassemble order and regain control over China.
The Chinese civilization from 100 C.E. to 600 C.E. rose as one of the major unified empires. While this society grew, there were aspects of culture and politics stayed the same but many changes also occurred. As the empire developed, family units and social classes remained stagnant. Despite these continuities, changes such as the popularity of Buddhism within society due to Indian missionaries and a shift in political rule occurred. During the time period 100 C.E. to 600 C.E. the family unit system remained intact despite the intellectual advances.
1. How did Wu Zhao manage to rise to such a high position in an empire that favored Confucian Values? Wu Zhao was an extraordinary woman of many talents. However, Wu Zhao’s intelligence and charisma were not enough to help her attain the throne. As the book states “Only with the assistance of Propagandists, rehoriticians, ideologies and strong-arms of different persuasions.
Emperor Kangxi was the fourth and longest reigning emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty during the late 17th century until the early 18th century. Historians consider him one of the greatest emperors in history because his policies ultimately led the Qing Dynasty in becoming one of the most successful and flourishing societies globally and historically. Emperor Kangxi believed the role of the emperor was to be benevolent and respectful to all of his subjects, and to create harmony within the nation, with the hope of ultimately restoring and expanding the Qing dynasty into a prosperous and economic empire. Kangxi had strict criteria for state official prospects. He believed it was very important to look into a person's moral and spiritual values
This kept the people of China from ever considering to standing up to their ruler. Whereas the people of India were able to live more lenient lives. Until the death of the ruler Qin it remained this way. The next dynasty was The Glorious Han Dynasty. The ruler of this dynasty was of peasant origin and was not as harsh as his predecessor.
The 1900s were an extremely important time in Chinese History. China, being in decline during
As China grew with population and technologies, so did their government. Their military was weak but they had the idea to make iron and steel weaponry. The increase of weapons allowed the Chinese military to have more power over the people. Yet, the downfall of their era was their tactics in controlling their army and the rebellious citizens. As China’s economy and population grows, so does the growth of politics and Urban life styles.
Introduction The governments of Han China and Rome after Augustus were vastly different in their institutions and practices. While both empires employed autocratic rule and relied on bureaucracy, the ways in which they developed these systems varied significantly. The Han Chinese imperial government was characterized by a Confucian meritocracy while the Roman imperial government was characterized by a strong religious framework. Additionally, Han China tended to centralize more power within a single ruler as compared to Rome's system of devolved authority through provincial governorships.
China on the other hand had more problems in its bureaucracy and civic unrest. For example, some peasants who had lost their farms had to sell their children into service. A third difference is that as previously stated, China had a successful revival while Rome did not. Rome divided and the Western half survived but was diminished by attempts to regulate the economy and decline tax revenue ’s.
Gaozu, the founder of the Han dynasty was the first low-ranked official to found a dynasty in imperial China. In 209BC, Gaozu spearheaded the rebellion against the tyrannical practices of the Qin dynasty. The changes enacted by the Han’s first emperor are central to understanding the political rule and authority in Han China due to the fact that the rulers that succeeded him follow suit in a majority of his policies. Throughout
China’s Last Empire. The Great Qing. William T. Rowe. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. 360 pages including Emperors and Dynasties, Pronunciation Guide, Notes, Bibliography, Acknowledgements, Index, Maps and Figures.
Body Paragraph #1 - Background The Tang Dynasty succeeded the Sui Dynasty. Although the Sui unified China, it was a short lived achievement. Rebellions and uprisings arose due to the squandering of resources by the second ruler of the Sui in his 3 catastrophic failed conquests in South Korea. This caused the Sui court to