Empress Dowager Cixi Essays

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

The Demonization of Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi effectively ruled over the Qing Dynasty (modern day China) for 47 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908. In a time when the Celestial Empire was crumbling, she pulled the strings of her puppet emperors and held it together as best she could but has been made a scapegoat by historians for matters that were out of her control. Republicans have also used the Empress Dowager as a scapegoat to discredit the dynasty after its fall. In reality

1. Introduction The life of Empress Dowager Cixi is an enigma, shrouded with mystery and rumors. Her life was not “filled with Florentine intrigues and Viennese frivolity, because the truth is melancholy...” (Seagrave 52), she was oppressed even though she held the kingdom’s power. The past hundred y2ears of history have been largely unfair to Cixi, having been labelled as a devious despot who used much of the kingdom’s money for her own self-indulgence. The Imperial Woman is often blamed for the

would target Empress Dowager Cixi. She is the epitome of a corrupt figurehead and of the late Qing dynasty. Furthermore, her inability to support and encourage modernization in China assisted in the deterioration of the Qing Empire. Based on her actions, it appeared that Empress Cixi only aligned herself with change when it could consolidate her authority. In the case of events such as the Self-Strengthening movement, the Hundred Days’ Reforms in 1989 and the Boxer Rebellion, the Empress manipulated

organization called the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists they then became known as the Boxers. The campaign against Dowager Empress’s rule was called the Boxer Rebellion. Spring of 1900, the Boxers started making their way towards Beijing, shouting; “Death to the foreign devils.” They surrounded the European part of the city and kept it under siege for months. The Empress supported the Boxers actions, but did not back it up with military aid. Then in August, a force of 19 thousand men marched

“Tenma” tells a story about a young Korean man named Genryu who is profoundly influenced by Japanese assimilation policy during Japanese colonial. In the story, he acts sycophantic to the Japanese while demonstrates disparaging attitude toward the Korean, which reveals his intermediate position between two ethical groups. Genryu desires to emulate Japanese colonizers; however, he can never be equal like Japanese colonizers because Japanese colonizers only consider him as a tool to assimilate other

Did Empress Cixi help or hinder China? Although not the first ruling woman in China’s history, Empress Cixi was the longest-ruling woman, considered ‘ahead of her time’. Conflicting truths about her reign are one of the main reasons there is such disagreement as to whether she should be praised or criticised for what she achieved for China. How did Empress Cixi improve China's progress? Empress Cixi or The Current Divine Mother Empress Dowager Ci-Xi Duan-You Kang-Yi Zhao-Yu Zhuang-Cheng Shou-Gong

Vare’s book. “The Last Empress.” She soon was pregnant was his son and earned her title as, “empress of the western palace.” Also known as Cixi. Her husband, the emperor had died in 1861 so his 5 year old son took over and became the

was the lack modernisation. When Empress Cixi came into power she failed to develop the out-dated dynasty because of her conservative ideologies and she made every attempt to destroy those who did advocate for change. Her ruthless response to the self-strengthening movement and 100 days of reform program were clear indications of her disapproval towards modernisation. The dynasty’s unnecessary involvement in the Boxers rebellion further crippled the state. The Empress was a corrupt, conservative and

their own process of modernisation, agreed with the pro-reform factions, asserting that the line between individual ethics and social ethics must be drawn in a modern China10. Cixi eventually grew disdain for western powers and allied with the anti-western and xenophobic Boxer Rebellion. The defeat of China and Empress Dowager and the slow decline of state capacity, blockaded Chinas progressive advancement towards modernity11

Women & Power in Imperial China Women rulers during Imperial China were extremely rare. The major belief and assumption of women and power was that women and political power were not a very good mix. If and when women did rule, it was a sign of male weakness, and considered to be political ploy in politics. It was very difficult for women because they were rejected from heaven due to the fact that rule by women was not natural. Confucian views on women rulers were not positive, considering

In the short story "The Monkey's Paw", Mr. White, Mrs. White, and Herbert were all affected by the emotion greed. In the beginning, Herbert was a selfless boy that worked to support his parents. After the heard about the monkey paw, however, he turns into more of a wealth loving character. He finds out about the wishes and almost immediately starts talking about being "rich and famous and happy", he also told his father to wish to be emperor. This, in my opinion, is a bit greedy. He starts wanting

Kang Youwei was generally seen in two very different ways throughout Chinese history. The first view of Youwei consists of a revolutionary man who loved Confucianism, but humiliating defeats of China by the West and Japan, turned him towards a constitutional monarchy and Chinese nationalism. Unfortunately, the negative view of Youwei in China, came from his posturing in leadership, self-importance and views detrimental to Chinese society of the time. He was the first real opposition to the Qing

Essay 1 Appearances of leaders mark the end of non-hierarchical primitive society and demonstrate how different social classes form as the timeline moves forward. Once the leader realizes his superiority over the rest of population, he need something to emphasize his unique status. The initial change is his house and it gradually converts into majestic buildings that we usually call palaces now. Emperors construct and design these palaces in different purposes. They are not only beautiful

Cixi was born (Lan Kueu) in 1835, to one of the most well known and oldest Machu families, . At age 18 she was elevated to the status of concubine. During 1852, at 16 years old, she was chosen to become one of the concubines for the 21 year old Emperor Xianfeng. Ci Xi significance in the boxer rebellion has been debated by many historians. The traditional interpretations were based on contemporary Western views the focused mainly on the negatives of Ci Xi. She has been portrayed as a Dragon Lady

influence the natives into agreeing with their reign. Though the people had their opinions, “...[the foreigners] have taken advantage of our country...oppressed our state, encroached upon our territory, trampled our people and exacted our wealth”(Dowager Empress Cixi, 1900). In no doubt, these words of the natives are negative. Meaning the impact of European Imperialism was negative on a large

In 1900 a Chinese secret society, Harmonious fists, rose up with the encouragement of the Empress Dowager Cixi and attacked foreigners and their establishments. This society is known as the Boxer Rebellion. Chinese response to foreign interference and christianizing efforts resulted in the Boxer Rebellion. The attempt to regain control over their country made conditions even worse when Europe and America put down the rebellion. Foot binding was for young women in the 18th century up into the mid

CCCH9006 China’s Modernisation In The East Asian Context Discuss the implications of these events on China’s modernisation process. - Taiping Rebellion - 1911 Revolution Wu Tien-hsuan 2013500516 Tutorial Group: Tuesday 13:30-14:20   In the modern world, China is only second to the U.S.A. in economic scale. According to the World Bank (2014), the GDP of China has risen from 8.227 trillion USD (2012) to 9.24 trillion USD (2013). The process China has been through to reach such a high economic

The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci made the movie in the late 1980s, in 1987. The movie is about a young boy by the name of Pu Yi becoming emperor at the age of three from the previous empress, Empress Dowager Cixi. She told the two and a half year old Pu Yi that he would be the next emperor after the previous one had died earlier that day. This starts to take take place in the year of 1908 when he was brought to the Forbidden City. While in the book The True Story of Ah Q by Lu Xun

Despite already significant growth, the Chinese, Japanese, and Ottoman regimes created foundations for future progress through modernized education. Focusing on educational reform to blend the successes of both Chinese and Western ideas, China’s Empress Dowager Cixi not only supported STEM-based subjects, like math and astronomy, but also encouraged Chinese students to study abroad and gain a Western education that would prepare them for future modernization (Black and Reform Edict of the Qing Imperial