Under her the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, newspapers, the telegraph, an army and navy with up-to-date weaponry. Cixi immediately launched a palace coup, ousted the regents appointed by her husband, and made herself the real ruler of China. Knopf, 2013), Jung Chang tells the extraordinary life story of China's Empress Cixi (1835-1908), who ruled China for 47 years and almost single-handedly dragged it into the modern age.Īt the age of 16, Cixi was selected, after a nationwide search, to be one of Emperor Xianfeng's many concubines when Xianfeng died in 1861, their five-year-old son Tongzhi became the next emperor. In her groundbreaking new biography, Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China (Alfred A.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |