Qing Dynasty Chinese - Ceremonial Headdress - Walters 863 - Left

Lady Yehe Nara, the future Empress Cixi was born in Beijing, on November 29th, 1835. She was born int a Manchurian aristocratic family - her father held the title of a third-class duke. Unlike many of the other high-rank Manchu women, Cixi could read and write Chinese. In 1851, Consort Dowager Kangci, foster mother of the Xianfeng Emperor hosted the selection of 60 girls candidates for Emperor's consorts. Cixi was one of the few chosen to stay and on 26 June 1852, she entered the Forbidden City. In 1855, Cixi became pregnant, and on 27 April 1856, she gave birth to the crown prince Zaichun, the Xianfeng Emperor's first and only surviving son. In 1857, when her son reached his first birthday, Cixi was elevated to the third rank of consorts as "Noble Consort Yi". This placed her second only to Empress Niohuru. In September 1860, during the Second Opium War, British diplomatic mission members were arrested, tortured, and executed in Beijing. British and French troops retaliated by burning the Old Summer Palace to the ground. The Xianfeng Emperor fled, turned to alcohol and drugs, became seriously ill, and died on 22 August 1861 when the Xianfeng Emperor's heir was still a child, and Noble Consort Yi, along with Empress, was elevated to the status of the empress dowager. While waiting for an astrologically auspicious time to transport the emperor's coffin back to Beijing, Cixi conspired with court officials and imperial relatives to seize power. Secretly, Cixi had begun gathering the support of talented ministers, soldiers, and others who were ostracized by the eight regents for personal or political reasons. When the Xianfeng Emperor's funeral procession left for Beijing, Cixi returned to the capital before the rest of the party. Cixi's early return to Beijing meant that she had more time to plan and ensure that the power base of the eight regents was divided. In order to remove opposition regents from power, the regents were accused of having carried out incompetent negotiations with the British "barbarians" that had caused the Xianfeng Emperor to flee. To display her high moral standards, Cixi executed only three of the eight regents. Prince Gong had suggested that Sushun and others be executed by the most painful method, known as slow slicing ("death by a thousand cuts"), but Cixi declined the suggestion and ordered that regent Sushun be beheaded, while the other two, were given pieces of white silk for them to hang themselves with. Cixi also refused to execute the family members of the regents. Cixi became the only empress dowager in the Qing dynasty to assume the role of regent. Cixi's ascendancy came at a time of internal chaos and foreign challenges. The deleterious effects of the Second Opium War were still in effect, and the Taiping Rebellion continued its seemingly unstoppable advance through China's south, eating up the Qing Empire bit by bit. Internally, both the national bureaucracy and regional authorities were infested with corruption. 1861 happened to be the year of official examinations, whereby officials of all levels presented their political reports from the previous three years. Cixi decided that the time was ripe for a bureaucratic overhaul, and she personally sought audience with all officials above the level of the provincial governor, who had to report to her personally. Cixi thus took on part of the role usually given to the Bureaucratic Affairs Department (吏部). Cixi had two prominent officials executed to serve as examples for others: Qingying, a military shilang who had tried to bribe his way out of demotion, and He Guiqing, then Viceroy of Liangjiang, who fled Changzhou in the wake of an incoming Taiping army instead of trying to defend the city. A number of reforms were implemented, such as the development of the Zongli Yamen, an official foreign ministry to deal with international affairs, the restoration of regional armies and regional strongmen, modernization of railroads, factories, and arsenals, an increase of industrial and commercial production, and the institution of a period of peace that allowed China time to modernize. Another significant challenge Cixi faced was the increasingly decrepit state of the Manchu elites. Since the beginning of Qing rule over China in 1644, most major positions at court had been held by Manchus. Cixi, again in a reversal of imperial tradition, entrusted the country's most powerful military unit against the Taiping rebels into the hands of a Han Chinese, Zeng Guofan. Additionally, in the next three years, Cixi appointed Han Chinese officials as governors in all southern Chinese provinces, raising alarm bells in the court, traditionally protective of Manchu dominance. Regarding the reforms of the Tongzhi Restoration, Mary C. Wright claims that "Not only a dynasty but also a civilization which appeared to have collapsed was revived to last for another sixty years by the extraordinary efforts of extraordinary men in the 1860s."[13] John K. Fairbank wrote, "That the Qing managed to survive both domestic and international attacks is due largely to the policy and leadership changes known as the Qing Restoration." Taiping victory and Prince Gong Photograph of Prince Gong, Cixi's crucial ally during the Xinyou Coup. He was rewarded by Cixi for his help during her most difficult times but was eventually eliminated from office by Cixi for his ambition. Under the command of Zeng Guofan, the victorious Xiang Army defeated the Taiping rebel army in a hard-fought battle at Tianjin (present-day Nanjing) in July 1864. Zeng was rewarded with the title of "Marquess Yiyong, First Class", while his brother Zeng Guoquan, along with Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, and other Han Chinese officers who fought against the Taiping rebels, were rewarded with auspicious decorations and titles. With the Taiping rebel threat receding, Cixi focused her attention on new internal threats to her power. Of special concern was the position of Prince Gong, who was Prince-Regent in the imperial court. Prince Gong gathered under his command the support of all outstanding Han Chinese armies. In addition, Prince Gong controlled daily court affairs as the head of the Grand Council and the Zongli Yamen (the de facto foreign affairs ministry). With his increasing stature, Prince Gong was considered a threat to Cixi and her power. Although Prince Gong was rewarded for his conduct and recommendation of Zeng Guofan before the Taiping rebels' defeat, Cixi was quick to move after Cai Shouqi, a minor scribe-official, filed a memorial accusing Prince Gong of corruption and showing disrespect to the emperor. Having built up a powerful base and a network of allies at court, Prince Gong considered the accusations insignificant. Cixi, however, took the memorial as a stepping stone to Prince Gong's removal. In April 1865, under the pretext that Prince Gong had "improper court conduct before the two empresses," among a series of other charges, the prince was dismissed from all his offices and appointments but was allowed to retain his status as a noble. The dismissal surprised the nobility and court officials and brought about numerous petitions for his return. Prince Gong's brothers, Prince Dun and Prince Chun, both sought their brother's reinstatement. Prince Gong himself, in an audience with the two empresses, burst into tears. Bowing to popular pressure, Cixi allowed Prince Gong to return to his position as the head of the Zongli Yamen, but rid him of his title of Prince-Regent. Prince Gong would never return to political prominence again, and neither would the liberal and pro-reform policies of his time. Prince Gong's demotion revealed Cixi's iron grip on politics, and her lack of willingness to give up absolute power to anyone – not even Prince Gong, her most important ally in the Xinyou Coup. Foreign Influence Photograph of Princess Rongshou (center seated), Prince Gong's daughter. As a way to show gratitude to the prince, Cixi adopted his daughter and elevated her to a first-rank princess (the highest rank for imperial princesses). China's defeat in the Second Opium War of 1856–60 was a wake-up call for the Qing Dynasty. Naval and land military strategies were outdated, both on land and sea and in terms of weaponry. As she was forced to acknowledge that China's agricultural-based economy could not hope to compete with the industrial prowess of the West, Cixi decided China would learn from the Western powers and import their knowledge and technology. At the time, three prominent Han Chinese officials, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Zuo Zongtang, had all begun industrial programs in the country's southern regions; Cixi not only supported their endeavors but also decreed the opening of the School of Combined Learning in 1862, a school for foreign languages in Beijing. The School of Combined Learning offered the latest Western knowledge in topics such as astronomy and mathematics, as well as the English, French and Russian languages. Groups of young boys were also sent abroad to the United States for studies. Cixi's reforms were quickly met with impediments. The Chinese military institutions were in desperate need of reform. Cixi's solution, under the advice of officials at court, was to purchase seven British warships. But wary of threats to imperial power, she ultimately rejected the new British warships when they arrived manned with British sailors. Scholars sometimes attribute the failure of Cixi's attempts at reforms to her conservative attitude and old methods of thinking and contend that Cixi would learn only so much from the foreigners, provided it did not infringe upon her own power. Under the pretext that a railway was too loud and would "disturb the emperors' tombs", Cixi forbade its construction. When construction went ahead anyway in 1877 on Li Hongzhang's recommendation, Cixi asked that they be pulled by horse-drawn carts. Cixi was especially alarmed at the liberal thinking of people who had studied abroad and noted that it posed a new threat to her power. In 1881, Cixi put a halt to the policy of sending children abroad to study and withdrew her formerly open attitude towards foreigners. Marriage of the Tongzhi Emperor In 1872, the Tongzhi Emperor turned 17. Under the guidance of Empress Dowager Ci'an, he was married to the Jiashun Empress. The empress's grandfather, Prince Zheng, was one of the eight regents ousted from power in the Xinyou Coup of 1861. He had been Cixi's rival during the coup and was ordered to commit suicide after Cixi's victory. As a consequence, there were tensions between Cixi and the empress, and this was often a source of irritation for Cixi. Moreover, the empress's zodiac symbol of the tiger was perceived as life-threatening by the superstitious Cixi, whose own zodiac symbol was a goat. According to Cixi's belief, it was a warning from the gods that she would eventually fall prey to the empress. Portrait of Empress Xiaozheyi, also known as the Jiashun Empress and "Lady Arute", who had the approval of Empress Dowager Ci'an but never Cixi's. It is widely speculated that the Empress was pregnant with the Tongzhi Emperor's child and that Cixi orchestrated the empress's demise. As the principal consort of the Tongzhi Emperor, the Jiashun Empress was well-received by both the emperor and Empress Dowager Ci'an. Her personal consultants once warned her to be more agreeable and docile to Cixi, as Cixi was truly the one in power. The empress replied, "I am a principal consort, having been carried through the front gate with pomp and circumstance, as mandated by our ancestors. Empress Dowager Cixi was a concubine, and entered our household through a side gate." Since the very beginning of his marriage, the Tongzhi Emperor proceeded to spend most of his time with his empress at the expense of his four concubines, including the Imperial Noble Consort Shushen, who was Cixi's preferred candidate for the Tongzhi Emperor's empress consort. As hostility grew between Cixi and the Jiashun Empress, Cixi suggested the couple spend more time on studies and ordered palace eunuchs to spy on the Tongzhi Emperor. After her warning was ignored, Cixi ordered the couple to separate, and the Tongzhi Emperor purportedly spent several months following Cixi's order in isolation at Qianqing Palace. The Tongzhi Emperor's Deficiencies in Ruling The Tongzhi Emperor received a rigorous education from four famous teachers of Cixi's own choosing: Li Hongzao, Qi Junzao, Weng Xincun, and Woren. This group was later joined by Weng Xincun's son, Weng Tonghe; the emperor's governor, also selected by Cixi, was Mianyu. The imperial teachers instructed the emperor in the classics and various old texts in which the emperor displayed little or no interest. Despite, or perhaps because of, the pressure and stress put upon the young emperor, he despised learning for the majority of his life. According to Weng Tonghe's diary, the emperor could not read a memorandum in full sentences by the age of 16. Worried about her son's inability to learn, Cixi only pressured him more. When he was given personal rule in November 1873 at the age of 18 (four years behind the usual custom), the Tongzhi Emperor proved to be an incompetent ruler. The Tongzhi Emperor made two important policy decisions during his short stint of rule, which lasted from 1873 to 1875. First, he decreed that the Summer Palace, destroyed by the English and French in the Second Opium War, would be completely rebuilt under the pretext that it was a gift to Cixi and Ci'an. Historians also suggest that it was an attempt to drive Cixi from the Forbidden City so that he could rule without interference in policy or his private affairs. The imperial treasury was almost depleted at the time from internal strife and foreign wars, and as a result, the Tongzhi Emperor asked the Board of Finance to forage for the necessary funds. In addition, he encouraged members of the nobility and high officials to donate funds from their personal resources. Once construction began, the emperor checked its progress on a monthly basis, and would often spend days away from court, indulging himself in pleasures outside of the Forbidden City. Uneasy about the Tongzhi Emperor's neglect of national affairs, the emperor's uncles Prince Gong and Prince Chun, along with other senior court officials, submitted a joint memorandum asking the emperor to cease the construction of the Summer Palace, among other recommendations. The Tongzhi Emperor, unwilling to submit to criticism, issued an imperial edict in August 1874 to strip Prince Gong of his princely title and demote him to the status of a commoner. Two days later, Prince Dun, Prince Chun, Prince Fu, Jingshou, Prince Qing, Wenxiang, Baojun, and Grand Councilors Shen Guifen and Li Hongzao were all to be stripped of their respective titles and jobs. Upon witnessing the mayhem unfold from behind the scenes, Cixi and Ci'an made an unprecedented appearance at court directly censuring the emperor for his wrongful actions and asked him to withdraw the edict; Cixi said that "without Prince Gong, the situation today would not exist for you and me." Feeling a grand sense of loss at court and unable to assert his authority, the Tongzhi Emperor physically weakened. The physicians claimed that the emperor had smallpox, and proceeded to give medical treatment accordingly. Within a few weeks, the emperor died on January 14, 1875; the Jiashun Empress followed suit in March. By 1875, Cixi was back at the helm of imperial power. Guangxu Era - New Challenges and Illness The Tongzhi Emperor died without a male heir, a circumstance that created an unprecedented succession crisis in the dynastic line. Members of the generation above were considered unfit, as they could not, by definition, be the successor of their nephew. Therefore, the new emperor had to be from a generation below or the same generation as the Tongzhi Emperor. After a considerable disagreement between the two Empresses Dowager, Zaitian, the four-year-old firstborn son of Prince Chun and Cixi's sister, was to become the new emperor. 1875 was declared the first year of the Guangxu era; Guangxu was the new emperor's regnal name and it means "glorious succession". Zaitian was taken from home and for the remainder of his life would be cut completely off from his family. While addressing Ci'an conventionally as Huang e'niang ("Empress Mother"), Zaitian was forced to address Cixi as qin baba ("Dear Father"), in order to enforce an image that she was the fatherly figure in the household.[20] The Guangxu Emperor began his education when he was aged five, taught by the imperial tutor Weng Tonghe, with whom he would develop a lasting bond. Shortly after the accession of the Guangxu Emperor, Cixi fell severely ill. This rendered her largely inaccessible to her young nephew and had the result of leaving Ci'an to attend to most of the affairs of the state. The sudden death of Ci'an in April 1881 brought Cixi a new challenge. Ci'an had taken little interest in running state affairs but was the decision-maker in most family affairs. As the consort of the Xianfeng Emperor, she took seniority over Cixi, despite being two years her junior. Rumors began circulating at court to the effect that Cixi had poisoned Ci'an, perhaps as a result of a possible conflict between Cixi and Ci'an over either the execution of the eunuch An Dehai in 1869 or a possible will from the late Xianfeng Emperor that was issued exclusively to Ci'an. Because of a lack of evidence, however, historians are reluctant to believe that Ci'an was poisoned by Cixi, but instead choose to believe that the cause of death was a sudden stroke, as validated by traditional Chinese medicine. In the years between 1881 and 1883, Cixi resorted to written communication only with her ministers.[24] The young Guangxu Emperor reportedly was forced to conduct some audiences alone, without Cixi to assist him. The once fierce and determined Prince Gong, frustrated by Cixi's iron grip on power, did little to question Cixi on state affairs and supported Manchu involvement in the Sino-French War of 1884–1885. Cixi used China's loss in the war as a pretext for getting rid of Prince Gong and other important decision-makers in the Grand Council in 1885. She downgraded Prince Gong to "advisor" and elevated the more easily influenced Prince Chun. When it was first developed by Empress Dowager Cixi, the Beiyang Fleet was said to be the strongest navy in East Asia. Before her adopted son, Emperor Guangxu took over the throne in 1889, Cixi wrote out explicit orders that the navy should continue to develop and expand gradually. However, after Cixi went into retirement, all naval and military development came to a drastic halt. Japan's victories over China have often been falsely rumored to be the fault of Cixi. Many believed that Cixi was the cause of the navy's defeat by embezzling funds from the navy in order to build the Summer Palace in Beijing. However, extensive research by Chinese historians revealed that Cixi was not the cause of the Chinese navy's decline. In actuality, China's defeat was caused by Emperor Guangxu's lack of interest in developing and maintaining the military. His close adviser, Grand Tutor Weng Tonghe, advised Guangxu to cut all funding to the navy and army, because he did not see Japan as a true threat, and there were several natural disasters during the early 1890s that the emperor thought to be more pressing to expend funds on. The Guangxu Emperor's Accession Consort Zhen, the Guangxu Emperor's most beloved consort, was initially liked, but eventually hated by Cixi. The Guangxu Emperor technically gained the right to rule at the age of 16 in 1887 after Cixi issued an edict to arrange a ceremony to mark his accession. Because of her prestige and power, however, court officials voiced their opposition to the Guangxu Emperor's personal rule, citing the emperor's youth as the main reason. Prince Chun and Weng Tonghe, each with a different motive, requested that the Guangxu Emperor's accession be postponed until a later date. Cixi, with her reputed reluctance, accepted the "advice" by legitimizing her continued rule through a new legal document that allowed her to "aid" the Guangxu Emperor in his rule indefinitely. The Guangxu Emperor slowly began to take on more responsibilities in spite of Cixi's prolonged regency. In 1886, he attended his first field plowing ceremony and began commenting on imperial state documents. By 1887, he began to rule under Cixi's supervision. The Guangxu Emperor married and took up the reins of power in 1889. By that year, the emperor was already 18, older than the conventional marriage age for emperors. Prior to his wedding, a large fire engulfed the Gate of Supreme Harmony at the Forbidden City. This event followed a trend of recent natural disasters that were considered alarming by many observers. According to traditional Chinese political theory, such incidents were taken as a warning of the imminent loss of the "Mandate of Heaven" by current rulers. For his empress, Empress Dowager Cixi chose the Guangxu Emperor's cousin Jingfen, who would become Empress Longyu. Besides her close relation to the emperor himself, she was also Cixi's niece. Cixi in addition selected two concubines for the Guangxu Emperor who were sisters, Consorts Jin and Zhen. The Guangxu Emperor eventually would prefer to spend more time with Consort Zhen, neglecting his Empress, much to Cixi's dismay. In 1894, Cixi degraded Consort Zhen, citing intervention in political affairs as the main reason. According to some reports, she even had her flogged. Consort Jin had also been implicated in Consort Zhen's reported influence peddling and also apparently suffered a similar punishment. A cousin of theirs, Zhirui, was banished from the capital to a military outpost. "Retirement" On March 5, 1889, Cixi retired from her second regency but nonetheless served as the effective head of the imperial family. Many officials felt and showed more loyalty to the empress dowager than they did to the emperor, owing in part to her seniority and in part to her personalized cultivation of court favorites, many of whom would be given gifts of her artwork and invitations to join her at the theater for opera and acrobatics. In spite of her residence for a period of time at the Summer Palace, which had been constructed with the official intention of providing her a suitable place to live after retiring from political affairs, Cixi continued to influence the decisions and actions of the Guangxu Emperor even after he began his formal rule at age 19. Along with an entourage of court officials, the Guangxu Emperor would pay visits to her every second or third day at which major political decisions would be made. Weng Tonghe observed that while the emperor dealt with day-to-day administration, the Grand Councilors would give their advice in more complex cases, and in the most complex cases of all, the advice of Cixi was sought. In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War broke out at the instigation of Japan which used the war as a pretext to annex Taiwan from Qing China. Of note, the Japanese annexation of Taiwan followed Japanese annexation of the RyuKyu island Kingdom in 1874 and was followed by Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910. During this period, Cixi was continuously called upon to arbitrate policy-making, and the emperor was sometimes even bypassed in decision-making processes. Cixi eventually was given copies of the secret palace memorials as well, a practice that was carried on until 1898, when it became unnecessary. In November 1894, Cixi celebrated her 60th birthday. Borrowing from the plans used for the celebrations of the 70th and 80th birthdays of Empress Xiaoshengxian (the Qianlong Emperor's mother), plans included triumphal progress along the decorated road between the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, decorations for the Beijing city gates and monumental archways, free theatrical performances, remission of punishments and the restoration of degraded officials. However, the war between China and Japan forced the empress dowager to cancel the lavish celebrations she had planned and settle for a much smaller commemoration that was held in the Forbidden City. Hundred Days' Reform Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor holding court, drawing by Katharine Carl After coming to the throne, the Guangxu Emperor became more reform-minded. After a humiliating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894, during which the Chinese Beiyang Fleet was virtually destroyed by the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Qing government faced unprecedented challenges internally and abroad, with its very existence at stake. Under the influence of reformist officials Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, the Guangxu Emperor believed that by learning from constitutional monarchies such as Japan and Germany, China would become politically and economically powerful. In June 1898, the Guangxu Emperor launched the Hundred Days' Reform aimed at sweeping political, legal and social changes and issued edicts for China's modernization. These abrupt reforms, however, came without building support either at court or in the bureaucracy. Cixi, concerned that they would diminish her power as an absolute monarch, stepped in to prevent them from going further. Some government and military officials warned Cixi that the ming-shi (reformation bureau) had been geared toward conspiracy. Allegations of treason against the emperor, as well as suspected Japanese influence within the reform movement, led Cixi to resume the role of regent and resume control at the court. The Manchu general Ronglu on 21 September 1898, took the Emperor to Ocean Terrace, a small palace on an island in the middle of Zhongnanhai linked to the rest of the Forbidden City only by a controlled causeway. Cixi followed this action with an edict that proclaimed the Guangxu Emperor's total disgrace and unfitness to be emperor. The Guangxu Emperor's reign effectively came to an end. According to research by Professor Lei Chia-sheng (雷家聖), during the Hundred Days' Reform, former Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi arrived in China on 11 September 1898. Almost at the same time, British missionary Timothy Richard was invited to Beijing by the reformist Kang Youwei. Richard suggested that China should hand over some political power to Itō in order to help push the reforms further. On 18 September, Richard convinced Kang to adopt a plan by which China would join a federation composed of China, Japan, the United States, and England. This suggestion did not reflect the policies of the countries concerned. It was Richard's (and perhaps Itō's) trick to convince China to hand over national rights. Kang nonetheless asked fellow reformers Yang Shenxiu (楊深秀) and Song Bolu (宋伯魯) to report this plan to the Guangxu Emperor. On 20 September, Yang sent a memorial to this effect to the emperor. In another memorial written the next day, Song Bolu also advocated the formation of a federation and the sharing of the diplomatic, fiscal, and military powers of the four countries under a hundred-man committee. Still according to Lei's findings, on 13 October, British ambassador Claude MacDonald reported to his government about the Chinese situation, saying that Chinese reforms had been damaged by Kang Youwei and his friends' actions.[42] British diplomat Frederick Bourne claimed in his own report that Kang was a dreamer who had been seduced by Timothy Richard's sweet words. Bourne thought Richard was a plotter.[43] The British and U.S. governments were unaware of the "federation" plot, which seems to have been Richard's personal idea. Because Richard's partner Itō Hirobumi had been the Prime Minister of Japan, the Japanese government might have known about Richard's plan, but there is no evidence to this effect. A crisis over the issue of abdication emerged. Bowing to increasing pressure from the West and general civil discontent, Cixi did not forcibly remove the Guangxu Emperor from the throne, although she attempted to have Pujun, a boy of 14 who was from a close branch of the imperial family, installed as crown prince. The Guangxu era nominally continued until his death in 1908, but the emperor lost all respect, power, and privileges, including his freedom of movement. Most of his supporters, including his political mentor Kang Youwei, fled into exile, and the six prominent reformers including Tan Sitong and Kang's younger brother, were publicly beheaded. Kang continued to work for a constitutional monarchy while in exile, remaining loyal to the Guangxu Emperor and hoping eventually to restore him to power. His efforts would prove to be in vain. Boxer Rebellion Empress Dowager Cixi and women of the American legation. Holding her hand is Sarah Conger, the wife of U.S. Ambassador Edwin H. Conger. In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in northern China. To preserve her own power and the dynasty, Cixi threw her support to these anti-foreign bands by making an official announcement of her support for the movement and a formal declaration of war on the Western powers. General Ronglu deliberately sabotaged the performance of the imperial army during the rebellion. Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops (the "Kansu Braves") were able and eager to destroy the foreign military forces in the legations, but Ronglu stopped them from doing so. The Manchu prince Zaiyi was xenophobic and friendly with Dong Fuxiang. Zaiyi wanted artillery for Dong's troops to destroy the legations. Ronglu blocked the transfer of artillery to Zaiyi and Dong, preventing them from destroying the allegations. When artillery was finally supplied to the imperial army and Boxers, it was only done so in limited amounts; Ronglu deliberately held back the rest of them. The Chinese forces defeated the small 2,000 man Western relief force at the Battle of Langfang, but lost several decisive battles, including the Battle of Beicang, and the entire imperial court was forced to retreat as the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. Due to the fact that moderates at the Qing imperial court tried to appease the foreigners by moving the Muslim Kansu Braves out of their way, the allied army was able to march into Beijing and seize the capital. During the war, Cixi displayed concern about China's situation and foreign aggression, saying, "Perhaps their magic is not to be relied upon; but can we not rely on the hearts and minds of the people? Today China is extremely weak. We have only the people's hearts and minds to depend upon. If we cast them aside and lose the people's hearts, what can we use to sustain the country?" The Chinese people were almost unanimous in their support for the Boxers due to the Western Allied invasion. When Cixi received an ultimatum demanding that China surrender total control over all its military and financial affairs to foreigners, she defiantly stated before the Grand Council, "Now they [the Powers] have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death?" It was at this point that Cixi began to blockade the legations with the armies of the Beijing Field Force, which began the siege. Cixi stated that "I have always been of the opinion, that the allied armies had been permitted to escape too easily in 1860. Only a united effort was then necessary to have given China the victory. Today, at last, the opportunity for revenge has come", and said that millions of Chinese would join the cause of fighting the foreigners since the Manchus had provided "great benefits" to China. During the Battle of Beijing, the entire imperial court, including Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, fled Beijing and evacuated to Xi'an as the allied forces invaded the city. After the fall of Beijing, the Eight-Nation Alliance negotiated a treaty with the Qing government, sending messengers to the empress dowager in Xi'an. Included in the terms of the agreement was a guarantee that China would not have to give up any further territories to foreign powers. Many of Cixi's advisers in the imperial court insisted that the war against the foreigners be continued. They recommended that Dong Fuxiang be given the responsibility to continue the war effort. Cixi, however, had no intentions of relinquishing power and decided that the terms were generous enough for her to acquiesce and stop the war, at least after she was assured of her continued reign when the war was concluded. The Western powers needed a government strong enough to suppress further anti-foreign movements, but too weak to act on its own; they supported the continuation of the Qing dynasty, rather than allowing it to be overthrown. Cixi turned once more to Li Hongzhang to negotiate. Li agreed to sign the Boxer Protocol, which stipulated the presence of an international military force in Beijing and the payment of £67 million (almost $333 million) in war reparations. The United States used its share of the war indemnity to fund the creation of China's prestigious Tsinghua University. The Guangxu Emperor and Cixi did not return to Beijing from Xi'an until roughly 18 months after their flight. Return to Beijing and reforms Empress Dowager Cixi, by Katharine Carl, 1904, commissioned by the Empress Dowager Cixi for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World's Fair) and later given to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, transferred to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art collections and later the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. In January 1902, Cixi, the Guangxu Emperor, the empress, and the rest of the court made a ceremonious return to Beijing. At the railhead at Chengtingfu, Cixi and the court boarded a 21-car train to convey them the rest of the way to the capital. In Beijing, many of the legation women turned out to watch the procession from the Beijing railway station to the Forbidden City, and for the first time, commoners were permitted to watch as well. Once back in the palace, Cixi implemented sweeping political reforms. High officials were dispatched to Japan and Europe to gather facts and draw up plans for sweeping administrative reforms in law, education, government structure, and social policy, many of which were modeled on the reforms of the Meiji Restoration. The abolition of the examination system in 1905 was only the most visible of these sweeping reforms. Ironically, Cixi sponsored the implementation of the New Policies, a reform program some view as more radical than the one proposed by the reformers she had beheaded in 1898. In an attempt to woo foreigners, Cixi also invited the wives of the diplomatic corps to a tea in the Forbidden City soon after her return, and in time, would hold summer garden parties for the foreign community at the Summer Palace. In 1903, she acquiesced to the request of Sarah Conger, wife of Edwin H. Conger, the U.S. Ambassador to China, to have her portrait painted by American artist Katharine Carl for the St. Louis World's Fair. Between 1903 and 1905, Cixi had a Western-educated lady-in-waiting by the name of Yu Deling, along with her sister and mother, serve at her court. Yu Deling, fluent in English and French, as well as Chinese, often served as a translator at meetings with the wives of the diplomatic corps. In 1903, Cixi allowed a young aristocratic photographer named Xunling, a brother of Yu Deling, to take elaborately staged shots of her and her court. They were designed to convey imperial authority, aesthetic refinement, and religious piety. As the only photographic series taken of Cixi – the supreme leader of China for more than 45 years – it represents a unique convergence of Qing court pictorial traditions, modern photographic techniques, and Western standards of artistic portraiture. The rare glass plates have been blown up into full-size images, included in the exhibition "The Empress Dowager" at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Xuantong era Entrance to the burial chamber in Cixi's tomb Empress Dowager Cixi died in the Hall of Graceful Bird at the Middle Sea (中海儀鸞殿) of Zhongnanhai, Beijing, on 15 November 1908, after having installed Puyi as the new emperor on 14 November 1908. Her death came only a day after the death of the Guangxu Emperor. Radicals greeted the news with scorn. The anarchist Wu Zhihui, who had leveled some of the most vitriol at Cixi in life, wrote from exile in Paris of the "vixen empress and vermin emperor" that "their lingering stench makes me vomit." On 4 November 2008, forensic tests concluded that the Guangxu Emperor died from acute arsenic poisoning. China Daily quoted a historian, Dai Yi, who speculated that Cixi may have known of her imminent death and may have worried that the Guangxu Emperor would continue his reforms after her death. It was reported in November 2008 that the level of arsenic in his remains was 2,000 times higher than that of ordinary people. Empress Dowager Cixi was interred in the Eastern Qing tombs, 125 km (78 mi) east of Beijing, in the Eastern Ding Mausoleum (東定陵), along with Empress Dowager Ci'an. Empress Dowager Ci'an lies in the Puxiangyu Eastern Ding Mausoleum (普祥峪定東陵; lit. "Tomb East of the Ding Mausoleum in the Broad Valley of Good Omen"), while Empress Dowager Cixi built herself the much larger Putuoyu Eastern Ding Mausoleum (菩陀峪定東陵; lit. "Tomb East of the Ding Mausoleum in the Putuo Valley"). The Ding Mausoleum (lit. "Tomb of Quietude"), where the Xianfeng Emperor is buried, is located west of the Dingdongling. The Putuo Valley owes its name to Mount Putuo, one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Empress Dowager Cixi, unsatisfied with her tomb, ordered its destruction and reconstruction in 1895. The new tomb was a complex of temples, gates, and pavilions, covered with gold leaf, and with gold and gilded-bronze ornaments hanging from the beams and the eaves. In July 1928, Cixi's tomb was plundered by the warlord Sun Dianying and his army as part of the looting of the Eastern Mausoleum. They methodically stripped the complex of its precious ornaments, then dynamited the entrance to the burial chamber, opened Cixi's coffin, threw her corpse (said to have been found intact) on the ground, and stole the jewels contained in the coffin. They also took the massive pearl that had been placed in the empress dowager's mouth to protect her corpse from decomposing (in accordance with Chinese tradition). After 1949, the complex of Empress Dowager Cixi's tomb was restored by the Chinese government. Appraisal Photograph of Cixi The mainstream view of Empress Dowager Cixi as a devious despot who contributed in no small part to China's slide into corruption, anarchy, and revolution is subject to nuance. Cixi used her power to accumulate vast quantities of money, bullion, antiques and jewelry, using the revenues of the state as her own.[63] The long-time China journalist Jasper Becker recalled that "every visitor to the Summer Palace is shown the beautiful lakeside pavilion in the shape of an elegant marble pleasure boat and told how Cixi spent funds destined for the imperial navy on such extravagant fripperies—which ultimately led to Japan's victory over China in 1895 and the loss of Taiwan".[64] Yet even after the violent anti-foreign Boxer movement and equally violent foreign reprisal, the initial foreign accounts of Cixi emphasized her warmth and friendliness. Katharine Carl oil portrait painted for exhibit at St. Louis World's Fair of 1904[1] This was perhaps because Cixi took the initiative and invited several women to spend time with her in the Forbidden City. Katharine Carl, an American painter, was called to China in 1903 to paint Cixi's portrait for the St. Louis Exposition. In her With the Empress Dowager. Carl portrays Cixi as a kind and considerate woman for her station. Cixi, though shrewd, had great presence, charm, and graceful movements resulting in "an unusually attractive personality". Carl wrote of the empress dowager's love of dogs and of flowers, as well as boating, Chinese opera and her Chinese water pipes and European cigarettes.[65] Cixi also commissioned the well-known portraitist, Hubert Vos to produce a series of oil portraits.[66] The publication of China Under The Empress Dowager (1910) by J. O. P. Bland and Edmund Backhouse contributed to Cixi's reputation with the inclusion of some gossip, much of which came from palace eunuchs.[67] Their portrait included contradictory elements, writes one recent study, "on the one hand... imperious, manipulative, and lascivious" and on the other "ingenuous, politically shrewd, and conscientious..."[68] Backhouse and Bland told their readers that "to summarize her essence simply, she a woman and an Oriental".[69] Backhouse was later found to have forged some of the source materials used in this work.[70] The vivid writing and lascivious details of their account provided material for many of the books over the following decades, including Chinese fiction and histories that drew on a 1914 translation.[68] In the People's Republic after 1949, the image of the Manchu Empress was contentious. She was sometimes praised for her anti-imperialist role in the Boxer Uprising yet was reviled as a member of the "feudalist regime". When Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing was arrested in 1976 for abuse of power, an exhibit at the Palace Museum put Cixi's luxurious goods on display to tru to frame Jiang as a continuation of Cixi.[71] By the mid-1970s, views among some scholars changed in her favor. Sue Fawn Chung's doctoral dissertation at University of California, Berkeley was the first study in English to use court documents rather than popular histories and hearsay.[72] Her seminal 1979 article titled "The Much Maligned Empress Dowager" opened with the sentence "Clio, the Muse of History, has not been kind" to Cixi. Traditional historians in China, Chung claimed, "always have been prejudiced against feminine influence in court", and historians have long taken the word of Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and other Chinese, who opposed the Empress Dowager.[73] Luke Kwong, in his analysis of the Hundred Days' Reform, claimed that many of the allegations of Empress Dowager Cixi being power-hungry and immoral could not be verified,[30] instead portraying her as a relatively insecure woman, concerned about her legitimacy and haunted by her relatively humble origins in the palace.[74] Chinese historians have traditionally held a negative prejudice of female members of court. The Empress Dowager was also a more conservative leader, which was not common for a female leader of those times.[75] She went on to claim that this resulted in Empress Dowager Cixi being portrayed in a one-sided, negative and narrow view where she was called names such as “she dragon” or the “usurper of a throne” and viewed as either a tyrant or incompetent. Despite this, writers such as Jung Chang have criticized this narrative and have written works such as Chang's Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China in order to offer an opposing view.[76] In recent decades, claims Pamela Kyle Crossley, a historian of the dynasty, some historians in the West have developed "truisms" in the representation of Cixi: "that she has been obscured by misogyny and orientalist stereotyping, as well as the anti-Manchu sentiment running through Chinese nationalist narratives". Crossley felt that Cixi appealed to feminists as a powerful leader and to Chinese patriots as a defender of China, claiming that in the 1960s and 1970s, Cixi was one of "a small collection of 'powerful' women newly discovered" and now "she appears in the vanguard of stubborn Chinese opposition to foreign arrogance and encroachment".[77] Several popular, Western-authored biographies have since appeared. Sterling Seagrave's Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China claims Cixi was a woman stuck between the xenophobic faction of Manchu nobility and more moderate influences. The empress dowager, Seagrave claims, did not crave power but simply acted to balance these influences and protect the Qing dynasty as best she could. In 2013, Jung Chang's biography, Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, claims Cixi was the most capable ruler and administrator that China could have had at the time. However, Pamela Kyle Crossley criticized Chang's claims, writing in the London Review of Books that Chang's claims "seem to be minted from her own musings, and have little to do with what we know was actually going in China". Although Crossley was sympathetic to restoring women's place in Chinese history, she found "rewriting Cixi as Catherine the Great or Margaret Thatcher is a poor bargain: the gain of an illusory icon at the expense of historical sense". From Wikipedia - Free Encyclopedia

The Qing dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 1644 to 1912. It was founded by the Manchu people, who came from Manchuria in northeastern China. Their history, language, culture, and identity were distinct from the Chinese population, whom they conquered in 1644 when China was weakened by internal rebellions. The Manchus forged alliances with certain Chinese and Mongol groups that aided their conquest of China. Manchu rule did not completely uproot the government of China or its social and cultural life; instead, Manchu rulers selectively continued and adapted aspects of Chinese life they admired. They developed a style of rule befitting the multiethnic empire they commanded, of which the Chinese were the largest population. The Manchu rulers modeled many of their government practices on those of the previous Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644). For example, they employed a civil service examination system much like in previous Chinese dynasties to recruit Chinese government officials. In addition, the emperors were bilingual in Chinese and Manchu. Simultaneously, the Manchu rulers maintained and promoted many Manchu customs at court and within the general populace. The Qing dynasty was known for its strong and centralized government, as well as its accomplishments in art and culture. Some of the most notable emperors of the Qing dynasty include Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong. The Qing dynasty also saw several significant events, such as the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. Ultimately, however, the dynasty was unable to adapt to the changes brought about by the industrialization of the West, and it was overthrown in 1912, marking the end of imperial China.