![]() ![]() She was like a gangster,” says Jeremiah Jenne, a historian who leads visitors on walking tours around the Summer Palace, where he points out 500-year-old juniper and cypress trees, and paint-faded pavilions like the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, which was renovated in 1895 for her 60th birthday extravaganza.Ĭixi had the Summer Palace rebuilt after an invading European army looted and burnt the original, which, with its jewel-encrusted furniture and over-the-top silks, was said to be on par with Versailles. ![]() Chang gives us a complex, riveting portrait of Cixi through a reign as long as that of her fellow Empress, Victoria, whom. When her boy died, Cixi designated a young nephew as Emperor, continuing her reign till her death in 1908. “She had one of the most ruthless, savvy political minds. Untrained and untaught, the two studied history and politics together, ruling the huge nation from behind a curtain. Her endeavours to preserve the imperial family above all else make for comparisons with Michael Corleone, the fictional Mafia boss in the Godfather films. ![]() “Cixi is still a negative character,” he says. But Zhang says his positive portrait made little impact. Empress Dowager Cixi : the concubine who launched modern China / 'In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change China. He argues that she was held back by her lack of education, a given at the time because she was a woman, and that she should be given credit for trying to make amends for her mistakes at the end of her rule. ![]()
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