China’s Shadow Empress
The extraordinary tale of Empress Dowager Cixi, the teenage concubine who rose to become the most powerful woman in China
Uncovering the life of Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress Dowager Cixi is unquestionably one of the most formidable and divisive figures in Chinese history. Cixi, a contemporary of Queen Victoria, was only the second woman to rule China after Empress Wu Zetian in the 7th century. So how did Cixi, the Emperor’s lowly mistress, become the ruler of nearly a third of the world’s population? Cixi was born in Beijing on 29 November 1835. She was from a Manchu family, the ruling ethnic minority in China, and it is thought that her relatives were government employees. As a Manchu girl, she was spared the fate of having her feet bound, a practice that was performed on Han Chinese girls.
Unfortunately, little is known about Cixi’s life prior to her entering the imperial court, although it is believed that she was taught how to read and write a little as well as sew. It’s also been argued that her father would frequently seek her advice and valued her opinion just as much as a son’s.
When she was 16 years old, Cixi was chosen as a concubine for the Qing dynasty’s Xianfeng Emperor, who was four years her senior. With hundreds of candidates, being chosen was a great honour, and Cixi arrived in the Forbidden City in June 1852 to join the imperial harem. The harem had eight ranks and Cixi was placed in the sixth rank of ‘Noble Lady’ and so she was given the name ‘Noble Lady Lan’.
Cixi was a low-ranking concubine in the harem, but everything changed when she gave birth to Xiafeng’s firstborn son, Zaichun, on 27 April 1856. His birth was met with widespread celebration and Cixi became the second most powerful woman in the harem. She was given the title of
‘Noble Consort Yi’, after succeeding where the Emperor’s other concubines and his primary consort, Empress Ci’an, had failed.
Even though Ci’an remained childless, Zaichun was officially considered her son and she was in charge of his upbringing rather than his biological mother, Cixi. Despite this, there was no tension as the two women got on well and they became close friends.
While Cixi had been rising through the ranks, China was in turmoil. The Taiping Rebellion, a bloody uprising against
the Qing dynasty, had started in 1850 – two years before Cixi became a concubine – and it was still going strong. To make matters worse, China was also fighting the British and French empires in the Second Opium War, which erupted just under six months after Zaichun’s birth.
China was losing the war, and by August 1860 the combined British and French forces were marching towards Beijing. Xianfeng dispatched envoys to conduct peace talks, but the meeting resulted in the arrest and torture of the British envoy, Harry Parkes, and his men by the Qing. In retaliation, Lord Elgin, who was leading the British Army, ordered the looting and burning of the Old Summer Palace. By this point, Xianfeng, Cixi and the rest of the imperial household had already fled Beijing.
Xianfeng’s health had been deteriorating for some time, and in desperation after the Beijing attack, he turned to alcohol and drugs. On 22 August 1861, he died, leaving a five-year-old son to succeed him as Emperor. Before his death, Xianfeng had arranged for eight regents to act on Zaichun’s behalf until he was old enough to rule alone.
Following the death of their husband, Cixi and Ci’an were both given the title of ‘Empress Dowager’, and it was from this point on that Cixi became known as ‘Empress Dowager Cixi’. Meanwhile, after ascending the imperial throne, her son Zaichun became known as the Tongzhi Emperor.
Soon enough, tensions between the Empresses Dowager and the regents were quickly escalating at court. As her husband’s health had declined, Cixi became more involved in the court’s political life. Yet the regents were uninterested in listening to a woman and chose to ignore her, which irritated Cixi. While
Ci’an had no taste for politics, she was annoyed by the frequent confrontations with the regents and she often refused to attend court audiences, leaving Cixi to face them alone.
Cixi suggested to Ci’an that they oust the regents and take over the regency themselves, reigning together as co-regents. It was a risky scheme and the women knew that they would need powerful, male allies if they wanted to succeed. Cixi immediately began rallying support for their coup, including Xianfeng’s half-brothers, Princes Gong and Chun. Gong, in particular, had ambitions for power and had been annoyed by the regents sidelining him.
In November, Cixi accused the regents of incompetency for their handling of the negotiations with Britain and France in the aftermath of the invasion of Beijing. The regents were dismissed and arrested for treason, with three of them sentenced to death by linchi, also known as ‘death by a thousand cuts’, a slow and painful way to die. Cixi, however, reduced these sentences in an act of so-called mercy, having the leading regent decapitated while the other two men were encouraged to commit suicide.
Cixi and Ci’an had successfully seized power at the ages of 25 and 24 respectively in what became known as the Xinyou Coup. Assuming the reins of the regency, it was announced that the two women would be in charge of making decisions, and they formed an effective partnership. Ci’an handled administrative matters such as official appointments, while Cixi revelled in politics and policy formation.
However, according to the ancient court laws, women could not attend imperial audiences nor speak with a man face to face. Consequently, Cixi had to sit behind the young emperor on the throne and she was obscured by a screen, a practice that became known as to ‘rule from behind the curtain’.
Prince Gong, who had been appointed as Tongzhi’s Prince Counselor, backed the Empresses Dowager along with the Grand Council. But Cixi was the one who wielded the real power, as she demonstrated in 1865 when she stripped Gong of his title, fearing that he was becoming too powerful – she couldn’t risk her power being usurped by someone else.
During the first few years of Cixi’s regency, China experienced a period of revitalisation known as the Tongzhi Restoration. Despite her conservative views, Cixi recognised the need for China to modernise, and she looked to the West for both knowledge and trade opportunities, for which she established a customs service. Cixi also sought out people who would support rather than oppose her policies, making an effort to combat government corruption and maintain stability. It was during this time that the Taiping Rebellion was finally put down after 14 years.
Tongzhi married the Jiashun Empress in 1872 when he was 16 years old. While Ci’an approved of the bride, Cixi was opposed to the marriage because Jiashun’s grandfather was one of the eight regents who had been deposed over a decade before. As Tongzhi failed to spend time with his concubines, Cixi grew more resentful of Jianshun, believing that the young couple were not dedicated enough to learn how to rule China.
Cixi, frustrated, eventually forced the couple to separate. Tongzhi, distraught and lonely, supposedly sought solace outside of the palace by frequenting brothels.
He died in 1875, and while the official cause of death was smallpox, it was widely assumed
“Ci’an handled administrative matters such as official appointments, while Cixi revelled in politics and policy formation”
that he contracted syphilis from visiting prostitutes. Since the Emperor had no children, Tongzhi’s death caused a succession crisis. Tongzhi’s four-year-old cousin, Zaitain, was chosen by Cixi to become the new Emperor. The young boy was the son of Prince Chun and Wanzhen, Cixi’s younger sister, and after ascending the throne, he was known as the Guangxu Emperor. Guangxu was subsequently adopted by Cixi and Ci’an, who remained in their roles as regents.
The joint rule of Cixi and Ci’an had provided the stability that allowed China to begin its modernisation process. However, Ci’an’s sudden death in April 1881 put an end to their partnership after two decades of working together. Cixi was suspected of poisoning her fellow Empress Dowager, but this has never been proven.
Guangxu married Jingfen, Cixi’s niece, in 1889. Cixi announced her retirement from the regency and handing power over to the