Notes from the Presentation on the Empress Dowager Cixi

Notes from the Presentation on the Empress Dowager Cixi by Alexis Sagen

• I was born on Nov. 29, 1835 to a distinguished Manchu lineage, the Nehonala clan, though my father was only a minor official. • I was named a consort of the emperor Xianfeng in 1851 when I was 16. • I ascended through the ranks of Kianfeng’s consorts until I became a favorite in 1856 for having born him his only living son, Tongzhi. I was promoted to the rank of Noble Consort Yi , second only to the empress, though I was prized by the emperor more than the empress Cian because I had done what she could not. • My emperor allowed me to read official documents and discussed his most important policy matters with me so I became highly literate and knowledgeable about the ways of government. I started to take an active role in state affairs and realized how suitable I was to rule over others. I would have you know that I was politically conservative and against the Western influences threatening the Qing empire. I was also a skilled painter. • In 1860, during the Second Opium War, I was forced to flee with my Emperor from our Summer Palace in Beijing because of an attack from British and French troops. The poor emperor never had a strong constitution, and this attack sent him into a depression so deep that even I couldn’t draw him from it. He began to take drugs and drink alcohol in excess. • The emperor died in 1861. Before died, he made his 8 most conservative advisors joint regents over my son and I was given the rank of the empress dowager. • I conspired to gain power with Prince Gong, and successfully arrested the 8 regents standing in my way, executing 5 of them. • I became co-regent with the empress consort, Cian. I left the state affairs to Prince Gong and Li Hongzhang. Li was trustworthy but I was forced to dismiss Prince Gong in 1884. • I had few friends in courts, but I was very fond of my head eunuch, Li Yianying, who was a special friend. Li Yianying came at a time when I was in deep distress because none of my eunuchs could comb and style my hair properly. Like a gift from heaven, Li offered to style my hair and when I looked in the mirror, not a hair was out of place. I never had a bad hair day while Li was by my side. I once set caged birds free in the Summer Palace, but they flew back to their cage. I asked Li Lianying why they returned and he replied, "Of course, it is due to your benevolence." I thought that Li was joking so he told me to set fish free in Kunming Lake, saying, "If the fish declined to leave, it will prove this." I did as he said and to my surprise, the all the fish returned. I later discovered that Li put aromatic food in the water and didn’t feed the fish for several days. Some say that Li Lianying was simply flattering me, but he was one man who treated me well. So many looked at me with scorn and said that I was acting above my station as a woman; that I was only a consort. Even if it was only flattery, who cares as long as he did it well? Li treated me well, so I rewarded him with much power over my court. • Li Lianying cared so much for my wellbeing that he encouraged me to reconstruct the Summer Palace and grand marble boat for lake-viewing. The other men at court would have had me go without simply because the money was supposed to be used in military endeavors. Why couldn’t they realize as Li did that the troubles in my empire distressed me far more than it did them and the palace was a great comfort to me. • My regency ended for a time when my son married but unfortunately Tongzhi died in 1875 of smallpox (though some said it was from exhaustion and overindulgence). Naturally, as a mother, I mourned the death of my son, but I had control my emotions and think about the future. China needed an heir and I was determined to put the right person on the throne. China still needed me as a regent, so I needed a young emperor who would follow my guidance. • There was some doubt as to who should become the next ruler for my daughter-in-law was pregnant, but it happened that my daughter-in-law committed suicide before she was able to give birth to a possible heir. It was said soon after that I had forced my daughter-in-law to commit suicide in order to gain power for myself. • My 3-year old nephew, Guanxu was selected as the next ruler with me as his regent. Some objected to choosing a successor from the same generation as the last ruler because he cannot perform the filial rights but I did not let such trivial objections deter his inauguration and convinced the officials to name him emperor. • Guanxu came of age in 1866 but I did not give up my regency until he married in 1889. Even then, I maintained some control, making decisions and appointments which my nephew couldn’t veto and I read all of his official documents. You must understand that neither Guanxu, nor Tongzhi was as fit to rule as I. They had not the temperament, nor the talents to rule a great nation under constant threat. I had studied law for much longer than they, and I was doing only what I saw as necessary in order to protect the empire I held so dear. • More and more, foreign forces were threatening my great empire. France took control of Vietnam, formally a vassal state. We were defeated by the Japanese who then took control of Korea in what is called the Sino-Japanese War. • In 1898, Guanxu issued a foolish set of progressive edicts based on the Japanese model of modernization in what is called the 100 day reform. Being greatly alarmed at the weakening of the Qing government and hearing news of plans for my capture, I placed Guanxu under palace arrest, sent out an edict declaring that Guanxu had asked me to assume power, quickly executed the officials responsible for the tainting of the young emperor’s mind, and reversed all of Guanxu’s edicts. • China was growing weaker because of rapidly expanding European influences. Foreign missionaries came in great numbers to convert my people so that even the emperor himself began to be corrupted. My love for my people and our traditions lead me to take a step that I had been hesitant in taking: I lent my support to a secret society called the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists or the Boxers. This society practiced martial arts and claimed to have super natural powers that would make them resistant even to guns and cannons. They were determined to restore China to its former glory, free of foreign taint, and hearing that the voices of my people were behind them, I gave my consent in 1898 to what is now called the Boxer Rebellion. Unfortunately, China had fallen too far already and I was forced to flee from the western troops with Guanxu to a temporary capital in Xi’an, and when I saw that the battles were not going in our favor, I decided it was best to live to fight another day and signed the Boxer Protocol which forced China to pay a great indemnity, placed a ban on the making of armaments, and accused many, including myself, of war crimes. • I was then able to return to the capital and continue my reign in 1902. I reenacted many reforms that I had abolished. With the examination system gone, many western-stlye schools were built. • I died in 1908, one day after my nephew’s death. Before I died, I selected my grand-nephew, the 2 years and 10 month old Puyi as the successor to the throne. In 2008, some so called scientists discovered that Guanxu died of arsenic poisoning and accused me of having murdered him; knowing of my imminent death and fearing that he would continue his progressive reforms when I was no longer there to interfere. I will not try to defend myself. I am used to men accusing me of being the source of all the wrong that has been done to China. I have laid out my life to, and it is up for you to decide if you believe in my guilt or not.