EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI THE CONCUBINE WHO LAUNCHED MODERN CHINA DOWNLOAD FREE

Chang and Halliday popularized it, however. Throughout her reign in the name of her adopted son, the emperor, there was constant internal upheaval and rioting as well as wars with various western powers and Japan, earning China the world's contempt for a country once highly respected for its size and kindheartedness. Even so, the tumultuous story of her reign remains astonishing. Even her former enemy, Prince Chun, now an ally marveled at her prowess in standing up to the French and the resulting treaty in that protected Chinese borders from western encroachment. She later murdered him, for the good of China Jade did not obey Cixi's orders to commit suicide, nor did Cixi notice the consensus of the eunuchs who did not step forward to push her into the well p. Jul 06, Robin Webster rated it really liked it.

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Dec 16, Elizabeth Heritage rated it really liked it.

Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang – review

China believed itself to be the most advanced country in the world. They worked together, a proper womanly team that so rarely happens even today. Cixi was eager to create amicable relations with the West and asked whether foreign trade and an open door policy was a bad thing for her country, as her husband has always asserted?

But he cautioned that the book assessed so positively nearly everything that Cixi did that the sources may not have been objectively assessed. Cixi reigned during extraordinary times and had to deal with a host of major national crises: This raises a very interesting dynamic within ekpress book.

Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China

Cixi who I had never heard of has apparently been reviled for decades, and it is Chang's stated aim to rehabilitate her in the eye I found this book fascinating and compulsively readable.

The smell of blood needs to be acknowledged, not just that of lilies. I have to admit that I know nothing about this period of history, so, if there are mistakes I would be unable to spot them. In Emperor Xianfeng died resulting in her five-year-old son being elevated to replace him, with eight regents overseeing the decision-making process.

However, simply as a fascinating biography, it is an informative and enjoyable read. Sure, it comes off as hagiography -- a too-positive interpretation of events.

Life at any court is a rough game: These were the years in which China collapsed, and the Dowager Empress Cixi ruled in fact, if not in emprwss during most of this time. Sep 16, Rebecca rated it it was ok Shelves: Cixi had been taking human milk since her prolonged illness in the early s, on the recommendation of a renowned doctor.

InChang published a biography of her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother titled Wild Swans.

This biography takes us all the way through her life; with its amazing ups and downs, successes and tragedies, her ambitions and desire to push China from medieval times into the modern age.

Seagrave doesn't believe anything about Cixi's mad orgies with eunuchs or the stories about her stealing tens of millions of taels from the Navy budget causing the diastrous loss to Japan in But as a great read, I'm all for this book.

May 25, Domhnall dodager it it was amazing Shelves: She has referenced a wide range of archival materials in European and Chinese collections, diaries, letters, books and articles. This was way outside of my usual reading fare - I don't read a lot of non-fiction and I read very few books set in China. Monday 30 September Thanks to Mike Chen of Youtube's "Chen Dynasty" for waking me up to the obvious fact that I knew nothing about China's rulers except for Mao and thereafter.

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Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China - Wikipedia

After the Communists seized power in China inthe study of China's royal dowagwr was banned. She embezzled more than 10 million taels of silver from the Naval budget to rebuild her concbuine Summer Palace.

In an age and culture that largely silenced women and, horrifically, condemned them to lives of hobbling painCixi played the Chinese imperial system with strength and finesse. The Dowager's actions, as cited in this very text, contradict the author's premise.

Nonetheless, the picture that emerges of Cixi is that of a highly intelligent and gifted leader, whose influence on the course of Chinese history was both profound and unequalled by any other woman.

Cixi was maligned for decades as a corrupt and power-hungry despot, but in recent ish years historians have started to reevaluate lzunched view.

Finally, the family raised 60 per cent of the sum, enough to get her grandfather out of prison. It had no money; all exchange was done in silver bars the tael.

The main focus is on the woman herself, her lifestyle and her life as a female ruler cleverly manoeuvring her way through a male dominated, mostly conservative society, and with laaunched for change building up before the revolutionary explosions of the twentieth century.

I'm so glad I picked it up.