Cixi was called by several names within her lifetime. Her birth name is unknown, but at some point she was given the name Yehonala or Yehenara. Cixi was born in 1835 to an official of the Manchu Yehonala clan. Her childhood was rough, since she always had to try to outrank her siblings for favors. When her father died when she was around fourteen, Cixi tried to earn herself an income. With marriage as a boring option, Cixi decided to win a spot as one of the Qing dynasty Emperor’s concubine.
Becoming Empress Dowager
Cixi won a bid as a royal concubine due to her beauty, from a list his mother, Empress Dowager Kangci, drew together. For two years Cixi worked hard to train for her new career, and once achieved, received the name Cixi, which means ‘Kindly and Virtuous‘. She maintained her level of discipline and hard work to rise to the rank as the Emperor’s favorite, by networking with the Empress Dowager and the palace eunuchs, as well as keeping away from the other concubines. She managed to give the Emperor his first royal son, and achieved the importance as second to his wife.
With the Emperor dieing when his son Tongzhi was only five years old, a gang of men, called the ‘Gang of Eight’ stepped into the political sway and demanded their rights, as they proclaimed they were official regents. On his death bed, the Emperor declared Tongzhi as the next Emperor of the Middle Kingdom, his wife Ci’an, and Cixi as Empress Dowagers together, and the ‘Gang of Eight’ as officials. An inner political civil war began, where the ‘Gang of Eight’ was overthrown, and the two Empress Dowagers in control of the Empire until Tongzhi became of age. The ‘Gang of Eight’ were killed by beheading or asked to commit suicide to save their pride. As time progressed, Cixi was able to overpower the other Empress Dowager, Ci’an, and began to exhort her power in the political arena.
The Dragon Empress
Cixi would be ruthless at times, ordering servants to be killed for the smallest of infractions. It was the eunuchs that were her main muscle from when she was young and swayed them to her side. Her vanity lead her to exaggerate her makeup until she wore enough that it looked like a mask. What startled many people were her outbursts, and from this she received the nickname ‘Dragon Empress’.
When her son reached the ruling age of seventeen, he rose to the throne, but didn’t care for the limelight. He preferred to leave the work up to his mom, and he was happy running off with prostitutes. He married, but died two years later of a combination of a venereal disease and smallpox. The only path blocking Cixi’s way of total rule at this point was Tongzhi’s favorite concubine’s pregnancy. Before the birth, the woman died, clearing the way for total domination.
When Cixi fell ill, Ci’an ran the country on her own. What she showed was her intellegance, and had shown Cixi a document spelling out Cixi’s death if she had meddled in politics. This document was signed by the last Emperor, and stored away by Ci’an for over two decades. Felling threatened, Cixi plotted against Ci’an. Once again it was suspected that Cixi’s eunuchs had a hand it the affair, since Ci’an died, possibly of poison not long after.
Cixi nominated her nephew for the throne, and so Cixi became Empress Dowager again, being the puppet master to her nephew, Guangxu. When Guangxu came into his own, he retired Cixi, and looked to the West as a way to modernize the country. Cixi hated this, and didn’t realize her ideas were obsolete. When a plot was uncovered to arrest Cixi by decree of Guangxu, she overrode his plans, imprisoned him, and kept rule.
The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was to mark her downfall. She fled Beijing dressed as a peasant with the Emperor and his wife. Weeks after the rebellion, she returned once again to rule. With the Emperor‘s death, she appointed another three year old, Prince Pu Yi to be the next Emperor. Not long after her decree, Cixi died. She ruled her part of China with an iron fist for around fifty years, causing major political issues and complete chaos that took many years to begin the process of sorting out that continues to this day.
Sources:
- Klein, Shelley. (2003). The Most Evil Women in History. London, England: Michael O’Mara Books Limited.
- Stradling, Jan. (2008). Bad Girls: The Most Powerful, Shocking, Amazing, Thrilling & Dangerous Women of all Time. New York, New York: Metro Books.
Maureen Zieber - I currently hold a Bachelor's Degree in World History, and Women's Studies, with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Delaware, ...
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