The Last Ruler of the Qing Dynasty who has been unfairly distorted
Through wavering curtain and silence, an adorable boy garbed in a Chinese official uniform toddled away. Not minding people’s paying homage to him, where he arrived was the court of the Forbidden City where all the civil and military officials expressed their courtesy in a solemn voice. It was the last emperor ‘Pu I’ of the Qing Dynasty who ascended the throne at the last moment of the Qing dynasty, then ascended the throne as a puppet emperor of Manchukuo, and afterward, died as a commoner in the People’s Republic of China, depicted in the movie ‘The Last Emperor’.
Who I am to talk about is not Emperor Pu I, but Empress Dowager Cixi also known as Empress Cixi. When I implied to mom that I would like to write about a figure who was strong enough to be fairly independent with notable competence, Empress Cixi was her pick.
‘Gooya, Empress Cixi wasn’t born in a cradle of gold but born with a dirt spoon in her mouth. On the other hand, Empress Wu Zetian was born with a gold spoon in her mouth. Empress Cixi was extremely cruel; cruel in maintaining her power and cruel to her rival in love.’
I hope my writing would be as excellent as mom’s picking a figure from history. Just the name Empress Cixi already gave historic superdensity. In the movie ‘The Last Emperor’, she looked like a grotesque figure, adorned with hair ornaments and thick make-up, shrouded in an imperial garment. Just her look itself deprived me of affection if any towards her and naturally made me feel repulsive against her.
Whenever mom talked about Empress Wu Zetian or Empress Cixi, she never fail to mention their atrocity such as cutting the limbs of the rival in her love, putting the victim’s torso alive into a jar, and setting it aside in the toilet, which was beyond my imagination but still instigating my curiosity in a way.
Just scribbling about Empress Cixi in my littered room, the night breeze outside was so crispy and refreshing. If I felt good, I rather walked outside instead of scribbling, but just walking was felt too much. In a sunken mood, what I often read about Empress Cixi was unofficial stories about her; she slept with a handsome boy every night and without fail killed him the next morning and the numbers of those killed were colossal as well as how she employed all the possible measure not to lose her power, all of which were just negative.
What I found out with her story after reading it through at this time was that she was a heroin of genuine political prowess. Since it was not an outrageous process for her to grasp the power in the first place, there hadn’t been any notable incident in her proceeding to the status of the ruler in the Qing Dynasty except for several necessary political purges.
Comentarios