What attracted my attention while reading her story and political career, was how the Qing Dynasty which was the then governing power of China, having been the pivot of the world civilization, was wobbled and finally collapsed facing the imperialism that dominated and swept the world at the time; to my surprise and relief, her very famous political atrocities and eccentrical lust-driven behaviors couldn’t be found.
It is solely my idea that historic heroes, conquerors, and the victors of the time were the ones who rode the tide of time of fortune or employed their ability a bit more dexterously in a way that was needed from their time, after having done blogging for historical events for around two weeks.
Although there is a person who surpasses peers with his outstanding ability, he can’t win against the tide of history. Even a very commoner-looking person could live in splendor if he was chosen to live in a prosperous and well-domesticated period.
Within the age to which one belongs, he can’t see how it is but from the perspective of history, there is an inevitable social phenomenon brought about by the time flow or the connecting streaming between before then and since then.
I’ve opinionated too much today, maybe because my mind seemed to be influenced by the change of my berth.
As the last and de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Cixi was solely bound to be condemned and blamed for the collapse of the Dynasty. Numerous unofficial stories and very private episodes, never verified, have been mobilized to describe her as a rare femme fatale in history. Was she really the one?
Selected as a concubine for the Xianfeng Emperor, she gave birth to a son, named Zaichun (later became Tongzhi Emperor) so, she could establish herself as a court influence. Her husband, Xianfeng Emperor got ill and died young – he was thirty-one years old then - while fleeing to Rehe Province under the seizure of Beijing by British and French troops during the closing stages of the Second Opium War.
When Tongzhi Emperor ascended the throne after the demise of the Xianfeng Emperor, he was just five years old. So, Empress Dowager Ci’an and Empress Cixi became co-regents for the Emperor. During the funeral of the Xianfeng Emperor, Cixi came back early to Beijing, conspiring together with Prince Gong (the Xianfeng Emperor’s younger brother) to purge eight regents designated by the deceased Emperor to administer state affairs and seize the power.
Empress Cixi supervised a series of moderate reforms to help the Qing Dynasty which was at the critical moment of its existence, survive. She cleaned up the bureaucracy both at the national level and regional authorities, infested with corruption. Cixi in a reversal of imperial tradition, appointed Han Chinese officials as governors in provinces, showing that she valued one’s talent more than one’s ethnicity.
She also propelled officials to import and learn the western systems and implemented the industrializing programs in the southern parts of China. A school where students could learn western studies and languages was set up by her decision. Her reforming strategies were in nature confined not to impede the imperial power of her feudal court, so its result and effect were also confined to the extent of the innate limitation.
Tongzhi Emperor couldn’t demonstrate his political prowess since he was under the tight reign of Empress Cixi. He was pressured under Empress’ high expectations and interference. When his policies all failed in succession, he was in despair to die at an early age.
Since Tongzhi Emperor left no heir, the decision for whom would succeed fell to Empress Cixi. A four-year-old boy who was the son of Empress Cixi’s sister was selected as the next emperor. It was Guangxu Emperor.
Whereas the Qing Dynasty had tried to reform its country, the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, threats from the western powers, and internal chaos obumbrated the future of the Qing dynasty.
The Guangxu Emperor started to rule by himself when he came of age. To overhaul the outdated feudal system of the Qing Dynasty, he with the help of the elites such as Kang Youwei tried to modernize the country with a massive number of reforms, known as ‘Hundred Day’s Reform’. Nonetheless, Empress Cixi and Li Hongzhang who got threatened by the aggressiveness of the reformation made a coup-de tat against it, so most of the participants got exiled or executed. Guangxu Emperor himself was removed from power as emperor and was kept under confinement till his death.
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