![]() ![]() ![]() Since the Empress Dowager Cixi died more than 100 years ago and the author has no family history to draw on, the narrative is somewhat more. With such different views of events, I wanted to get another opinion from others knowledgeable on this time period to get their take on Cixi. Like many, I was partly attracted to this book by the fact that the author, Jung Chang, previously wrote Wild Swans, which I still consider one of the finest and most powerful historical books ever written. After finishing the book, I had this nagging feeling that something is not right (I mean, no one can be this awesome as a ruler) so I read her Wikipedia entry just to get more information an i was very surprised to find such a drastic tonal shift between both text (wiki shows her to be a lot less “visionary” and more conservative). Yet very little is said of her problems as a ruler (a few mentioned were the unwillingness to stop fighting Japan, the stealing of money for rebuilding the old summer palace, and receiving presents for her birthday celebration one year). In many sections she was framed as a visionary who was fighting against all of China’s old fashioned views (not opening themselves towards western commerce, introduction of education, electricity, the railroad, improving the military, foreshadowing Japans expansionist interests, founding a constitutional monarchy, etc.). I recently read Jung Chang’s “Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China” and i found it well structured with lots of interesting facts about an incredibly complex period in Chinese history.Īs I was reading I started to notice the book goes into great lengths to praise Cixi and her time ruling China. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |