The Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China (Paperback)

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) is the most important woman in Chinese history. She ruled China for decades and brought a medieval empire into the modern age. At the age of sixteen, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor’s numerous concubines and sexual partners. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband and made herself the real ruler of China – behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male.

• Publisher: ‎RHUK (1 November 2013)
• Language: ‎English
• Paperback: 464 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎0224087444
• ISBN-13: ‎978-0224087445