Empress Dowager Cixi

This book focuses on the image-making for China s §Empress Dowager Cixi (1834 1908) and on Western §views of her. Although many articles and biographies §written by Westerners have tried to understand her, §Cixi, who had worked her way up from being selected §as a concubine of Emperor Xianfeng in 1851, remains §a mystery. While some have found her impressive, §civilized, kind and loyal, others have claimed her §to be reactionary, devious, tyrannical, §superstitious, drug-addicted, sex-mad and even §murderous. (Understandably, the Republic of China, §which took over in 1911, was little concerned to §burnish her image.) What this book aims to achieve §is this: as the subtitle Images, Ideas and §Reality - implies, studies of Cixi s public §appearance, her images and various opinions about §her (ideas) are thought to get as close as possible §to the real Cixi. Arguably, the best approach to her §is to understand her iconic portraits. This book §points to what is the likely reality behind the §images and ideas. Here, art history is used to §unravel serious confusions of the past affecting the §image of a long-reigning Empress and indeed the very §image of Imperial China.This book focuses on the image-making for China s §Empress Dowager Cixi (1834 1908) and on Western §views of her. Although many articles and biographies §written by Westerners have tried to understand her, §Cixi, who had worked her way up from being selected §as a concubine of Emperor Xianfeng in 1851, remains §a mystery. While some have found her impressive, §civilized, kind and loyal, others have claimed her §to be reactionary, devious, tyrannical, §superstitious, drug-addicted, sex-mad and even §murderous. (Understandably, the Republic of China, §which took over in 1911, was little concerned to §burnish her image.) What this book aims to achieve §is this: as the subtitle Images, Ideas and §Reality - implies, studies of Cixi s public §appearance, her images and various opinions about §her (ideas) are thought to get as close as possible §to the real Cixi. Arguably, the best approach to her §is to understand her iconic portraits. This book §points to what is the likely reality behind the §images and ideas. Here, art history is used to §unravel serious confusions of the past affecting the §image of a long-reigning Empress and indeed the very §image of Imperial China.