Empress Dowager Cixi

Xingzhen of the Yehe Nara clan was born on the tenth day of the tenth lunar month in the 15th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign (29 November 1835). Her father was Huizheng (惠征), a member of the Bordered Blue Banner who held the title of a third class duke (三等公). Palace archives show that Huizheng was working in Beijing during the year of Xingzhen's birth, an indication that she was born in Beijing. The file records the location of her childhood home: Pichai Hutong, Xisipailou, Beijing (西四牌樓劈柴胡同). Lady Yehe Nara had a sister named Wanzhen and a brother named Guixiang.

In 1851, Lady Yehe Nara participated in the selection of wives for the Xianfeng Emperor alongside 60 other candidates, and the emperor's step-mother, Consort Dowager Kangci, chose her as one of the concubines. Among the other chosen candidates were Noble Lady Li of the Tatara clan (later Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangjing) and Concubine Zhen of the Niohuru clan (later Empress Dowager Ci'an). On 26 June 1852, Lady Yehe Nara left her widowed mother's residence at Xilahutong and entered the Forbidden City and was placed in the sixth rank of consorts, styled "Noble Lady Lan".

On 28 February 1854, Noble Lady Lan was elevated to the fifth rank of consorts and granted the title "Concubine Yi". In 1855, she became pregnant, and on 27 April 1856, she gave birth to Zaichun, Xianfeng's first and only surviving son. On the same day, she was elevated to the fourth rank of consorts as "Consort Yi". In 1857, when her son reached his first birthday, Consort Yi was elevated to the third rank of imperial consort as "Noble Consort Yi". This rank placed her second among the women in Xianfeng's harem after his empress, Lady Niohuru.

Unlike many of the other Manchu women in the imperial household, Noble Consort Yi was known for her ability to read and write Chinese. This skill granted her numerous opportunities to help the ailing emperor in the governing of the Chinese state on a daily basis. On various occasions, the Xianfeng Emperor had her read palace memorials for him and leave instructions on the memorials according to his will. As a result, she became well informed about state affairs and the art of governing.

In September 1860, during the closing stages of the Second Opium War, the British diplomatic envoy Harry Parkes was arrested along with other hostages, who were tortured and executed. In retaliation, British and French troops under the command of Lord Elgin attacked Beijing, and by the following month they had burned the Old Summer Palace to the ground. Xianfeng and his entourage, including Noble Consort Yi, fled Beijing to Rehe Province (around present-day Chengde, Hebei). On hearing the news of the destruction of the Old Summer Palace, Xianfeng, who was already showing signs of dementia, fell into a depression. He turned heavily to alcohol and other drugs and became seriously ill. He summoned eight of his most prestigious ministers, headed by Sushun, Zaiyuan and Duanhua, and named them the "Eight Regent Ministers" to direct and support the future emperor. Xianfeng died on 22 August 1861 at the Chengde Mountain Resort in Rehe Province.

Xianfeng's heir was his five-year-old son with Noble Consort Yi. It is commonly assumed that on his deathbed, Xianfeng summoned Empress Niohuru and Noble Consort Yi and gave each of them a stamp. He hoped that when his son ascended the throne, the two women would cooperate in harmony and help the young emperor to grow and mature together. This may also have been done as a check on the power of the eight regents. There is no evidence for this incident, however, and it is unlikely that the emperor ever would have intended Noble Consort Yi to wield political power. It is possible that the seal, allegedly given as a symbol for the child, was really just a present for Noble Consort Yi herself. Informal seals numbered in the thousands and were not considered political accoutrements, rather objects of art commissioned for pleasure by emperors to stamp on items such as paintings, or given as presents to the concubines. Upon the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, Empress Niohuru was elevated as Empress Dowager Ci'an, but she was popularly known as the "East Empress Dowager" because she lived in the eastern Zhongcui Palace. Noble Consort Yi was also elevated to Empress Dowager Cixi. She was popularly known as the "West Empress Dowager" (西太后) because she lived inside the western Chuxiu Palace.

By the time of Xianfeng's death, Empress Dowager Cixi had become a political strategist. In Rehe Province, while waiting for an astrologically favourable time to transport the emperor's coffin back to Beijing, Cixi conspired with court officials and imperial relatives to seize power. Cixi's position as the lower-ranked empress dowager had no intrinsic political power attached to it. In addition, her son, the young emperor, was not a political force himself. As a result, it became necessary for her to ally herself with other powerful figures, including Empress Dowager Ci'an. Cixi suggested that they become co-reigning empresses dowager, with powers exceeding the eight regents; the two had long been close friends since Cixi first came to the imperial household.

Tensions grew between the two empresses dowager and the eight regents, who were led by Sushun. The regents did not appreciate Cixi's interference in political affairs, and their frequent confrontations with the empresses dowager left Ci'an frustrated. Ci'an often refused to come to court audiences, leaving Cixi to deal with the ministers alone. Secretly, Cixi had begun gathering the support of talented ministers, soldiers, and others who were ostracized by the eight regents for personal or political reasons. Among them were two of Xianfeng's brothers: Prince Gong and Prince Chun. Prince Gong had been excluded from power, yet harboured great ambitions. While Cixi aligned herself with the two princes, a memorial came from Shandong asking for her to "rule from behind the curtains" or "listen to politics behind the curtains" (垂簾聽政), i.e., to assume power as de facto ruler. The same memorial also asked Prince Gong to enter the political arena as a principal "aide to the Emperor".

When Xianfeng's funeral procession left for Beijing, Cixi took advantage of her alliances with Princes Gong and Chun. She and her son returned to the capital before the rest of the party, along with Zaiyuan and Duanhua, two of the eight regents, while Sushun was left to accompany the deceased emperor's procession. Cixi's early return to Beijing meant that she had more time to plan with Prince Gong and ensure that the power base of the eight regents was divided between Sushun and his allies, Zaiyuan and Duanhua. In order to remove them from power, history was rewritten: the regents were dismissed for having carried out incompetent negotiations with the "barbarians" that had caused Xianfeng to flee to Rehe Province "greatly against his will", among other charges.

To display her high moral standards, Cixi executed only three of the eight regents. Prince Gong had suggested that Sushun and others be executed by the most painful method, known as slow slicing ("death by a thousand cuts"), but Cixi declined the suggestion and ordered that Sushun be beheaded, while the other two also marked for execution, Zaiyuan and Duanhua, were given pieces of white silk for them to hang themselves with. In addition, Cixi refused outright the idea of executing the family members of the regents, as would be done in accordance with imperial tradition of an alleged usurper. Ironically, Qing imperial tradition also dictated that women and princes were never to engage in politics. In breaking with tradition, Cixi became the only empress dowager in the Qing dynasty to assume the role of regent, ruling from behind the curtains.

This coup is historically known as the Xinyou Coup because it took place in the xinyou year, the name of the year 1861 in the Chinese sexagenary cycle.

In November 1861, a few days following the Xinyou Coup, Cixi was quick to reward Prince Gong for his help. He was appointed prince regent and his eldest daughter was made a first rank princess, a title usually bestowed only on the empress' first-born daughter. However, Cixi avoided giving Prince Gong the absolute political power that princes such as Dorgon exercised during the Shunzhi Emperor's reign. As one of the first acts of "ruling behind the curtain" from within the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the political and governmental hub during this era, Cixi, nominally along with Ci'an, issued two imperial edicts on behalf of the boy emperor. The first stated that the two empresses dowager were to be the sole decision-makers "without interference," and the second changed the emperor's regnal title from Qixiang (祺祥; "auspicious") to Tongzhi (同治; "collective stability").

Despite being designated as the sole decision-makers, both Ci'an and Cixi were forced to rely on the Grand Council and a complex series of procedures in order to deal with affairs of state. When state documents came in, they were to be first forwarded to the empresses dowager, then referred back to Prince Gong and the Grand Council. Having discussed the matters, Prince Gong and his colleagues would seek the instruction of the empresses dowager at audiences and imperial orders would be drawn up accordingly, with drafts having to be approved by the empresses dowager before edicts were issued. The most important role of the empresses dowager during the regency was to apply their seals to edicts, a merely mechanical role in a complex bureaucracy.

Cixi's ascendancy came at a time of internal chaos and foreign challenges. The effects of the Second Opium War were still hovering over the country, and the Taiping Rebellion continued its seemingly unstoppable advance through China's south, eating up the Qing Empire bit by bit. Internally, both the national bureaucracy and regional authorities were infested with corruption. 1861 happened to be the year of official examinations, whereby officials of all levels presented their political reports from the previous three years. Cixi decided that the time was ripe for a bureaucratic overhaul, and she met with all officials above the level of provincial governor, who had to report to her personally. Cixi thus took on part of the role usually given to the Bureaucratic Affairs Department (吏部). Cixi had two prominent officials executed to serve as examples for others: Qingying, a military shilang who had tried to bribe his way out of demotion, and He Guiqing, then Viceroy of Liangjiang, who fled Changzhou in the wake of an incoming Taiping army instead of trying to defend the city. A number of reforms were implemented, such as the development of the Zongli Yamen, an official foreign ministry to deal with international affairs, the restoration of regional armies and regional strongmen, modernization of railroads, factories, and arsenals, an increase of industrial and commercial productivity, and the institution of a period of peace that allowed China time to modernize and develop.

Another significant challenge Cixi faced was the increasingly decrepit state of the Manchu elites. Since the beginning of Qing rule over China in 1644, most major positions at court had been held by Manchus. Cixi, again in a reversal of imperial tradition, entrusted the country's most powerful military unit against the Taiping rebels into the hands of a Han Chinese, Zeng Guofan. Additionally, in the next three years, Cixi appointed Han Chinese officials as governors in all southern Chinese provinces, raising alarm bells in the court, traditionally protective of Manchu dominance.

Regarding the reforms of the Tongzhi Restoration, Mary C. Wright suggested that "not only a dynasty but also a civilization which appeared to have collapsed was revived to last for another sixty years by the extraordinary efforts of extraordinary men in the 1860s." John K.

Cixi died in the Hall of Graceful Bird at the Middle Sea (中海儀鸞殿) of Zhongnanhai, Beijing, only a day after the Guangxu Emperor himself, on 15 November 1908. Radicals greeted the news with scorn. The anarchist Wu Zhihui, who had leveled some of the most vitriol at Cixi in life, wrote from exile in Paris of the "vixen empress and vermin emperor" that "their lingering stench makes me vomit." The childless Guangxu Emperor was succeeded by Cixi's choice as heir, his nephew Puyi, who took the regnal name "Xuantong".

On 4 November 2008, forensic tests revealed that the level of arsenic in the emperor's remains was 2,000 times higher than that of ordinary people. Scientists concluded that the poison could only have been administered in a high dose at one time. For a long time prior to this, there had been several existing theories about the emperor's death, none of which was accepted fully by historians. Most were inclined to believe that Cixi, herself very ill, poisoned the Guangxu Emperor because she was afraid he would reverse her policies after her death. Dai Yi, a historian, speculated that Cixi might have known of her imminent death and worried that the Guangxu Emperor would continue his reforms after her death. Another theory is that the Guangxu Emperor was poisoned by Yuan Shikai, who expected that if the emperor returned to power again, Yuan would likely be convicted, and then executed for treason. There is currently no definitive evidence as to who assassinated the Guangxu Emperor.

The entirety of the Empress Dowager Cixi's funerary procession reflected much of her lifestyle when she was alive—one of opulence and luxurious grandeur. It allegedly exceeded 10,000 people, with almost 8,000 of these being volunteer pall-bearers who carried the coffin, in rotation, for some 120 km (75 mi) from Beijing to her final resting place located in Zunhua, Hebei province—a journey that took five days to complete. Leading the forefront were Manchu spear-cavalry men accompanied by fleets of horses, selections of Qing nobles and servants. Among the living, Cixi's procession was also accompanied by a myriad of paper effigies of soldiers, horses, servants and entertainers which were then subsequently set alight and burned—a belief that they are to be sent to serve her in the afterlife, presumably a ritualistic act not too dissimilar to the purposes that reflected the Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China.

Empress Dowager Cixi was ultimately interred amidst the Eastern Qing tombs, in the Eastern Ding Mausoleum (東定陵), along with Empress Dowager Ci'an. Empress Dowager Ci'an lies in the Puxiangyu Eastern Ding Mausoleum (普祥峪定東陵; lit. "Tomb East of the Ding Mausoleum in the Broad Valley of Good Omen"), while Empress Dowager Cixi built herself the much larger Putuoyu Eastern Ding Mausoleum (菩陀峪定東陵; lit. "Tomb East of the Ding Mausoleum in the Putuo Valley"). The Ding Mausoleum (lit. "Tomb of Quietude"), where the Xianfeng Emperor is buried, is located west of the Dingdongling. The Putuo Valley owes its name to Mount Putuo, one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China.

Cixi, unsatisfied with her tomb, ordered its destruction and reconstruction in 1895. The new tomb was a complex of temples, gates, and pavilions, covered with gold leaf, and with gold and gilded-bronze ornaments hanging from the beams and the eaves. The Eastern Mausoleum together with other Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are now protected legally by central and local governments and a systems of protection and management put in place to improve the conservation and management of the tombs, which are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

On 12 July 1928, corruption within the Nationalist government, compounded by the recent conclusion of the strenuous Northern Expedition resulted in a nearby stationed army garrison in Zunhua, Hebei province to experience logistical and financial difficulties; unable to consistently provide sustenance or pay the troop's wages on time. The commander of this garrison—the notorious former warlord, Sun Dianying, decided to enact a wide-scale grave robbery of Cixi's Mausoleum within the nearby Eastern Qing Tombs as an alternative source of funding.

Because of the Empress Dowager Cixi having been known infamously for her opulent and lavish lifestyle choices, her mausoleum was therefore the first to be targeted. Sun Dianying gave first priority to officers above battalion commander level to collect treasure for themselves—ordinary soldiers were eventually allowed to take the leftovers. Cixi's above-ground memorial hall was the most prominent and easily accessible structure and, upon entering, the thieves tore down the gold and brass dragon ornaments that enveloped the structure's pillars and stole the myriad of ornaments and gold medallions from the beams and eaves of the building.

Upon reaching her tomb-mound at the rear of the complex, it was realized that none amongst the perpetrators were familiar of complete layout and design of the tomb and its burial chamber. After multiple initial failed attempts at locating the burial chamber's entrance via arbitrary digging and liberal use of dynamite (resulting in extensive structural damage), a suspected former tomb-keeper from the nearby Malanyu village was brought forth, and violently interrogated into revealing exact location of the tomb's sealed entrance.

Locating the burial chamber's entrance after only a meter of vertical digging whilst under the tomb-keeper's guidance, the looters were met by the first major obstacle; the tomb's foot-thick sealing-wall ('Diamond Wall') whose durability made it almost impervious to all pickaxes, shovels and garden hoes equipped on hand. Further use of dynamite by the engineering corps were therefore required to breach this seal—opening the passage that lead into the underground palace.

Traveling down the burial chamber passageway, the perpetrators reached the final major obstacle: two heavy yet durable sets of marble gates that now divided the burial chamber and the coffin itself, from the outside world. Ignorant of the locking mechanism of this door, Sun Dianying's men first attempted to hack down and cut at the door with pickaxes and shovels that were on hand, but to no avail (damage to the doors of which are still visible today). Peering in through the narrow slit between these doors revealed that it was barricaded by an angled bar of carved marble that served as the locking mechanism and, knowing that, was then circumvented by having it set backwards to its original position via the combined use of steel wires and thin ropes to serve as a crude pulley system.

After the gates were bypassed, the vermilion coffin of the Empress Dowager that now stood before the men. Inside was found the embalmed and considerably still well-preserved corpse of Cixi herself, wrapped in three layers of gold brocade and an additional layer of pearl approximately a foot thick were laid around at the bottom of the coffin. On her head was a Qing imperial red-and-black Phoenix crown also adorned with pearls, with the largest that topped the crown purportedly being almost the diameter of that of a robin's egg. In addition to this were jade and tourmaline coral and lotus leaf sculptures respectively, placed at her head and foot. Within the coffin surrounding her corpse were also multiple small sculptures of horses, Arhats, Buddhas and Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) figurines carved of gold, jade, emerald and various other gemstones. At either side of her feet were laid carved sculptures of jadeite watermelon slices, oriental fragrant melons, carved Jadeite Cabbage sculptures and multiple gemstone-carved peaches, plums, apricots and dates. Encapsulating both the corpse and immense treasure were the four wooden walls of the coffin itself, entirely engraved with multiple golden Sanskrit excerpt passages of the Amitābha and Amitāyus Sutras, that contained blessings for Cixi's reincarnation and entry into 'The Buddhist Pure Land'—a blissful spiritual place described as having wonderful adornments including jeweled ponds, colorful jeweled lotuses, raining flowers and jeweled trees that 'make the sounds of the Dharma'.

The looters first dragged the Empress Dowager's corpse out of the coffin and discarded her aside, before proceeding to grab at the largest treasured objects that had been previously placed around her corpse, such as the Buddha statues, jadeite watermelons, jade coral and vegetables. They snatched at the objects found beneath the body, ravaged the corpse itself—taking her imperial robe; tearing off her gold-threaded undergarments, shoes and socks, and stealing all the pearls and jewels on her body. The looters even violently pried open her jaws with bayonet blades and rifle-butts in their hasty quest to extract the legendary 'Yemingzu' ('夜明珠' lit. 'Night-Pearl') described as having light-emitting fluorescent-like properties, that had purportedly been placed in Cixi's mouth following her death (to supposedly protect her corpse from decomposing, in accordance with Chinese folk tradition). Ultimately, they looted all the objects under the coffin that had been favorites of Cixi when she was alive. Cixi's burial garments and socks, due to having been soiled by her corpse over the course of twenty years, were subsequently discarded by the perpetrators, but not before all the sewn jewels and pearls were violently torn away. These surviving garments were recovered, restored and publicly displayed at the China National Silk Museum. The adjacent Yu Mausoleum of the Qianlong Emperor was also ransacked and looted under similar fashion.

On the days of the looting incident, a soldier, still in uniform, reportedly arrived at a shop belonging to an antiquities broker in Beijing aiming to sell off a significant amount of valuable items that he had brought forth—all at once. Presumably in an attempt to garner a higher appraisal of value, the soldier arrogantly boasted that the items were looting from the tomb of the Empress Dowager Cixi. The extremely regal, and valuable nature of the purported items instantly attracted the attention of fellow store patrons, outside bystanders and a coincidental passing patrol of law enforcement alike. Both the soldier and the broker were subsequently arrested and transferred to the Peking Garrison Command for questioning—the suspect was revealed to be a subordinate of Sun Dianying and, under interrogation, disclosed the details of the ongoing looting operation and the source of the treasures. Sun Dianying was named as the organizer, and mastermind of the plot.

By near the end of June of that year a combination of hearsay, rumors and published news of the massive looting operations in and around the mausoleum of Cixi had spread past Hebei and had already reached as far as Beijing and Tianjin.

Public perception to the news of the looting both within China and around the world, were mixed. Cixi herself, having been a very controversial figure throughout her life, was interpreted by some as a crude form of karmic retribution. Other's perceptions to the crime were more negative. China's dethroned last emperor Puyi, upon hearing the news, sent telegrams to Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan, Commander of Garrison Force in Beijing, the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, and local newspapers, demanding strict investigation of the looting, and requested for Sun Dianying to be sentenced to death. The crime, perpetrated by Sun Dianying, whose forces were part of the wing of the Nationalist military, was seen as a betrayal, and was one of the major contributing factors to Puyi's later increased sympathies with the Japanese Empire. Many others within Chinese society also similarly requested for punishment.

With both his name and complicity of the crime being widely circulated within national news, the increasingly paranoid Sun Dianying therefore chose to bribe those who were in a position to discipline him, in an effort to delay or prevent any legal or punitive action that would otherwise be taken against him, with some of the treasures both he and his subordinates obtained from Cixi. Combined with the myriad of other ongoing military and political crises that plagued both the country and the Nationalist government, nothing was ultimately done, and the former warlord went unpunished.

To whom was bribed, with what items, and the amount of said items used to pay for the bribery, is to this day largely a matter of hearsay, conspiracy theories, popular rumors, allegations and unsubstantiated accusations. In mainland China, the most popularly perpetuated rumors alleges the former warlord, to varying degrees of success, bribed the four major families of the Kuomintang and other high-ranking members of the Republican political and military elites.

The most popularly accused, and the treasures with which they were allegedly bribed with, are:

Soong Tzu-wen: A jadeite watermelon sculpture from Cixi's tomb.

Soong Mei-ling: The 'Yemingzu' ('夜明珠' lit. 'Night-Pearl') once contained in the mouth of Cixi, and an additional bag of pearls.

Xu Yuanquan: Emerald leaves from atop a Guanyin sculpture, a gold Buddha, a ruby Buddha, and a bag of pearls from Cixi's tomb.

Shang Zhen: A jadeite oriental fragrant melon sculpture from Cixi's tomb.

Yan Xishan: A gold Buddha, emerald peaches from Cixi's Mausoleum, and a jade-ring worn by the Qianlong Emperor's corpse, and ivory from the adjacent Yu Mausoleum.

Kong Xianxi: Two strings of gemstones from the shoes of Cixi's corpse, a Jadeite Cabbage from Cixi's coffin, and a bag of pearls.

Dai Li: The two largest scarlet bead necklaces from the neck of the Qianlong Emperor.

Chiang Kai-shek: A 'Nine-Dragon Sword' looted from the nearby Qianlong Emperor's mausoleum. Allegedly first given to Dai Li, to be then gifted personally to Chaing Kai-shek himself, before being destroyed in the plane crash that killed the former on 17 March 1946.

Wang Zhonglian: Large amount of gold and other various stolen treasures, allegedly bribed by Sun Dianying after the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in exchange for promotions and military duties.

As there currently remains no reliable substantial proof or reputable historical evidence that any of the accused ever owned or received these treasures, nor did their successive family members, relatives or close associates publicly disclose and make admissions of such, the cultural relics looted from Cixi's mausoleum are largely regarded as being lost; having most likely already been traded and circulated around various parts the world, stored as collector's items, or some portion possibly damaged beyond recognition, their fates unknown and remaining a matter of historical contention.

As Puyi was residing in Tianjin at the time of the incident, a letter request of dispatch was sent to the former Qing-noble Zaize to evaluate the status of the mausoleum complex on his behalf, and to make arrangements for any re-interment and repairs where deemed necessary. The remains of Cixi, the Qianlong Emperor, his empress and concubines were hastily re-buried, with additional restoration work on the tombs, burial chambers and coffins also undertaken. Sun Dianying and his army carted off some of China's greatest treasures, but some things could not be easily removed, and the imposing buildings of Cixi's mausoleum complex still survive, and are now open to the public.

The current and widely agreed upon view of Cixi is that she was a devious despot who contributed to China's slide into corruption, chaos, and revolution. Her hardline conservative and anti-reform stance still contributes to her negative legacy in modern China. Cixi used her power to accumulate vast quantities of money, bullion, antiques and jewelry, using the revenues of the state as her own. The long-time China journalist Jasper Becker recalled that "every visitor to the Summer Palace is shown the beautiful lakeside pavilion in the shape of an elegant marble pleasure boat and told how Cixi spent funds destined for the imperial navy on such extravagant fripperies – which ultimately led to Japan's victory over China in 1895 and the loss of Taiwan".

This was perhaps because Cixi took the initiative and invited several women to spend time with her in the Forbidden City. Katharine Carl, an American painter, was called to China in 1903 to paint Cixi's portrait for the St. Louis Exposition. In her With the Empress Dowager, Carl portrays Cixi as a kind and considerate woman for her station. Cixi had great presence, charm, and graceful movements resulting in "an unusually attractive personality". Carl wrote of the empress dowager's love of dogs and of flowers, as well as boating, Chinese opera and her Chinese water pipes and European cigarettes. Cixi also commissioned the portraitist Hubert Vos to produce a series of oil portraits.

The publication of China Under The Empress Dowager (1910) by J. O. P. Bland and Edmund Backhouse contributed to Cixi's reputation with its back-door gossip, much of which came from palace eunuchs. Their portrait included contradictory elements, writes one recent study, "on the one hand... imperious, manipulative, and lascivious" and on the other "ingenuous, politically shrewd, and conscientious..." Backhouse and Bland told their readers that "to summarize her essence simply, she a woman and an Oriental". Backhouse was later found to have forged much of the source material used in this work. The vivid writing and lascivious details of their account provided material for many of the books over the following decades, including Chinese fiction and histories that drew on a 1914 translation.

In the People's Republic after 1949, the image of the Manchu Empress was debated and changed several times. She was sometimes praised for her anti-imperialist role in the Boxer Uprising and sometimes she was reviled as a member of the "feudalist regime". When Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing, was arrested in 1976 for abuse of power, an exhibit at the Palace Museum put Cixi's luxurious goods on display to show that a female ruler weakened the nation.

By the mid-1970s, views among scholars began to change. Sue Fawn Chung's doctoral dissertation at University of California, Berkeley, was the first study in English to use court documents rather than popular histories and hearsay. Despite this, writers such as Jung Chang have criticized this narrative and have written works such as Chang's Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China in order to offer an opposing view.

Several widely read popular biographies appeared. Sterling Seagrave's Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China portrays Cixi as a woman stuck between the xenophobic faction of Manchu nobility and more moderate influences.

In 2013, Jung Chang's biography, Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, portrays Cixi as the most capable ruler and administrator that China could have had at the time. Pamela Kyle Crossley said in the London Review of Books that Chang's claims "seem to be minted from her own musings, and have little to do with what we know was actually going in China". Although Crossley was sympathetic to restoring women's place in Chinese history, she found "rewriting Cixi as Catherine the Great or Margaret Thatcher is a poor bargain: the gain of an illusory icon at the expense of historical sense".

Photographic Legacy

Aside from traditional portraiture, Empress Cixi also commissioned several photographs from 1903 to 1904, taken by Yu Xunling (the son of the French ambassador). The imperial portraits were very reminiscent of traditional portrait methods and feature the empress in a seated pose looking directly into the camera. They were part of her campaign to regain some authority after her reputation had been damaged by her support of the Boxer Rebellion. The portraits therefore showed the Dowager Empress seated on her throne or in other official settings. She was also very conscientious of the symbols which appeared in her portraits. Dragons do not appear, as they are symbols of the emperor, but Cixi is surrounded by peacocks and phoenixes, symbolic of the dowager empress.

Empress Cixi was also very conscientious of who would see these photographs, because there were very specific standards set by Confucianism and propriety was very important. The portrait Empress Cixi sent to President Theodore Roosevelt, which is in the Blaire House was cropped so that the spittoon in the image was cut out. The spittoon was a reference to domesticity which would have been unbecoming to send to the president. She also began showing these portraits to a wider audience, but viewers had to be at least of a certain status to view it, and the general public was still barred from seeing these images.

Not only did Empress Cixi commission official portraits, she also had unofficial portraits taken. These unofficial portraits emphasize her femininity and establish her informal relationship with the camera and public perception. She uses poses that would have traditionally been considered unbecoming, specifically looking into the mirror and crossing her legs. The first pose, looking into a mirror, is used in portraits of her alone as well as in group settings, and was unconventional because of its association with the toilette and privacy. Looking into a mirror also challenged Confucian standards of femininity, as traditionally a woman should only use a mirror if it was to make herself beautiful for her husband, otherwise she would be considered vain. This connotation had been weakening throughout the Qing dynasty, and the mirror eventually became a symbol of female agency. Empress Cixi using a mirror, therefore, asserts her role not only as the Empress and ruler, but also of a woman. The second pose, crossing the legs, was equally controversial because crossed legs were often associated with erotic imagery and would not have been fitting for a woman of her social standing. But since she was a powerful figure and nearly 70, this perception was unconcerning and she used the position to assert her power.

Cixi was styled as "Her Imperial Highness, Noble Consort Yi" before the accession of her Son, the Tongzhi Emperor. And after that, she was styled as "Her Imperial Majesty, The Empress Mother (simplified Chinese: 圣母皇太后; traditional Chinese: 聖母皇太后) of China", and later when the Tongzhi Emperor died, and the Guangxu Emperor succeeded, "Her Imperial Majesty, The Empress Dowager of China", then after the Guangxu Emperor died and the Xuantong Emperor succeeded, "Her Imperial Majesty, The Grand Empress Dowager (Chinese: 太皇太后)", the last title only lasted one day before her death.

Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown (Japan).

Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Catherine (Russia, 28 May 1897)

Father: Yehenara Huizheng (惠徵; 1805–1853)

Paternal grandfather: Jingrui (景瑞)

Paternal grandmother: Lady Gūwalgiya

Mother: Lady Fuca

Maternal grandfather: Huixian (惠顯)

Three younger brothers

Second younger brother: Guixiang (桂祥; 1849–1913), served as first rank military official (都統), and held the title of a third class duke (三等公), the father of Jingfen, Empress Xiaodingjing (1868–1913)

One younger sister

Second younger sister: Wanzhen (1841–1896), the mother of the Guangxu Emperor (1871–1908)

As Concubine Yi:

Zaichun (載淳; 27 April 1856 – 12 January 1875), the Xianfeng Emperor's first son, enthroned on 11 November 1861 as the Tongzhi Emperor