Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 — 1908) was a regent of the Qing dynasty. She was a consort of the Xianfeng emperor, mother of the Tongzhi emperor, and adoptive mother of the Guangxu emperor. Cixi became co-regent after a palace coup in 1861 and remained an influential figure until her death.
| Empress Dowager Cixi | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 慈禧太后 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
During the Self-Strengthening Movement of the 1860s and 1870s, the government was led by the reformist Prince Gong. The Taiping rebels were defeated and attempts were made to modernize the army as well as various other sectors of society. The bureaucracy, which dominated the Qing government, remained unreformed. Qing bureaucrats were selected by the Imperial Examinations, which tested their knowledge of archaic subjects such as Classical Chinese.
After Cixi became sole regent in 1881, Prince Gong's influence declined. Cixi retired as regent in 1889 and took up residence at the Summer Palace outside Beijing. China's defeat by Japan in 1895 inspired a reformist movement led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. During the "Hundred Days of Reform" in 1898, Guangxu issued numerous edicts inspired by reformist officials. Conservatives appealed to Cixi, who staged a coup that restored her authority. After the coup, Cixi kept the emperor confined at the Forbidden City. His life was saved only by the intervention of foreign powers.
After foreign armies occupied China in 1900 to suppress the Boxer Rebellion, Cixi turned to Yuan Shikai, who implemented sweeping reforms similar to those proposed in 1898. An edict against footbinding was issued in 1902, the Imperial Examinations were abolished in 1905, and a National Assembly, with half the membership elected, met in 1910. Guangxu was poisoned, presumably at Cixi's command, the day before she died in 1908.