Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi, born on November twenty-ninth, eighteen thirty-five, was a formidable Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who wielded significant power during the late Qing dynasty. Initially selected as a concubine for the Xianfeng Emperor, she gave birth to a son, Zaichun, in eighteen fifty-six. Following the emperor's death in eighteen sixty-one, Cixi became co-empress dowager alongside Empress Dowager Ci'an, taking control of the government as regent for her young son, the Tongzhi Emperor.

Throughout her reign, Cixi demonstrated a keen political acumen, ousting regents appointed by her late husband and consolidating her power. In eighteen seventy-five, after the untimely death of the Tongzhi Emperor, she installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor. Cixi's rule was marked by her oversight of the Tongzhi Restoration, where she rejected Western political models while advocating for technological and military advancements.

However, her tenure was not without controversy. In eighteen ninety-eight, she suppressed the Hundred Days' Reform initiated by the Guangxu Emperor, leading to his house arrest and, as some historians suggest, his eventual death by arsenic poisoning. During the Boxer Rebellion, Cixi initially supported the Boxers and declared war on foreign powers, a decision that resulted in the occupation of Beijing and her subsequent flight to Xi'an.

After the Boxer Protocol, which brought the Qing dynasty to the brink of collapse, Cixi initiated reforms aimed at establishing a constitutional monarchy. She passed away in November nineteen hundred eight, just two days after the Guangxu Emperor, leaving a legacy that remains contested. While traditionally viewed as a ruthless reactionary, revisionist historians have reassessed her role, crediting her with pragmatic reforms and maintaining political stability amid intense imperialist pressures.