The Last Empress Essay

The last Empresses of the Qing Dynasty. She was a vicious and strong woman who was brought to empire to help the Emperor Xianfeng’s find plans for the China’s future. She was born on November 9, 1835. Her name was Yehenara, born into a ruling Manchu minority. There are a lot of rumors about the story of her life. Questioning if her eunuch was really a eunuch? She was a complicated women to figure out. She ruled China for half a century. She became known when the emperor had first heard her sing and asked to see her, according to Daniele Vare’s book. “The Last Empress.” She soon was pregnant was his son and earned her title as, “empress of the western palace.” Also known as Cixi. Her husband, the emperor had died in 1861 so his 5 year old son took over and became the

During the debate of throne, she and the baby died caused by an unknown death. It was hard to choose an emperor because Tongzhi did not leave with an heir. He also had 5 brothers who were also very interested in the throne. Cixi remained empress until her death. Her grandson, Guangxu took over the throne after. He launched an hundred day reform in 1898, however failed due to civil war. Many say that Cixi was to blame due to lack of leadership. Rumors made Cixi seem like she was cruel and greedy for not giving up the throne and too stubborn to change policies when China was suffering through wars. She wanted to keep the imperial dominant and not open up to other government changes. Blackhouse forge says, she was “brilliant but highly unstable.” Leaving a frighten reputation to destroy this bankrupted dynasty. Cixi, the last empress didn’t have much achievement during her time because the imperial ruling wasn’t going to be powerful as it used to be. There was no reform in military or anything invented because the education and knowledge never improved. Qing Dynasty eventually failed when Japan and Europe kept attacking them. Cixi was seen as defenseless because of her lack of