With another 5-year old Emperor in the throne, Cixi once again played
the role of regent. With the 1st regency running from 1875 – 1879, while
the 2nd regency saw its course from 1898 – 1908. Her regency during the reign
of the Guangxu Emperor earned her the notoriety her name became synonymous with.
Guangxu Emperor Regency
First Regency
The regency of Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Ci’an remained stable
until 1881. On that year, Empress Ci'an passed away. By 1884, Cixi dismissed Prince
Gong making her the most powerful figure in China.
1884 and 1885 saw China’s
foreign affairs challenged. First, China fought against the French for Annam in Vietnam.
Against a powerful French military, China lost the province. Second, in Korea, pro-Chinese and pro-Japanese factions
within the court raised tensions. Chinese troops under
Yuan Shikai went to the Peninsula to defend Chinese interest in the
Kingdom. Luckily, in 1895, Japan and China agreed to demilitarize the
Peninsula under the Tianjin Convention.
 |
| Yuan Shikai |
Cixi’s first regency of the Guangxu Emperor saw several
achievements. Electricity and coal mining began to develop.
Modernization of the Chinese navy also continued under the supervision of Li
Hongzhang and Zheng Guofan.
In 1886, the Empress Dowager ordered the construction of a new Summer
Palace outside Beijing. It became the focus of so much controversy credited
to her. Many described the palace as lavish and excessive, while the rest of China suffered from poverty, and the country always under threat of western incursion. The Palace included
a huge lake, the Kunming Lake, dug by hand Many speculated that the budget for the marble boat in the Palace came from funds for the modernization of the navy. It became Cixi's retirement home in 1889 after relinquishing her powers to the Guangxu Emperor who reached the age
majority.
Second Regency
For almost a decade, Cixi retired in her Summer Palace until 1898 when
the Guangxu Emperor embarked on an ambitious modernization effort of China. Her
second regency further degraded her image more than her first. Her decisions
during the second regency sealed the faith of the dynasty and her role in it.
 |
| Guangxu Emperor |
The Guangxu Emperor planned to reform the country from top to bottom.
In 1895, China once again suffered a defeat against Japan leading to the
signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki which severed Korea as its vassal among
other territorial concessions. The defeat convinced the Emperor the necessity
of radical reform. Intellectuals such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao encouraged the Emperor to follow the likes of Meiji Japan and Peter the Great's Russia. As expected conservatives in the
court opposed the plan. Many also blamed Cixi for the strong conservative
opposition, but modern assessment suggested she did not oppose the reform. She
only opposed the brazen plot by the reformist Tan Sitong. Tan plotted to have
the Empress Dowager besieged in her Summer Palace with the assistance from the
commander of the modern Beiyang Army Yuan
Shikai. Yuan betrayed Tan and reported the plan to Prince Ronglu who relayed
it to the Empress Dowager. Cixi gathered her allies, mostly conservatives, and
staged a successful coup. She stripped the Emperor of real power and restored her position as a regent ruling once again behind a silkscreen. The coup also
resulted in the execution of 6 reformists including Tan Sitong. Intellectuals
such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao fled to Japan where they continued
their campaign for reform. Hence, the Hundred Days’ Reform came to its abrupt
and tragic end.
The coup also had an implication in the trend among reformists. With
reforms from the top crushed by the coup, many intellectuals began to turn to
more radical means of restoring China’s pride. Many began to think of deposing
the foreign Manchu Qing Dynasty and replacing it with a Republic. Men like Sun
Yat-sen and Liang Qichao began to cry for such change.
 |
| Dr. Sun Yat-sen |
Next to the crushing of the reform, Cixi’s handling of the Boxer
Rebellion garnered greater scrutiny. By the late 1890s, China suffered from
a great drought that resulted in famine. Peasants blamed the foreigners and
Christian converts for such misgivings. They saw the so-called
foreign devils and Chinese Christians disrupting feng shui, thus angering the heavens
and bringing disasters. These peasants then began to form societies
specializing in martial arts calling themselves as Fist Fighters for Righteous
Harmony, but the westerns simply labeled them as Boxers.
In 1900, Cixi gave in to the suggestions of Conservatives to support
the Boxers in their fight against the foreigners and declared war. In June 1900
Boxers and Chinese imperial forces besieged the legation quarters in Beijing
where the embassies of 8 nations (Great Britain, United States, France,
Germany. Italy, Austria-Hungary. Russia and Japan) resided. The Eight-Nation
Alliance then attacked the Dagu Forts in the mouth of the Hai/Peiho River
before proceeding to Tianjin and finally Beijing. After 55 days, the Chinese
military and the Boxers suffered enormous casualties losing to the advanced
weaponry of the Great Powers. Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor fled the Forbidden
City while the Alliance relieved the Legation Quarters and finally entering the
Forbidden City. The ransacking of the Palace city destroyed once again the
Palace’s aura and also the prestige of the Qing Dynasty and China. In 1901,
China signed the Boxer Protocol that slapped the celestial kingdom with huge indemnities and
hampering its capacity to build up its military.
 |
| Qing Military During the Boxer Rebellion |
The Boxer Rebellion discredited the Conservatives and Cixi allowing reforms
of the country to proceed. She agreed to the abolition of the foot-binding in
1902 along with the excruciating execution method of Li Ching or Death by
Thousand Cuts. She also began to welcome foreigners even taking photographs
with them and posing for paintings. She nodded the legalization of marriages
between Han Chinese and Manchu. She also agreed to infrastructure developments
such as railways and telegraph lines as well as other industrial developments.
She relaxed censorship and allowed modern education with western subjects. She
supported women’s education through the founding of schools and the publication of
the 1907 Decree on the Regulation for Women’s Education. Finally, ideas of a
constitutional monarchy also began to be discussed within the government.
Later Years
In 1908, the Guangxu Emperor passed away said to be due to arsenic
poisoning with rumors once again pointing to Cixi as the culprit. Just a day after
the Emperor, Cixi followed due to amoebic dysentery, but not before appointing
yet another infant Emperor in form of Aisin-Gioro Puyi who became the Xuantong
Emperor. 39 representatives from 14 countries expressed their condolences. Her remains laid to rest in the Eastern Qing
Tombs, but in 1928, her tomb fell victim to the pillaging and looting of
soldiers of the warlord Sun Dianying alongside the resting place of Emperors
Kangxi and Qianlong.
As soldiers’ fury descended into Cixi’s tomb, so as the fury of many
towards her legacy. Many blamed her for the downfall of the Qing Dynasty and the country as a whole. Her
name smeared by stories of naivety, vanity, cruelty, and greed to the likes of
Cersei Lannister. Negative stories such as Cixi punishing her ladies-in-waiting
for accidentally plucking her hair, being in love with her favorite eunuch An
Dehai, or during fishing having eunuchs swim into the lake to attach jewels in
her bait spread. Her stories of excessive vanity being called the Old Buddha
gave further dark color to her name. Works such as China under the Empress
Dowager by John Otway Percy Bland and Edmund Blackhouse fared no better in spreading
terrible stories about her. Luckily for Cixi, works that defended her or at
least lessen her negative perception came out such as Two Years in the
Forbidden City by Princess De Ling published in 1911 and modern works such as Dragon
Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China by Sterling Seagrave.
Nevertheless, old stories die-hard, thus Cixi remains a controversial figure.
Summing Up
Cixi went into history as a contemporary of Queen Victoria. However, as
Queen Victoria presided over the greatest expansion of the British Empire, Cixi
worked to preserve a decaying Qing Empire. From a mere concubine, she rose up
as a powerful figure in politics. She held all powers becoming Emperor in all
but name joining the ranks of Empress Wu Zentian. She might not be a reformist,
but she was also not an ultraconservative as many portrayed and saw her. She
strove for political stability but still failed to reverse the Qing Dynasty’s
and China’s fortune. In the end, she became a target of hatred and anger for
such descent being painted as a villain rather than a stabilizing force.
See also:
Bibliography:
Book:
Fairbank, John King. China: A New History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006.
Websites:
"Cixi (1835–1908)." Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia.com. (July 14, 2020). https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cixi-1835-1908
Casals, Josep Maria. “Cixi, the Controversial Concubine who became Queen, Led China into the Modern Age.” National Geographic. Accessed on August 1, 2020. URL: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2016/11-12/profiles-china-empress-dowager-cixi-emperor-guangxu/
Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Cixi.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on May 26, 2020. URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cixi
Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Gong Qinwang.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on May 26, 2020. URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gong-Qinwang
Fiegl, Amanda. “Cixi: The Woman Behind the Throne.” Smithsonianmag.com. Accessed August 1, 2020. URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cixi-the-woman-behind-the-throne-22312071/
Mitra, Anusuya. “10 Facts on Cixi — The Empress Who Ushered in Modern China.” China Highlights. Accessed on August 1, 2020. URL: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/empress-cixi-facts.htm
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