Biography of Cixi

Wars and disputes of the East

29 November 1835
November 15, 1908
Born in Beijing on 29 November 1835, the Empress Cixi of the Qing dynasty, it remains a controversial figure in Chinese history and fascinating. If one side is remembered only as a ruler, devoid of scruples and insatiably lustful, likened to a Messalina at the Eastern whose whims for her lovers were changing all the time, on the other hand is known as a female fighter, able to deal with problems involving China in the second half of 1800. Reigned in his immense Empire for forty-seven long years. Cixi, led the Celestial Empire in the period from 1861 to 1908, becoming the most powerful woman in the Country, but this contribution was contradictory.
Although Cixi supported the economic and military modernization, decreeing the construction of railways and industries and encouraging the use of Western military weapons and strategies, on the other hand, spent a substantial sum of money allocated to construction, ever ultimate, ten new warships. Serious when you consider that in 1894, during the first Sino-Japanese war, the Navy needed urgent replacements to combat enemy forces. Cixi was the concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor. As soon as the latter died in 1861, Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci ' an became Regents instead of the infant son of the emperor. Both women widows, recommended by the brother of the late Emperor, kept the role of empresses until 1873, when Emperor Tongzhi came of age.
The reign of Cixi, was then beginning in 1861 when Tongzhi, his son, ascended the throne at the age of 6 years, but given the young age, Cixi had to actually take the reins of power. In 1875 after the premature death of Tongzhi, Guangxu ascended the throne his cousin who was only three years old at that time and again found himself having to run again the Cixi Kingdom exercising his absolute supremacy. In 1894 during the first Sino-Japanese war, Guangxu made the mistake of signing various agreements with Western countries, bringing the Empire to collapse and setting aside Cixi that you would be Avenged, then deprived him of all power, making him a prisoner. The situation plummeted a few years later, in 1900, when the famous "Boxer rebellion" unleashed by the revolutionaries "Fighters for Justice and harmony". The rebellion raised in China against foreign influence of the invaders came to pass thanks to the encouragement and support of same Empress Cixi, who married the rebel cause.
As a result, the eight-nation Alliance marched on Beijing, occupying the town and decreeing the end of Empire of Cixi, forcing China to be subjected to a humiliating Treaty. The Empress died on November 15, 1908 and with her also one of the most controversial figures that China has ever had.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.