Empress Dowager Cixi

Most of her lives story is legend because none of it was written down as history. It was passed on by word of mouth so no one knows for sure what is true and what was misunderstood. By many historians she is considered an important part to China's development, however many Chinese people see her as a villain that help lead China to fall under foreign powers. Empress Dowager Cixi was born on November 29, 1835 to an ordinary Manchu family in China. She spent her early years in the Anhui Province but then soon moved to Beijing. He father was fired from his job at the civil service, for a couple of reasons and its popular to believe that he was beheaded for his crimes. A few years before this Cixi moved to the Forbidden city and her name was changed to Yehenara. In the year 1951 she participated in a selection process, along with sixty oterh Manchu girls, for concubines for the Xianfeng Emperor. She was one of the few selected and she was given the position of preparative concubine. Later she was promoted to the emperor's bed and to "Noble Person" or fifth rank. In 1855 she became pregnant and gave birth to the only male heir to the throw and he was named Tongzhi. After this she was promoted to "Noble Consort " or fourth rank. When her son reached his first birthday she again moved up a rank. Now she was "Noble Imperial Consort Yi". Later she once again moved up and became "Noble Imperial Consort". This last ranking made her second to only Empress Dowager Ci'an.

In 1860 the French and the British attackted Beijing and burned the Emperor's Imperial Summer Palace Complex. When they struck, it was during the ending of the Second Opium War. The emperor and his entourage, which included Cixi, ran away to safety in Rehe in Manchuria. When the emperor heard of the destruction of his home, he fell deeply into an unrecoverable depression. In his desperation he turned to alcohol and drugs, which caused him to become seriously ill.

On August 22, 1861 he passed away in Rehe. Before he died, he summoned eight trusted ministers and gave them the name the "Eight Regent Ministers. " These men were supposed to support and direct the future minister, who was only five years old at this time. He also gave Empress consort, age 25, and Noble Consort Yi, age 27, each a stamp. This stamp was to show that he wanted them to work together to help his son transform into an emperor and also to check the power of the "Eight Regent Ministers. " The Empress Consort was elevated to Empress Dowager Ci'an and Noble Consort Yi was elevated to Empress Dowager Cixi.

Cixi desired power greatly and plotted to get it while the coffin of the emperor was waiting to be transported back to Beijing. Because her son was so young, she was not able to take his power. So she decieded to take advantage of the Empress Dowager Ci'an. She proposed the idea of teaming up and becoming co-reigning Empress Dowagers, with powers greater than those of the "Eight Regent Ministers."

After a while tensions grew greatly in the "Eight Regent Ministers. " The ministers did not appreciate the interference of the Empresses in the political activities. Empress Dowager Ci'an could no longer handle this, so she no longer came to the court audiences. Empress Dowager Cixi was left alone to deal with the frusterated ministers. During all of this she was gathering allies, people who also greatly disliked the "Eight Regent Ministers". Some of these were princes. One was named Prince Gong and he had wonderful ambitions but had been excluded from the circle of power. Prince Chun and the 6th and 7th sons of Daoguang Emperor were among other followers of Empress Dowager Cixi. Soon after, she receieved a message from the Shandong that asked her to "Listen to politics behind the curtains. " This was basically asking her to rule . This also said that Prince Gong was going to be an aide to the emperor.

When the coffin holding the deceased emperor was going to return to Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi, her son, and Prince Gong. This ensured that she would have more time to create a plot to gain power. She re-wrote history. In this new history it was stated that the Regents had made negotiations with the barbarians which had caused the emperor to flee to Rehe "greatly against his will." A document called the "Eight Guilts of Regent Ministers" was produced by Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong. Some things that were written in this document were changing the wills of the previous emperor, causing him to die, and steeling power from the Empress Dowagers.

Empress Dowager Cixi was trying to show her kindness so she only executed three of the eight Regents. Prince Gong suggested the method of slow slicing. Empress Dowager Cixi refused, again attempting to show her good nature. She decieded to behead the most important one of them, Sushun, and gave the other two men white silks so that they would be able to commit suicide. She also refused to execute their family members, which was also tradition. Empress Dowager Cixi became the only Qing Dynasty Empress to rule from "behind the curtains".

After all of this took place, Empress Dowager Cixi awarded Prince Gong with Yixin. He was made the leader of the General Affairs Office and the Internal Affairs Office. She also made his daughter the Gurun Princess. This title is usually only given to the Empress' first-born daughter.

One of her first acts was to issue two important Imperial Edicts on behalf of the Emperor. The first one stated that that the two Empresses Dowager were to be the only decision makers "without interference" from other people. The second act was to change her son's era name from Qixiang to Tongzhi.