How Important Was Ci X To The Fate Of The Qing Dynasty
How important was Ci Xi to the fate of the Qing dynasty?
Ci Xi, also known as the ‘Dragon Empress’ was one of the most daunting women in history and she was one of the three Empresses to rule China. She was well-known for her beauty, charm and confident personality. Ci Xi was described as either a ‘good friend’ to many or a enemy. She was eager for power, merciless and was very skilled in court politics. She rose from a middle class family to a dowager empress, changing and affecting Chinese life forever.
Ci Xi was born on November 29th, 1835 to the parents of the middle ranks Manchu society and her given name was Yenhonala, meaning little Orchid, oh little did she know she would be far from being a ‘little orchid’. Ci Xi's father, was a minor Manchu official, but had a “bloodline of the ruling race" which gave Ci Xi the chance to serve in the Forbidden City as maidservants or concubines to the emperor. …show more content…
In September, 1851 Ci Xi participated in the selection process for concubines for the new Emperor along with many other Manchu girls, when she was 17 she was one of the concubines of the Emperor Xiangfeng.The emperor had several wives and concubines, but only Tzu Hsi gave him a son.
In 1855, Ci Xi became pregnant and on the 27th of April 1856 she gave birth to Tongzhi, the only male heir of the emperor. After the giving birth to their only son, Ci Xi immediately moved up in the court and when her husband died she was given the title of "Empress of the Western
Palace".
Ci Xi was taking power as empress, wielding enormous power and opposing any foreign influence on China.
The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was a key turning point of her reign. The Boxer Rebellion was named after a “secret society” of the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists" who were poor Chinese people who blamed Westerners for their poor standard of living. It was first arranged in 1898, who may have been privately supported by Tzu Hsi's government. Ci Xi saw the Boxer Rebellion as her resolution to getting rid of the foreigners so she secretly supported them as well. In 1900, Ci Xi declared war on the foreigners. The Boxers wandered through the northern parts of China, killing foreigners and destroying their valuable belongings. They also pounded Chinese people who became Christians. The Boxers thought they were protected by spirits and believed themselves to be invincible to foreigners’ bullets.
With the support of Ci Xi, the Boxers surrounded foreigners residences and completely cut off all their accesses to the outside world and this began to make the foreigners worried. Rumours going around about the murder of these captive foreigners led to the joining of western powers. Foreigners (Americans, Germans, British, French, etc) met in Dagu Fort. They attacked and destroyed Dagu Fort and Beijing. The Boxers were forced to release all the captive foreigners and the West also wanted for the leader of the Boxers to be killed. Ci Xi and her party fled north to the city of Sian and they took the emperor along with them. The Boxer Rebellion killed about 250 foreigners and that was when the Qing government was forced to sign the Peace of Beijing Treaty. This treaty had heavy fines on China and amended trade treaties in favour of the West. The signing of this treaty made the Chinese people angry at the Qing government this also included Empress Ci Xi.
Her son TongZhi died at the age of 20 due to the fact he was drinking heavily, was in constant contact with female prostitutes and also smoked opium. His wife Xiao Che committed suicide by swelling opium, it was also said to be that Ci Xi had driven her to do it. Since Ci Xi’s only son had died she had to choose a new emperor, she chose her nephew Guangxu.
Guangxu was absolutely terrified of Ci Xi, he started listening to the public, people that were more than happy for him to start westernising China. In 1889 he started the “Hundred Days of Reform” were he ordered for railroads to be build, modernising the military and reforming the legal system. Ci Xi was very angry with what Guangxu was doing and confronted him, the emperor was so terribly scared when he saw her he supposedly threw his body onto the ground and said “I am unworthy to rule. Punish me, as I deserve.” There Ci Xi stripped Guangxu of his power and started ruling once again putting an end to all his policies for modernisation.
CONCLUSION?
Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the major reasons why the Qing Dynasty fell; She was greedy for power and would use do anything to seize it.
Ci Xi's legacy is clearly important though.
Whether the people liked her or not does not take away the crucial role she played in the history of China. During her life in politics, Tzu Hsi was clever and masterful. Her narrow-mindedness in government policy delayed what China needed to do to be on the same page with the rest of the world in the late 1800's. By the time she realised, it was too late.
The importance of Ci Xi's life however should not be misinterpreted, because she was the one who effectively ruled China during the half century from the birth of her son until her death (at the age of seventy three) She had a great political ability; in her strategies and in practice. Ci Xi completely failed to see China's need to change to a new reality and opposed any reforms, and even stopped Guangxu from invoking reforms to China.
Unfortunately, Ci Xi did not use her ‘power’ to help China; however, because of her conservative outlook, her ignorant and blindly anti-foreign policies, and her poor administration her rule was a large factor causing the decline of the Qing Dynasty and the cultural revolution in 1911.
Ci Xi, also known as the ‘Dragon Empress’ was one of the most daunting women in history and she was one of the three Empresses to rule China. She was well-known for her beauty, charm and confident personality. Ci Xi was described as either a ‘good friend’ to many or a enemy. She was eager for power, merciless and was very skilled in court politics. She rose from a middle class family to a dowager empress, changing and affecting Chinese life forever.
Ci Xi was born on November 29th, 1835 to the parents of the middle ranks Manchu society and her given name was Yenhonala, meaning little Orchid, oh little did she know she would be far from being a ‘little orchid’. Ci Xi's father, was a minor Manchu official, but had a “bloodline of the ruling race" which gave Ci Xi the chance to serve in the Forbidden City as maidservants or concubines to the emperor. …show more content…
In September, 1851 Ci Xi participated in the selection process for concubines for the new Emperor along with many other Manchu girls, when she was 17 she was one of the concubines of the Emperor Xiangfeng.The emperor had several wives and concubines, but only Tzu Hsi gave him a son.
In 1855, Ci Xi became pregnant and on the 27th of April 1856 she gave birth to Tongzhi, the only male heir of the emperor. After the giving birth to their only son, Ci Xi immediately moved up in the court and when her husband died she was given the title of "Empress of the Western
Palace".
Ci Xi was taking power as empress, wielding enormous power and opposing any foreign influence on China.
The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was a key turning point of her reign. The Boxer Rebellion was named after a “secret society” of the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists" who were poor Chinese people who blamed Westerners for their poor standard of living. It was first arranged in 1898, who may have been privately supported by Tzu Hsi's government. Ci Xi saw the Boxer Rebellion as her resolution to getting rid of the foreigners so she secretly supported them as well. In 1900, Ci Xi declared war on the foreigners. The Boxers wandered through the northern parts of China, killing foreigners and destroying their valuable belongings. They also pounded Chinese people who became Christians. The Boxers thought they were protected by spirits and believed themselves to be invincible to foreigners’ bullets.
With the support of Ci Xi, the Boxers surrounded foreigners residences and completely cut off all their accesses to the outside world and this began to make the foreigners worried. Rumours going around about the murder of these captive foreigners led to the joining of western powers. Foreigners (Americans, Germans, British, French, etc) met in Dagu Fort. They attacked and destroyed Dagu Fort and Beijing. The Boxers were forced to release all the captive foreigners and the West also wanted for the leader of the Boxers to be killed. Ci Xi and her party fled north to the city of Sian and they took the emperor along with them. The Boxer Rebellion killed about 250 foreigners and that was when the Qing government was forced to sign the Peace of Beijing Treaty. This treaty had heavy fines on China and amended trade treaties in favour of the West. The signing of this treaty made the Chinese people angry at the Qing government this also included Empress Ci Xi.
Her son TongZhi died at the age of 20 due to the fact he was drinking heavily, was in constant contact with female prostitutes and also smoked opium. His wife Xiao Che committed suicide by swelling opium, it was also said to be that Ci Xi had driven her to do it. Since Ci Xi’s only son had died she had to choose a new emperor, she chose her nephew Guangxu.
Guangxu was absolutely terrified of Ci Xi, he started listening to the public, people that were more than happy for him to start westernising China. In 1889 he started the “Hundred Days of Reform” were he ordered for railroads to be build, modernising the military and reforming the legal system. Ci Xi was very angry with what Guangxu was doing and confronted him, the emperor was so terribly scared when he saw her he supposedly threw his body onto the ground and said “I am unworthy to rule. Punish me, as I deserve.” There Ci Xi stripped Guangxu of his power and started ruling once again putting an end to all his policies for modernisation.
CONCLUSION?
Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the major reasons why the Qing Dynasty fell; She was greedy for power and would use do anything to seize it.
Ci Xi's legacy is clearly important though.
Whether the people liked her or not does not take away the crucial role she played in the history of China. During her life in politics, Tzu Hsi was clever and masterful. Her narrow-mindedness in government policy delayed what China needed to do to be on the same page with the rest of the world in the late 1800's. By the time she realised, it was too late.
The importance of Ci Xi's life however should not be misinterpreted, because she was the one who effectively ruled China during the half century from the birth of her son until her death (at the age of seventy three) She had a great political ability; in her strategies and in practice. Ci Xi completely failed to see China's need to change to a new reality and opposed any reforms, and even stopped Guangxu from invoking reforms to China.
Unfortunately, Ci Xi did not use her ‘power’ to help China; however, because of her conservative outlook, her ignorant and blindly anti-foreign policies, and her poor administration her rule was a large factor causing the decline of the Qing Dynasty and the cultural revolution in 1911.