Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress Dowager Cixi was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who had de facto but periodical control of the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908. Selected as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor in her adolescence, she gave birth to a son, Zaichun, in 1856. After the Xianfeng Emperor's death in 1861, his five-year-old son became the Tongzhi Emperor, and Cixi assumed the role of co-empress dowager alongside Xianfeng's widow, Empress Dowager Ci'an. Cixi ousted a group of regents appointed by the late emperor and assumed the regency along with Ci'an. Cixi then consolidated control over the dynasty when she installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor at the death of the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875. Ci'an continued as co-regent until her death in 1881.
Cixi oversaw the Tongzhi Restoration, during which she rejected Western political institutions but supported technological and military modernization. In 1898, she suppressed the Hundred Days’ Reform initiated by the Guangxu Emperor and placed him under house arrest for the remainder of his life, likely eventually having him murdered by arsenic poisoning. During the Boxer Rebellion, Cixi initially supported the Boxers and declared war on the foreign powers, a decision that led to the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance and her flight to Xi’an. After the humiliating Boxer Protocol pushed the Qing dynasty to the brink of collapse, she initiated reforms aimed at establishing a constitutional monarchy. Cixi died in November 1908, two days after the Guangxu Emperor, leaving power in the hands of conservative regents amid a deeply divided and unstable society.
Cixi’s legacy remains contested. Traditionally portrayed as a ruthless reactionary, she has been reassessed by revisionist historians who argue that she was scapegoated for structural problems beyond her control. These scholars credit her with pursuing pragmatic reform in contrast to the Guangxu Emperor’s radicalism, maintaining political order under intense imperialist pressure, and supporting institutions such as the Beiyang Army and Peking University.
Life
Birth
Xingzhen of the Yehe Nara clan was born on the tenth day of the tenth lunar month in the 15th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign. Her father was Huizheng, a member of the Bordered Blue Banner who held the title of a third class duke. Palace archives show that Huizheng was working in Beijing during the year of Xingzhen's birth, an indication that she was born in Beijing. The file records the location of her childhood home: Pichai Hutong, Xisipailou, Beijing. Lady Yehe Nara had a sister named Wanzhen and a brother named Guixiang.Xianfeng era
In 1851, Lady Yehe Nara participated in the selection of wives for the Xianfeng Emperor alongside 60 other candidates. Lady Yehe Nara was one of the few candidates chosen to stay. Among the other chosen candidates were Noble Lady Li of the Tatara clan and Concubine Zhen of the Niohuru clan. On 26 June 1852, Lady Yehe Nara left her widowed mother's residence at Xilahutong and entered the Forbidden City and was placed in the sixth rank of consorts, styled "Noble Lady Lan".On 28 February 1854, Noble Lady Lan was elevated to the fifth rank of consorts and granted the title "Concubine Yi". In 1855, she became pregnant, and on 27 April 1856, she gave birth to Zaichun, Xianfeng's first and only surviving son. On the same day, she was elevated to the fourth rank of consorts as "Consort Yi". In 1857, when her son reached his first birthday, Consort Yi was elevated to the third rank of imperial consort as "Noble Consort Yi". This rank placed her second only to Empress Niohuru among the women within Xianfeng's harem.
Unlike many of the other Manchu women in the imperial household, Noble Consort Yi was known for her ability to read and write Chinese. This skill granted her numerous opportunities to help the ailing emperor in the governing of the Chinese state on a daily basis. On various occasions, the Xianfeng Emperor had her read palace memorials for him and leave instructions on the memorials according to his will. As a result, she became well-informed about state affairs and the art of governing.
Tongzhi era
In September 1860, during the closing stages of the Second Opium War, the British diplomatic envoy Harry Parkes was arrested along with other hostages, who were tortured and executed. In retaliation, British and French troops under the command of Lord Elgin attacked Beijing, and by the following month they had burned the Old Summer Palace to the ground. Xianfeng and his entourage, including Noble Consort Yi, fled Beijing to Rehe Province. On hearing the news of the destruction of the Old Summer Palace, Xianfeng, who was already showing signs of dementia, fell into a depression. He turned heavily to alcohol and other drugs and became seriously ill. He summoned eight of his most prestigious ministers, headed by Sushun, Zaiyuan and Duanhua, and named them the "Eight Regent Ministers" to direct and support the future emperor. Xianfeng died on 22 August 1861 at the Chengde Mountain Resort in Rehe Province.Xianfeng's heir was his five-year-old son with Noble Consort Yi. It is commonly assumed that on his deathbed, Xianfeng summoned his empress and Noble Consort Yi and gave each of them a stamp. He hoped that when his son ascended the throne, the two women would cooperate in harmony and help the young emperor to grow and mature together. This may also have been done as a check on the power of the eight regents. There is no evidence for this incident, however, and it is unlikely that the emperor ever would have intended Noble Consort Yi to wield political power. It is possible that the seal, allegedly given as a symbol for the child, was really just a present for Noble Consort Yi herself. Informal seals numbered in the thousands and were not considered political accoutrements, rather objects of art commissioned for pleasure by emperors to stamp on items such as paintings, or given as presents to the concubines. Upon the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, his empress was elevated to the status of empress dowager. Although her official title was "Empress Dowager Ci'an", she was popularly known as the "East Empress Dowager" because she lived in the eastern Zhongcui Palace. Noble Consort Yi was also elevated to "Empress Dowager Cixi". She was popularly known as the "West Empress Dowager" because she lived inside the western Chuxiu Palace.
Xinyou Coup: Ousting Sushun
By the time of Xianfeng's death, Empress Dowager Cixi had become a political strategist. In Rehe Province, while waiting for an astrologically favourable time to transport the emperor's coffin back to Beijing, Cixi conspired with court officials and imperial relatives to seize power. Cixi's position as the lower-ranked empress dowager had no intrinsic political power attached to it. In addition, her son, the young emperor, was not a political force himself. As a result, it became necessary for her to ally herself with other powerful figures, including Empress Dowager Ci'an. Cixi suggested that they become co-reigning empress dowagers, with powers exceeding the eight regents; the two had long been close friends since Cixi first came to the imperial household.Tensions grew between the two empresses dowager and the eight regents, who were led by Sushun. The regents did not appreciate Cixi's interference in political affairs, and their frequent confrontations with the empresses dowager left Ci'an frustrated. Ci'an often refused to come to court audiences, leaving Cixi to deal with the ministers alone. Secretly, Cixi had begun gathering the support of talented ministers, soldiers, and others who were ostracized by the eight regents for personal or political reasons. Among them were two of Xianfeng's brothers: Prince Gong and Prince Chun. Prince Gong had been excluded from power, yet harboured great ambitions. While Cixi aligned herself with the two princes, a memorial came from Shandong asking for her to "rule from behind the curtains" or "listen to politics behind the curtains", i.e., to assume power as de facto ruler. The same memorial also asked Prince Gong to enter the political arena as a principal "aide to the Emperor".
When Xianfeng's funeral procession left for Beijing, Cixi took advantage of her alliances with Princes Gong and Chun. She and her son returned to the capital before the rest of the party, along with Zaiyuan and Duanhua, two of the eight regents, while Sushun was left to accompany the deceased emperor's procession. Cixi's early return to Beijing meant that she had more time to plan with Prince Gong and ensure that the power base of the eight regents was divided between Sushun and his allies, Zaiyuan and Duanhua. In order to remove them from power, history was rewritten: the regents were dismissed for having carried out incompetent negotiations with the "barbarians" that had caused Xianfeng to flee to Rehe Province "greatly against his will", among other charges.
To display her high moral standards, Cixi executed only three of the eight regents. Prince Gong had suggested that Sushun and others be executed by the most painful method, known as slow slicing, but Cixi declined the suggestion and ordered that Sushun be beheaded, while the other two also marked for execution, Zaiyuan and Duanhua, were given pieces of white silk for them to hang themselves with. In addition, Cixi refused outright the idea of executing the family members of the regents, as would be done in accordance with imperial tradition of an alleged usurper. Ironically, Qing imperial tradition also dictated that women and princes were never to engage in politics. In breaking with tradition, Cixi became the only empress dowager in the Qing dynasty to assume the role of regent, ruling from behind the curtains.
This coup is historically known as the Xinyou Coup because it took place in the xinyou year, the name of the year 1861 in the Chinese sexagenary cycle.