From Concubine to Regent: The Rise of a Controversial Ruler

Empress Dowager Cixi’s journey from a minor concubine to the de facto ruler of China remains one of the most remarkable ascents to power in imperial history. Born in 1835 as the daughter of a low-ranking official, the young woman known as Lan’er entered the Forbidden City in 1852 as a fifth-rank concubine to Emperor Xianfeng. Her intelligence, beauty, and political acumen quickly set her apart in the rigid hierarchy of the Qing court.

The birth of her son in 1856 – Emperor Xianfeng’s only male heir – fundamentally altered her position. Following the Confucian principle of “mothers derive honor from their sons,” she rose to become Noble Consort Yi, second only to the empress. When Xianfeng died in 1861, leaving the throne to her five-year-old son, Cixi masterminded the Xinyou Coup with Prince Gong, eliminating rival regents and establishing herself as co-regent with Empress Dowager Ci’an. This bold move marked the beginning of her nearly five-decade dominance over Qing politics.

The Paradox of Power: Resistance and Reform

Cixi’s early years in power revealed surprising complexity in her approach to foreign relations. During the Second Opium War (1856-1860), when Anglo-French forces burned the Summer Palace and advanced on Beijing, Cixi advocated resistance against the invaders. Historical records show she opposed peace negotiations and urged Emperor Xianfeng to remain in the capital rather than flee to Rehe. This stance contrasts sharply with her later reputation as a capitulationist.

Her support for the Self-Strengthening Movement (1861-1895) further demonstrates this paradox. Cixi authorized the establishment of the Tongwen Guan in 1862, China’s first institution for Western learning, where high-ranking officials studied mathematics and astronomy. She backed Li Hongzhang and other reformers in creating modern arsenals, shipyards, and China’s first industrial enterprises. While primarily focused on military modernization, these initiatives inadvertently fostered broader technological and educational advancement.

The Turning Point: Suppression of the Hundred Days’ Reform

The 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War proved catastrophic for China, exposing the limitations of piecemeal reforms. When the young Emperor Guangxu launched the ambitious Hundred Days’ Reform in 1898, Cixi’s initial reaction was surprisingly supportive. She endorsed radical proposals like “focusing exclusively on Western learning” (今宜专讲西学) and abolishing the eight-legged essay examination system.

However, when reform measures threatened Manchu privileges and her personal authority – particularly plans to restructure the military and political systems – Cixi acted decisively. She placed Guangxu under house arrest, executed six reformist leaders (the “Six Gentlemen”), and rescinded nearly all reform edicts. This brutal suppression not only halted China’s most promising modernization attempt but also poisoned relations between the court and foreign powers who had sheltered reformers like Kang Youwei.

The Boxer Catastrophe and Late Reforms

Cixi’s disastrous support for the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) marked her most spectacular miscalculation. Believing the Boxers’ claims of supernatural invulnerability, she declared war on eight foreign powers simultaneously. Her famously belligerent edict proclaimed: “Rather than seek mean survival, incurring eternal shame, why not expel the barbarians?… With twenty provinces and four hundred million people, can we not destroy their violent threat?”

The consequences were catastrophic. The Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Beijing, forcing Cixi and Guangxu to flee to Xi’an. The resulting Boxer Protocol (1901) imposed crushing indemnities (450 million taels, approximately one tael per Chinese citizen) and permitted foreign troops to garrison Beijing.

Remarkably, this humiliation prompted Cixi to initiate the New Policies (1901-1910), implementing many reforms she had previously opposed: abolishing the examination system (1905), establishing modern schools, encouraging industry, and revising legal codes. However, these half-hearted measures came too late to save the dynasty.

Legacy: The Last Empress and China’s Modernization Dilemma

Cixi died in 1908, one day after arranging for her two-year-old grandnephew Puyi to inherit the throne – a transparent attempt to prolong her indirect rule. Her 47-year reign encompassed China’s tragic transition from regional power to semi-colony, earning her enduring infamy for the unequal treaties signed under her watch.

Yet her legacy remains contested. While responsible for suppressing reform movements and signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) and Boxer Protocol, she also presided over China’s first industrial and educational modernization. The ultimate failure of her balancing act – maintaining Manchu dominance while attempting selective Westernization – highlighted the impossibility of preserving imperial autocracy in the modern world.

As Chinese revolutionary Zou Rong observed, “The Qing court under Cixi became like a rotten boat in stormy seas.” Her death precipitated the dynasty’s collapse within three years, ending two millennia of imperial rule. Cixi’s tumultuous reign serves as a cautionary tale about the perils of resisting comprehensive reform while clinging to absolute power in times of national crisis.