#cixi

[sanminzhuyi]

The Empress Dowager Cixi poses with her attendants in front of Paiyunmen Gate in the Summer Palace of Beijing, ca. 1903-05.

From right to left: Empress Longyu, Junsho, Princess Der Ling, Cixi, Second Chief Eunuch Cui Yugui, Fourth Princess, Yuanda Nainai, Lily (daughter of the photographer), Lady Yugeng (Louisa Pierson), Rongling.

Photo by Yu Xunling.

[wouldyourecognizethisperson-poll]

Would you have recognized this person if you had seen them in public when they were alive?

Yes, I know who this is and I feel confident that I would have recognized them

I know who this is but I’m not sure I would have recognized them in person

They look familiar but I’m not sure who they are

I have no idea who this is

Nuanced answer

Voting ended onSep 11, 2025

[omg-hellgirl]

Westerners preach the "love of God" and "love of man", and they seem really to believe it. And yet they wage wars with gunboats and cannons to conquer people by force, as well as imposing opium, a poison worse than plague, on the Chinese — all for profit. It looks as though the love of God is less real than the love of profit.

Zhigang (志刚), Qing Dynasty official.

[fashionsfromhistory]

Coat, said to have belonged to Empress Dowager Cixi

c.1890-1900 (Qing Dynasty)

China

Royal Ontario Museum (Object number: 919.6.128)

[angelkarafilli]

Xunling, The Empress Dowager Cixi with foreign envoys’ wives

by National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

This is an iconic photo of Cixi (1835–1908), the Empress Dowager of Qing China (1644–1911), in the early 1900s. It was taken in the Hall of Happiness and Longevity (Leshou tang) in the Summer Palace, Beijing. Cixi sits at the center. Behind her is a banner that says “Long Live the Current Divine Mother Empress Dowager of the Great Qing Empire for Ten Thousand Years.” Her embroidered robe is covered with stylized longevity characters and chrysanthemums, a symbol for long life. The auspicious emblems signify the wish of longevity for herself and, by extension, for the Qing dynasty. Standing around her are the wives of foreign envoys. The woman holding Cixi’s hand is Sarah Pike Conger (c. 1843–1932), wife of the American diplomat to Beijing. Conger spoke highly of Cixi’s many virtues in newspaper articles and books. Their holding hands is a gesture of friendship. Each of the foreign women holds a folding fan and wears a bottle gourd pendant (a symbol of fortune and prosperity). These are probably gifts from Cixi. They signify good relationships between the Qing court and the respective countries that these women are from.

Source and more:https://smarthistory.org/xunling-empress-dowager-cixi/

[tomoleary]

Didier Tarquin “Arleston” Lanfeust and Cixi against the moon (2006) Source

[isadomna]

Tras el éxito de Reinas malditas, regresa Cristina Morató con las fascinantes vidas de cinco reinas que dejaron su huella en la Historia.

Los retratos oficiales que muestran a las reinas ataviadas con suntuosos vestidos y cubiertas de joyas ocultan unas vidas marcadas por las desdichas y las tragedias personales.

Algunas de ellas se encontraban lejos del trono al nacer, pero consiguieron ceñir la corona por derecho propio y no por matrimonio. Isabel I de Inglaterra, hija de Ana Bolena, pasó de ser una princesa bastarda a dar nombre al glorioso siglo en que reinó; Catalina la Grande no dudó en ponerse al frente de un ejército para derrocar a su esposo y dirigir con mano firme el imperio ruso, mientras que la emperatriz Cixí entró en la Ciudad Prohibida como concubina y gobernó China oculta tras una cortina de seda. Hubo también reinas marcadas por la fatalidad que sobrevivieron en un mundo de intrigas: Catalina de Aragón, hija de los Reyes Católicos y primera esposa de Enrique VIII, fue una de las soberanas más amadas de Inglaterra. O la infeliz Carlota de México, una joven y culta princesa belga que se convirtió en emperatriz de México y perdió la razón tras el asesinato de su esposo, Maximiliano de Habsburgo.

Déspotas, libertinas, desalmadas, arpías, locas... son solo algunos de los adjetivos que engrosaron la leyenda negra de estas cinco soberanas. Cristina Morató da voz en este libro a las mujeres de carne y hueso que alcanzaron el poder en un mundo de hombres gracias a su inteligencia, valor y fortaleza y nos descubre que los mejores reyes fueron reinas.

[theodorosg]