Empress Dowager Cixi

Resumen del libro

From the author of Mao and Wild Swans comes the epic biography of the woman who ruled China for fifty years, overcoming centuries of tradition to bring a medieval empire into the modern age.

Empress Dowager Cixi ("Tsu-Shee") is the most important woman in Chinese history. At the age of sixteen, she was chosen as one of Emperor Xianfeng's numerous concubines. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son Zaichun succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband, and made herself the real ruler of China.

Cixi reigned during extraordinary times: the Taiping and Boxer rebellions, wars with France and Japan-and an invasion by eight allied powers, including Britain, Germany, Russia, and the U.S. Cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change her nation. Under her, the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, the telegraph, and an army and navy with up-to-date weaponry. It was she who abolished foot-binding and gruesome punishments like "death by a thousand cuts." She inaugurated the liberation of women and embarked on the path to introduce parliamentary elections to China. Utilizing newly available sources, Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative and cruel despot. This biography will revolutionize the way we think about this crucial period in Chinese-and the world-history.

Biografía del autor

Jung Chang nació en la ciudad china de Yibin, provincia de Sichuan, en 1952. A los catorce años se hizo miembro de la Guardia Roja y después trabajó como campesina, x{0026} 34;médica descalzax{0026} 34;, trabajadora del metal y electricista antes de estudiar inglés y, más tarde, convertirse en profesora de la Universidad de Sichuan. En 1978 dejó China para trasladarse al Reino Unido y, poco después, recibió una beca de la Universidad de York, donde obtuvo el doctorado en Lingüística en 1982 (fue la primera ciudadana de la República Popular China en recibir un doctorado de una universidad británica). En 1991 publicó su aclamado libro Cisnes salvajes y posteriormente publicó Mao (Taurus, 2006).