Tzu Hsi
Born in 1835, she was of the Manchu tribe of Yehe-Nara. Her father was an obscure military officer and when she was of age she was introduced to the court with one hundred other maidens of pure Manchu blood. However, she soon received the favor of the emperor, Mu Tsung, because he found her beauty enchanting.
How She Became the Empress Dowager
When she bore the son that was to become the emperor Tung-Chih she was raised to the rank of Imperial concubine.When the emperor died in 1862 she seized supreme power as the regent for her infant son, never to relinquish ultimate control over China until her death.
Her Personality Traits
The empress Tzu Hsi was one of the strongest personalities of the later 19th century.She played an active role in political life, a more active part than any emperor had played in decades.
However, even though she was a woman of strong personality, she was too uneducated--in the modern sense--to be able to realize that modernization was an absolute necessity for China if it was to remain an independent state. The empress failed to realize that the Europeans were fundamentally different from the neighboring tribes or pirates of the past; she had not the capacity to acquire a general grasp of the realities of world politics. She felt instinctively that Europeanization would wreck the foundations of the power fo the Manchus and the gentrym and would bring another class, the middle class and merchants, into power.
To keep her power, Tzu Hsi slew her rivals, including the Senior Empress Dowager and perhaps, even her husband the emperor, himself. She enobled and enriched her favorites; and she fought, with all her ruthlessness, any reform that might weaken her power.
Brought up as a sheltered Manchu lady, a bride fit for an emperor, and struggling to mature years within the walls of the Forbidden City, she knew little of either China or the world.
Fate of China After her Death
The Dowager, already 73, apparently had great confidence in her longevity and delaying tactics; but a serious illness hit her in less than three months and ended her life on November 15, 1908.An announcement regarding the strangely coincidental death on the preceeding day of the 37 year old emperor, Kuang Hsu stated that despite the accounts of having Bright's disease, court sources close to the emperor concurred that he enjoyed excellent health and had seldom been sick a day in his life. Legend tells that he secretly rejoiced over the empress's impending death. The imperial woman vengfully vowed: "I cannot die before him!" Indications point to the possibility that she poisoned him the day before she died.
The throne was passed on to a 3-year-old nephew of Kwang-Hsu. Prince Ch'un, the father of the emperor, was appointed regent.
Throughout the provinces the Chinese passed for rapid reform, or plotted the overthrow of the Manchus with the object of bringing in a native dynasty, or establishing a republic. Changes were made in the imperial government in a vain attempt to meet the demands of the reformers. Three of the old higher councils of the state were abolished; in their place a cabinet of Privy Council was created.
The imperial government of the Manchus was soon weakened and the Chinese felt encouraged to seek its overthrow.
Finally, a revolution occured in the government because of a loose vs. a centralized government. The destructive work of the Revolution was quickly finished; the empire fell because it was too rotten to stand. The constructive work of the Revolution, however, lagged on for many years because there was not yet enough training and discipline among the revolutionaries. From this time on until the Second Revolution of 1926-27-The War Lord-the politician with a private army-became the dominant factor in China.
Sources for Tzu Hsi Page Eberhard, Wolfram. “A History of China." Berkely: California U of P, 1960.
Fitzgerald, Charles P. “Revolution in China”. NY: Fredrick A. Praeger, 1952. Hsu, Immanuel, C.Y. “The Rise of Modern China”. Oxford: U of P, 1983.
The Dowager Empress paper
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