A New York Times Extraordinary Book
An NPR Best possible E book of the Year
In 1852, at age 16, Cixi was once selected as one in all Emperor Xianfeng’s a lot of concubines. While he died in 1861, their 5-yr-vintage son succeeded to the throne. Cixi directly introduced a coup towards her son’s regents and positioned herself as the actual supply of energy—governing thru a silk monitor that separated her from her male officers.
Drawing on newly to be had resources, Jung Chang comprehensively overturns Cixi’s recognition as a conservative despot. Cixi’s atypical reign noticed the start of brand new China. Below her, the traditional us of a attained industries, railways, electrical energy, and an army with up to date weaponry. She abolished foot-binding, inaugurated ladies’s liberation, and launched into a trail to introduce balloting rights. Full of drama, this groundbreaking biography powerfully reforms our view of a a very powerful length in China’s—and the arena’s—historical past.
