Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
Sep 2013 · Random House
4.4star
14 reviewsreport
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528
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About this ebook
Discover the extraordinary story of the woman who brought China into the modern age, from the bestselling author of Wild Swans
In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Empress Dowager Cixi – the most important woman in Chinese history – brought a medieval empire into the modern age. Under her, the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state and it was she who abolished gruesome punishments like ‘death by a thousand cuts’ and put an end to foot-binding. Jung Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative and cruel despot and also takes the reader into the depths of her splendid Summer Palace and the harem of Beijing’s Forbidden City, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs – with one of whom she fell in love, with tragic consequences.
Packed with drama, fast-paced and gripping, it is both a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of a woman: as the concubine to a monarch, as the absolute ruler of a third of the world’s population, and as a unique stateswoman.
‘Powerful’ Simon Sebag Montefiore
‘Truly authoritative’ New York Times
‘Wonderful’ Sunday Times
**Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Biography Prize**
In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Empress Dowager Cixi – the most important woman in Chinese history – brought a medieval empire into the modern age. Under her, the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state and it was she who abolished gruesome punishments like ‘death by a thousand cuts’ and put an end to foot-binding. Jung Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative and cruel despot and also takes the reader into the depths of her splendid Summer Palace and the harem of Beijing’s Forbidden City, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs – with one of whom she fell in love, with tragic consequences.
Packed with drama, fast-paced and gripping, it is both a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of a woman: as the concubine to a monarch, as the absolute ruler of a third of the world’s population, and as a unique stateswoman.
‘Powerful’ Simon Sebag Montefiore
‘Truly authoritative’ New York Times
‘Wonderful’ Sunday Times
**Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Biography Prize**
Ratings and reviews
4.4
14 reviews
Gwen Ong
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August 31, 2016
Well researched piece of history, written into exciting storyline. Great introduction to history of China during Cixi's time. This book not just gives insights on why/how China is the way it is today, it also gives a great overview of what Chinese women has to endure. The book gives a refreshing depiction of Cixi. Cixi introduced the concept of feminism in China and I could relate to so many of the challenges she faced as a women fighting for rights/ power in a largely conservative society.
3 people found this review helpful
Andre Luis Vieira de Souza
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March 18, 2015
Jung Chang did and amazing job in this book's research. Sometimes she emphasis too much how the Empress' good side, but still the book have more a balanced view. The reading is fluid and easy going.
2 people found this review helpful
Thomas Petitt
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December 25, 2015
In China they refer to Cixi as the "Dragon Lady", however she was responsible for the first modernisations in China. Fascinating read for those who wish to learn more about Chinese history.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Jung Chang is the best-selling author of Wild Swans (1991, which the Asian Wall Street Journal called the most read book about China), and Mao: The Unknown Story (2005, with Jon Halliday), which was described by Time Magazine as ‘an atom bomb of a book’. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 15 million copies outside mainland China where they are both banned.. She was born in China in 1952, and came to Britain in 1978. She lives in London.
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