Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China By Jung Chang

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Rating: 8.8 (6672 reviews)
Author: Jung Chang

Books,Biographies & Memoirs,Historical Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China Jung Chang

4,5

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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**

At this time of writing, The Ebook Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China has garnered 8 customer reviews with rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Not a bad score at all as if you round it off, it’s actually a perfect TEN already. From the looks of that rating, we can say the Ebook is Good TO READ!

Mobi Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China with FREE PDF EDITION!

GREAT BOOK, but by itself is totally inadequate. This book is very knowledgeable and thorough, but is in complete disagreement with a number of other great books. Despite the upheavals of 1911,the clash between, Nationalists-&-Communists, takeover by Japan, and the Cultural-Revolution of Chairman Mao, there are many, many authoritative records available, but many of them wildly disagree with each other on many, many major topics.The reasons for this are: very few people actually knew much about the actual live of Cixi, since if you weren't very close to her orbit, all you heard about was 2nd hand at best, and often far more removed than that.Of the people who actually knew about the "REAL" Cixi, I would list just 3: 1) Her chief Eunuchs, there were two, her first one went on a vacation of sorts, which was actually unlawful, although approved by CIXI. Somehow, his behaviour while on vacation led to his being beheaded by a government official in the area he was at, and although it was/would have been against the wishes of Cixi, his beheading was indeed lawful. Almost every person who describes this event, has a wildly different account, even though, in a broad sense, they sort of tell a similar story.2) Her lifelong semi-intimate companion Ronglu, who never left any memoirs, 3) The 'Princess' Der Ling who spent 2 years in her court {1903-1905} as her closest confidant/translator/semi-advisor. Ms Der Ling has been widely criticized and denounced, mostly unfairly by my account, but she wrote lucidly and intelligently about Cixi, and must be considered as a prime source for information about the REAL Cixi.BOTTOM LINE: No single book on Cixi is adequate by itself, at a minimum, if you are interested in her story you MUST read at least 4 books:"Dragon-Lady" by Sterling Seagrave, "Empress Dowager Cixi" by Jung Chang, and 2 of Princess Der Ling's books: "Old Buddha" & "Two Years in the Forbidden City.In addition, I highly recommend the following additional books for reference which are dirt cheap {used here on Amazon}: "Political History of China, 1840-1928, and "China's Last Empire / The Great Qing" by Harvard Press.FOR REAL, great background information on this timeframe you also need to read the extensive writings of Robert Hart, an Englishman who became the second Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service from 1863 to 1911. {NOTE: I haven't even begun to go down that road yet}

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Mobi Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China with FREE PDF EDITION!

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Special Edition Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China with Free MOBI EDITION Download Now!

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Mobi Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China with FREE PDF EDITION Download Now!

Mobi Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China with FREE PDF EDITION!

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