Empress Xiao Qinxian (Empress Dowager Cixi) (1835165438+1October 25th-190865438+1October 15, that is, October 10th, 15th year of Daoguang. Cixi was born in a bureaucratic family in Zhenglan Banner of Manchuria (later carried into Huangqi Banner of Manchuria). The concubine of Emperor Xianfeng, a literate scholar in Qing Dynasty, and the biological mother of Emperor Tongzhi of Mu Zong in Qing Dynasty, was the actual ruler of 186 1 to 1908 in Qing Dynasty, second only to Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty. Before his death, outsiders called him Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Western and Empress Nana. Since the Guangxu period, the palace and the court began to call it "Lafayette"; After his death, posthumous title presented "filial piety, filial piety, the support of Cixi, Kang's sincerity, Yu Zhuang's life, devotion, and a holy constitutional queen". Empress Dowager Cixi was born in Yehebu (now near Siping), Nora's, and her father, Zheng Hui, was a post-image official. She used to be a member of Chiguangtai Road in Huining, Anhui. Jade Butterfly (the royal family tree) is called "the daughter of Cheng Wai of Yehenara". Empress Dowager Cixi was named "Empress Dowager Cixi" for supporting Kang, Yu Zhuang, Cheng Shou and He Chong. After the death of Emperor Wenzong of the Qing Dynasty in the summer resort, during the mourning period, the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager of the Great Emperor and the Mother of the New Emperor lived in the East and West Warehouses of the Smoky and Straight Hall, hence the title of "Western Empress Dowager". During her 48-year rule, China suffered from internal troubles and foreign invasion. The traditional negative opinions on women's governance made Empress Dowager Cixi's past comments almost completely negative. Recently, historians have gradually begun to put forward a diversified evaluation of Cixi's administration from the perspective of historical conditions. But in most people's minds, she is still a negative figure. Memorabilia 1852 In May, the draft entered the palace and was given the title of Yi Guiren (but often called Lan Guiren). 1854, Jin Yijun. (The status of the harem in the Qing Dynasty is divided into nine grades, in turn: Empress, Imperial concubine, Imperial concubine, concubine, noble person, constant presence, infinite promise and maid-in-waiting). 1856, the Prince (later Emperor Tongzhi) was born, and Princess Jin was also born on this day. 1857, Jin Yishui. 1860, when the British and French allied forces captured Beijing, Emperor Xianfeng led the imperial concubine to avoid disaster in chengde mountain resort and ordered Prince Gong to go to war? Stay in Beijing and make peace with the allies. 186 1 year, Emperor Xianfeng died, Prince Zai Chun succeeded to the throne, and the emperor's biological mother was honored as the empress dowager; In August, in the game of Prince Gong? With the support of a coup, the Empress Dowager and Prince Gong killed eight ministers, including Su Shun, and successfully seized power. 1862, Emperor Tongzhi gave the Empress Dowager Cixi the golden emblem. 1865, don't discuss Wang Yi? The position was questioned by foreigners, imperial clan and ministers, and he was reinstated, but a game? I'm starting to be vigilant. 1874, Emperor Tongzhi died because he had no children. According to Empress Dowager Cixi, Zai Tian, son of Prince Yi Xuan of Alcohol, succeeded to the throne (later Emperor Guangxu). 1888, Emperor Guangxu got married and took charge the following year; Cixi continued to "discipline politics." 1894, Queen Mother's 60th birthday celebration; Empress Dowager Cixi did not hesitate to misappropriate naval military expenses to rebuild the Summer Palace, which led to her defeat in the Sino-Japanese War. 1898, because Emperor Guangxu initiated the Reform Movement of 1898, the Empress Dowager and conservative ministers jointly launched the 1898 coup, killed six gentlemen, imprisoned Guangxu, and then resumed political training. 1900, the Boxer Rebellion was launched by the Boxer Rebellion, which led to the invasion of Beijing by Eight-Nation Alliance, a great power, and the Empress was forced to leave Beijing for Xi 'an to avoid disaster. 190 1 year, the Xin Chou treaty was signed, and the two palaces were mourned; The empress dowager and the emperor wrote to atone for their sins and carry out the boxer New Deal. 1908, the day after the death of Emperor Guangxu, Empress Dowager Cixi died at 5 pm on 1 15 and was buried in Dingdong Mausoleum. The great emperor had no children and was succeeded by Puyi (later Xuan Tong), the son of Zai Feng, the prince of alcohol. According to the records on the tomb tablet, the posthumous title of Empress Yehenala before and after her death were: filial piety, Cixi, Duanyang, Kang, Yuzhuang, Chengshou, Feng and Shengxian. Nickname 23 words, even the word * * * 25 words. Posthumous title is longer than the founding queen and the two official queens of filial piety in the Qing Dynasty, and is the largest number of queens in the Qing Dynasty. 1928, Sun Dianying, a warlord, led his men to excavate the magnificent and extremely luxurious tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi Ding Dong, and stole a pearl as big as an egg when she died (the pearl was an ornament of the eunuch in the palace). Puyi mentioned in his memoirs that he stole the pearl of Empress Dowager Cixi, that is, her grandmother, and gave it to a powerful wife (Song Meiling) in the early years of the Republic of China, which made him feel bitter. Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the few women who had been in power for a long time in China during the imperial era. She is clever and capable in politics, especially in manipulating the balance of power between pro-expensive courtiers and maintaining the absolute authority of the Qing court. During the reign of Empress Dowager Cixi, the centralization of the Qing court and the sovereignty of China faced various threats from both inside and outside. From the standpoint of defending the authority of the Qing empire and its own power, the measures she took were not successful, but most of them were reasonable in the historical context. In order to meet the challenge from the European and American powers since the Opium War and suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and other civil resistance forces, Empress Dowager Cixi used Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and other effective ministers to start the Westernization Movement at the local level, which was the beginning of China's development of modern industry. With the support of the achievements of Westernization Movement, the Qing court kept on striving for self-improvement, managed to stabilize internal resistance, maintained the relative stability of China under the imperial system, and built Lu Haijun's modern armament, thus creating an atmosphere of "rejuvenating the country through common governance". After the disaster in Gengzi, Empress Dowager Cixi realized that the current situation no longer allowed her to adhere to the imperial tradition. The so-called "ancestral law" allowed the Qing court to implement various New Deal measures. The New Deal after Gengzi involved many aspects, the most prominent of which included: changing the official system, replacing the imperial examination with new education, and even constitutional preparation. In terms of social reform, it is worth noting that women are forbidden to bind their feet. To sum up, during the forty-eight years of Cixi's reign, she was quite strict with government affairs, even when she was sick. During the nearly half century of her rule in China, she worked hard to maintain and firmly control the situation of the centralized empire, and only then did China avoid falling into the chaos of separatist regime. Besides, the family of Empress Dowager Cixi can't interfere in the political affairs of the country except attacking the "benefactor". Compared with the unhealthy trend at that time, Cixi was still distinguished between public and private in this respect. In terms of negative evaluation of personal personality, Empress Dowager Cixi has a reputation of cruelty and cunning in winning political power from court struggles. 186 1 year, Ye Henara, who had just become the empress dowager, joined Prince Gong after the death of Emperor Xianfeng in Jehol Summer Resort. For example, the royal family staged a coup from the royal prince Zai Yuan and Duanhua, and Zheng Qinwang actually took power from the Eight Ministers Group with Su Shun as the core, and executed three of them (Zai Yuan, Duanhua and Su Shun). Later, in order to establish and maintain her autocratic power, Empress Dowager Cixi was merciless in cleaning up her political opponents, and even manipulated and controlled her own son, Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu who succeeded her. From the perspective of China's national sovereignty, many people have made negative comments on the administrative results of Empress Dowager Cixi. Including 1885, won a great victory in the war against France and successfully prevented the French from landing in Taiwan Province province. However, he ended the war by taking the initiative to make peace and signing the Sino-French Treaty of Tianjin, which made the Qing Empire lose the suzerainty of Annan. In addition, the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese Shimonoseki Peace Treaty of 1895 and the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty of 190 1 deprived China of great benefits because of the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894+0894 and 1900. Empress Dowager Cixi's ruling and decision-making have an unshirkable responsibility in the occurrence of these two events. Although Empress Dowager Cixi is very capable politically, her supreme purpose is still to maintain the Qing Dynasty's rule over China. The results of several wars that humiliated the country and power listed above are not necessarily the same. Among them, the Yiyou Qing Law War and the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War are both more conducive to continuing the war than accepting humiliating peace conditions. However, although the result of continuing the war will defeat France, which was in chaos at that time, or bring down Japan, which was about to run out of national strength at that time, so that the Chinese nation can have a better result, it is likely that the central government chosen by Empress Dowager Cixi has always been negotiating and bearing the burden of humiliation, which not only reflects her political ability, but also worsens the future of modern China many times. The root of the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War was Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagance and ignorance of the international situation, which is said to be one of the reasons for the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War. One of the most obvious examples is spending a huge sum of money to expand the Summer Palace to celebrate his 60th birthday, which has brought an unconstructive burden to the national finance, including naval military expenditure. The construction of the Summer Palace was done by Guangxu to please Cixi, partly to make Cixi abdicate to Guangxu. The conflict between the money used and the naval military expenditure made it impossible for Beiyang Navy to buy the fast cruiser it ordered (later bought by Japan as "Yoshino", which sank the "Zhiyuan" and played a decisive role in the Sino-Japanese War), resulting in a serious shortage of funds for Beiyang Navy in the years before the Sino-Japanese War. 1882, the Japanese navy was dominated by torpedo boats and offshore armored ships of less than 2,000 tons, without large armored cruisers. 1885, Japan put forward a plan to expand its army in 10, with the intention of surpassing the Beiyang navy. 1886, French naval engineer Louis Emile Bertain (Louis-? 0? 7mile Bertin) was hired to build 4,700-ton armored cruisers "Songdao" and "Soudao". 1890, the total displacement of beiyang fleet in China was 27,000 tons, while the total displacement of Japanese navy exceeded17,000 tons. By the Sino-Japanese War 1894, the total displacement of the Japanese naval fleet was 72,000 tons, and there were many new ships equipped with rapid-fire guns. On the contrary, beiyang fleet has not added any ships since 1888 was formally established. Stop buying guns and ammunition after 189 1 year. Later, the navy allocated military funds to repair the Summer Palace of Cixi. Even after the defeat, the signing of the contract and the compensation for land cession, 1895, she started a large-scale construction and rebuilt her mausoleum. The whole project lasted 13 years and was not completed until her death. Although the rebuilt Cixi Mausoleum became the most luxurious and unique royal mausoleum in the Qing Dynasty, it was expensive. In the historical context of the state affairs in the Qing Dynasty, it highlights the aristocratic mentality of Empress Dowager Cixi who valued personal vanity and dignity of the Qing court more than the rise and fall of the country. Many critics who hindered the reform claimed that Empress Dowager Cixi reused Li Hongzhang and other Han officials and accepted the Westernization Movement because of the practical needs of maintaining the rule of the Qing court, rather than sincerely supporting it. On the surface, Empress Dowager Cixi allowed Emperor Guangxu to lead the government in 1894, and allowed the emperor and Zhang Weixin's courtiers to carry out political reform in 1898. In fact, she has never relaxed her control and intervention in the political situation. Finally, the contradiction between the two parties after the Emperor broke out in an abortive coup hastily planned by the Emperor Party. Empress Dowager Cixi's administration, together with the support of conservative courtiers and Feng Jingen's military power, is actually equal to the success of the post-party government. As a result, a series of political reform experiments called the Reform Movement of 1898 were not implemented, that is, they came to an abrupt end; Later, the government became more conservative, which caused strong resistance to the modernization and innovation of China at that time. According to Lei Jiasheng's book "Turning the tide: A new probe into the coup of 1898", during the Reform Movement of 1898, former Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen visited China. Timothy richard, a British missionary at that time, suggested to Kang Youwei, the leader of the Reformists, asking the Qing Dynasty to hire Ito as a consultant and even giving him the right to handle affairs. Therefore, after Ito came to China, reformist officials wrote in succession to request the reuse of Ito, which aroused the vigilance of conservative officials. Yang Chongyi, a conservative official, even secretly played Cixi: "I heard that Toyo's old friend Ito Bowen is going to take over the dictatorship. If ITO fruit is used, it has been handed down from generation to generation. This fierce remark prompted Empress Dowager Cixi to return to the Forbidden City from the Summer Palace in September 19 (the fourth day of August) to understand Emperor Guangxu's views on Ito. But Ito and Timothy Richard proposed to Kang Youwei that China, the United States, Britain and Japan should unite. So, at Kang Youwei's behest, Yang Shenxiu, a reformist official, wrote to Emperor Guangxu on September 20th (the fifth day of August): "I especially hope that my emperor will make plans early to consolidate Britain, America and Japan, and don't think that the name of the United States is not beautiful. Song Bolu, another reformist official, also wrote on September 2 1 day (the sixth day of August): "When Qu (Timothy Richard) came, he planned to unite China, Japan, the United States and Britain as allies, and * * * selected 100 people from various countries who were familiar with current politics and learned their stories. Today, I would like to invite the emperor to meet Father Timothy Richard and Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen. He is an important official who can quickly access foreign affairs and is famous in the world, such as Li Hongzhang, a great scholar, to discuss ways with him. " It is like handing over China's military, financial, taxation and diplomatic powers to outsiders. Empress Dowager Cixi returned to the Forbidden City in September 19 (the fourth day of August) and learned about it from September 20 to 2 1 9. Shocked by the seriousness of the situation, she decided to launch a coup, protest and end the reform movement in 1898. This new discovery broke the previous explanation of 1898 coup, which made it necessary for people to discuss the historical evaluation of the pros and cons of 1898. The source of the peace treaty between Xin and Chou was influenced by the 1898 coup. Empress Dowager Cixi refused to reform, preferring Wang Zaiyi and fortitude, and even considered replacing Emperor Guangxu. In this way, Zai Feng's son, Puyi, was made the eldest brother, which was actually the same as Chu Jun, but he was afraid that Emperor Guangxu would unanimously support the European, American and Japanese powers, so he did not dare to suddenly abolish it. Zai Feng tried to alienate Empress Dowager Cixi by taking advantage of the "foreigner" jealousy of her son's early accession to the throne. In this way, the situation in the DPRK gradually evolved into irrational hatred of "foreigners" and United with conservative Qing factions to fight against pragmatic courtiers. With the connivance and even secret help of powerful relatives such as Duan Wang, the "boxer", which started with xenophobia, was able to enter Zhili and forced the palace to be reincarnated on a large scale, forming a "forced palace" situation. Empress Dowager Cixi doesn't necessarily believe in the boxer's theory of "divine power to protect the body", and it is impossible not to understand Duan Wang's plot to seize power. However, due to the resentment of outsiders and the belief that people's hearts can be won, she did not strictly suppress the Boxer Rebellion, which eventually led to the unexpected incidents such as the Boxer Rebellion killing "parishioners", attacking foreigners and killing German and Japanese diplomats, which led to Eight-Nation Alliance's intervention. Empress Dowager Cixi mistakenly believed the false information that other countries were trying to force her to abdicate, and killed the ministers who advocated solving the crisis through diplomatic channels with a negative attitude, which led her to declare war on many countries. So far, there is no room for change. Allied forces entered Beijing, many provinces in North China suffered, and the emperor went hunting in the west, which was finally resolved through the conclusion of a peace treaty between Xin and Chou. The peace treaty stipulates that criminals should be punished, compensation and apologies should be made, troops should be stationed in the embassy area, and weapons should be restricted. , and caused the Japanese and Russian captains stationed in Manchuria, China's sovereignty and the prestige of the Qing Empire suffered heavy losses. During the development of the incident, Empress Dowager Cixi put personal power at the top of all considerations, which seriously damaged the state rights and the livelihood of innocent people. This was the biggest mistake during her reign. After the conclusion of the peace treaty between Xin and Chou, Cixi issued "Sin has been Imperial Decree", expressing gratitude for the "leniency" treatment of the powers: "Today, we discuss the treaty, do not invade my sovereignty, do not cut my land, read the pardons of various countries, be ill and ignorant, remember afterwards, and be ashamed and angry. He also said: "Measure China's material resources to please the country. This sentence became a famous saying that later generations accused him of betraying the country. Cold case: death of Guangxu 1908 Emperor Guangxu died in Yingtai at the age of 38. Because he died one day earlier than Cixi, there are different opinions on the cause of death, and there is no historical conclusion. It is said that he was poisoned by Cixi's valet (the main reason is that when Cixi was seriously ill, she was hesitant about what to do with Emperor Guangxu, so she told Emperor Guangxu that she would die soon, but only when the valet came back did the emperor get a little better, so Cixi decided to die before her illness, so as to avoid the possibility that the emperor would dominate the political affairs again and deny the layout of Cixi before her death). In fact, there was a princess in Guangxu who was pregnant, but both died because of Cixi, so there was no queen for many years. However, according to official records, he died of natural causes. Guangxu was at least weak and often fell ill. In addition, Empress Dowager Cixi psychologically destroyed him, and then forced his favorite Zhen Fei to death, leaving him without spiritual support and dying young. What's more, Yuan Shikai took the medicine and killed him, so as to avoid Guangxu's revenge on him in the future, but it is extremely unlikely. After the Republic of China, according to Emperor Guangxu's physician, the emperor was not very healthy before his death, mainly because of darkness, lack of exercise and bad mood, which led to abnormal diet, but there were no signs of serious illness. 1909 (Xuantongyuan year), Emperor Guangxu was buried in chongling, the last mausoleum in China. Legend Anecdote Destroying the Country Legend It is said that in the process of the rise of Qing Taizu Nurhachi, the hostile Muzhen Yehe Department in Haixi was completely annihilated. The curse issued by Jin Taiji, the chief of the headquarters, before he died: "Even if there is only one woman left in my Ye He family, the Jianzhou Jurchen will perish! Therefore, in order to avoid this curse, the later Manchu emperors avoided the title of Ye He's woman. Empress Dowager Cixi is a descendant of Yehebu, and the Qing Empire will decline under her rule, so some people say that the appearance of Empress Dowager Cixi is the fulfillment of Yehebu's curse. Because Yuan of Nurhachi was a member of Yehe Department, there was also a saying in Qing Dynasty that he was born in Yehe and died in Yehe. Historically, Ye Henara and Ai Xinjue Roche have been in-laws for generations. Nurhachi's mother and many concubines are Yehnara people; Huang taiji was born to Ye Lashi (the first empress of Qing Dynasty, Xiao Cigao). There is a legend in the Qing Dynasty: Ye Henala's family produced beautiful women from generation to generation. Empress Xiao Cigao is the daughter of Yang, the leader of Yehe Department. /kloc-When she was 0/4 years old (Wanli of Ming Dynasty 16 years), she married Nurhachi, and lived with Nurhachi for 15 years as a condition for the alliance between Nuzhen of Jianzhou and Nuzhen of Yehe, and only gave birth to a son of Huang Taiji, who died at the age of 29. In the first year of Chongde in the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji was named Emperor Taizu Gao. During the 15 years when filial piety and Nurhachi lived together, it was a glorious period when Nurhachi actively expanded outward, unified the ministries of Jurchen and accepted concubines. Nurhachi spent 36 years unifying Mongolia and other ministries in northeast China, and finally declared war on Yehnara. There are two reasons: first, Yehnara is the best; Secondly, Khan of Yehnara is his own uncle, and the generals guarding the pass are all his cousins and relatives. At that time, Nurhachi led the troops to surround Ye Hecheng, but he did not immediately declare war, but knelt in front of the city for three days and three nights, demanding that Ye Rush surrender and unite against the Ming regime. However, the Yenara family thinks that Nurhachi is their son-in-law. If you don't listen to me, you have to listen to me. Unreasonable, resolutely disagree. Finally, Nurhachi decreed that all those who are willing to surrender should have high officials and high salaries, and all those who resist should disown my six relatives and all the bodies should be dismembered. After Nurhachi declared war on Yehnara, after fierce fighting, Nurhachi finally entered the city, killing tens of thousands of people, and the besieged Yehnara leaders also committed suicide, preferring to die rather than surrender. Until the end, the older generation died, and the rest of the young people saw that the tide was gone and surrendered to Nurhachi. It is precisely because of this story that there has always been a legend that Ye Henara and Aisin Gioro are feuds, and neither the concubines nor the nuns in the palace choose Ye Henara. According to emotional rumors, Rong Lu, an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, was a lover with Yehnara before he entered the palace in the draft. So Ye Henara became the Empress Dowager, and after taking power, Rong Lu was greatly promoted. This statement can be found in the novel Love the Forbidden City: The Secret Love Life of Cixi, which was originally published by Yu Deling, a former female official of the Qing Dynasty, in English and also in Chinese. It was also used by Zhongshi TV series in Taiwan Province Province to make fun of Cixi.
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