Empress Dowager Cixi the concubine who launched modern China
In this ground-breaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Empress Dowager Cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change China. Under her the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, telegraph, and an army and navy with...
| Main Author: | Chang, Jung, 1952- |
|---|---|
| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Alfred A. Knopf,
2013.
|
| Edition: | First American edition. |
| Subjects: |
Table of Contents:
- The imperial concubine in stormy times (1835-1861). Concubine to an emperor (1835-56) ; From the Opium War to the burning of the old Summer Palace (1839-60) ; Emperor Xianfeng dies (1860-61) ; The coup that changed China
- Reigning behind her sons' throne (1861-1875). First step on the long road to modernity (1861-9) ; Virgin journeys to the West (1861-71) ; Love doomed (1869) ; A vendetta against the West (1869-71) ; Life and death of Emperor Tongzhi (1861-1875)
- Ruling through an adopted son (1875-1889). A three-year-old is made emperor (1875) ; Modernisation accelerates (1875-89) ; Defender of the empire (1875-89)
- Emperor Guangxu takes over (1889-1898). Guangxu alienated from Cixi (1875-94) ; The Summer Palace (1886-94) ; In retirement and in leisure (1889-94) ; War with Japan (1894) ; A peace that ruined China (1895) ; The scramble for China (1895-8)
- To the front of the stage (1898-1901). The reforms of 1898 ; A plot to kill Cixi (September 1898) ; Desperate to dethrone her adopted son (1898-1900) ; To war against the world powers : with the Boxers (1899-1900) ; Fighting to a bitter end (1900) ; Flight (1900-1) ; Remorse (1900-1)
- The real revolution of modern China (1901-1908). Return to Beijing (1901-2) ; Making friends with Westerners (1902-7) ; Cixi's revolution (1902-8) ; The vote! (1905-8) ; Coping with insurgencies, assassins, and the Japanese (1902-8) ; Deaths
- China after Empress Dowager Cixi.