The Last Empress: The She-Dragon of China

By Keith Laidler

In 1851, a sixteen-year-old girl named Yehonala entered the Imperial Palace of China as a concubine third grade, leaving behind her family, the love of her life, and nearly all contact with the outside world. She emerged as Tsu Hsi, Dowager Empress of China and one of the most powerful autocrats in history. A fascinating tale of love, betrayal, murder, intrigue, and survival, The Last Empress offers remarkable insight into life behind the closed doors of the forbidden city.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jan 21, 2005
• ISBN: 9780470864265

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Reviews for The Last Empress

[herschelian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The last Imperial dynasty to rule over China was the Manchu, and the last Empress was Yehenara (Yehonala) who is better known as Cixi (Tzu Hsi). From an obscure provincial Manchu family she became 3rd-grade Concubine of the young Emperor Xianfeng (Hsien Feng) and after giving birth to a son she was elevated to 1st-grade concubine. When the Emperor died in 1861 aged 30, Cixi's five year old son became Emperor and she became Empress/Regent and her rule of dictatorial power began. She was absolutely ruthless, disposing of rivals by having them bumped off, and members of her own family were not spared. She reigned for 50 years, out-living successive Emperors, and dealing with major crises such as the Tai Ping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion. She was known as the "She-Dragon of China" and within three years of her death in 1909 the Manchu Dynasty collapsed and China entered a period of chaos.A frightening despot, her life is absolutely fascinating but I found this book difficult to read. My first quibble is that the author has used the now defunct Wade-Giles system of Romanisation of the Mandarin language rather than using Pinyin, which makes it hard to remember the names and their pronunciation. This means that the reader is continually having to stop and check who it is that the author is talking about and what their relationship is to others. I thought it could have been better edited. Whilst this book is factually very authorative, there are other books which give a better understanding of the personality and power of this dominating woman.