Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) is the most important woman in Chinese history. She ruled China for decades and brought a medieval empire into the modern age. At the age of sixteen, in a nationwide s
Selected when she was fifteen as one of Emperor Xianfeng’s 3,000 concubines, she rose rapidly through their ranks, cementing her position by producing an heir, Tongzhi. When Xianfeng died in 1861, Ton
