Empress Dowager Cixi

29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) was the de facto ruler of Qing dynasty China for nearly half a century, governing as regent for the Tongzhi and Guangxu emperors. Rising from imperial concubine to supreme power after the 1861 Xinyou Coup, she oversaw the Self-Strengthening Movement, crushed the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898, and supported the Boxers against foreign powers in 1900. In her final years she endorsed sweeping late-Qing reforms before her death in 1908.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Empress Dowager Cixi.

Life events

Born into the Manchu Yehe Nara clan
29 November 1835

Cixi was born on 29 November 1835 to a family of the Yehe Nara clan belonging to the Manchu Bordered Blue Banner.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Selected as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor
1852

In 1852 she entered the Forbidden City after being chosen as a low-ranking consort of the Xianfeng Emperor.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Gave birth to Zaichun, the future Tongzhi Emperor
27 April 1856

On 27 April 1856 she bore the Xianfeng Emperor his only surviving son, which greatly elevated her status at court.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Seized power in the Xinyou Coup
November 1861

After the Xianfeng Emperor's death in 1861, Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an, allied with Prince Gong, ousted the regency council and became co-regents for the child Tongzhi Emperor.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor and resumed the regency
1875

Following the Tongzhi Emperor's death in 1875, Cixi placed her young nephew Zaitian on the throne as the Guangxu Emperor and continued to rule as regent.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Crushed the Hundred Days' Reform and confined the Guangxu Emperor
September 1898

In September 1898 Cixi ended the Guangxu Emperor's reform program in a coup, placing him under house confinement and executing several reformers.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Backed the Boxers and fled Beijing during the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion
1900 – 1902

In 1900 Cixi declared support for the Boxer movement against the foreign powers, and after the allied capture of Beijing she fled the capital for Xi'an.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Endorsed the late-Qing New Policies reforms
1901 – 1908

After returning to Beijing in 1902, Cixi sanctioned wide-ranging reforms including the abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 and preparations for constitutional government.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in the Forbidden City, Beijing
15 November 1908

Cixi died on 15 November 1908, one day after the death of the Guangxu Emperor, having installed the infant Puyi as the last Qing emperor.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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