Empress Dowager Cixi (Mandarin pronunciation: [tsʰɹ̩̌.ɕì]; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who effectively but periodically controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908.

Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother; Chinese and Japanese: 皇太后; pinyin: huángtàihòu; rōmaji: Kōtaigō; Korean: 황태후 (皇太后); romaja: Hwang Tae Hu; Vietnamese: Hoàng Thái Hậu (皇太后)) is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or ...

Feb 12, 2025 · Cixi was one of the most powerful women in the history of China, active from the 1860s into the 1900s. As mother or adoptive mother of two Chinese emperors, she acted as regent before they were of age and continued to wield considerable influence over China after they formally assumed power.

Mar 1, 2008 · When Xianfeng died in 1861, Cixi's five-year-old son was his only male heir and became the emperor Tongzhi, making her the "empress dowager" and a regent ruler.

Empress Dowager Cixi stands out as infamous in Qing Dynasty and Chinese history. Cixi's early life, reign, and events of her time are covered here.

Arguably the most powerful empress in Chinese history, Empress Dowager Cixi dominated the court and policies of China’s last imperial dynasty for nearly 50 years. She entered the court as a low-ranking consort, or wife, of the Xianfeng emperor and bore his heir, the Tongzhi emperor.

After Cixi seized power, the brilliant queen regent of China never let it go and guided her people into the 20th century. Born in 1835, the girl who would gain fame as the Empress Dowager Cixi...

Jul 3, 2019 · Few people in history have been as thoroughly vilified as the Empress Dowager Cixi (sometimes spelled Tzu Hsi), one of the last empresses of China's Qing Dynasty. Depicted in writings by English contemporaries in the foreign service as cunning, treacherous and sex-crazed, Cixi was painted as a caricature of a woman, and a symbol of Europeans ...

Empress Dowager Cixi, as biological mother of the new emperor, was officially made Divine Mother Empress Dowager (Chinese: 聖母皇太后). She was also given the honorific name Cixi (Chinese: 慈禧), meaning "Motherly and Auspicious."

Dowager Empress Cixi began her life as a humble concubine - and ended it as the most powerful political figure in imperial China.