Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang

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I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of Cixi before picking up this book. China's early history (at least before Mao) is not something I've delved into quite a bit. But having read the author's "Wild Swans" I decided to give this book a try. And I'm very glad I did.

Plucked out among many other girls as one of the royal concubines to the then emperor, Cixi was a normal Chinese girl. Well, normal insomuch as royal concubines are. Not even the Empress, she had to use force of will to climb up the ladder and become one of the most powerful figures in China's history. Ruling for the better part of a half century, a woman, in a land that oppressed the female gender, she had to be intelligent and cunning. According to this book, she was progressive and brought in a lot of modern improvements to China despite being wracked by rebellions, hostile foreign policies, and other hazards. And since she couldn't rule in outright name because she was female, she had to maneuver politics and emperors around to best direct her needs.

Cixi is a strong person, and that comes through in this book. Few women (or even men) can claim to do half of what she did in a lifetime. And she had to overcome a myriad of obstacles just because of her gender to rule. This book paints a pretty optimistic picture of her, but refers to the notion that she is not always portrayed this way. Having experienced this book about Cixi before anything else, I of course am disposed to lean towards the fact that she did the best she could in leading China, and when she made mistakes, she admitted them. So I admire her. And the author does mention several other people in this book as well, but to be honest, there's so many of them it's hard to keep track. It's obvious that Cixi is the main focus in this book, and that's just fine.

I learned a lot about China's history from this book. And about Cixi. It's amazing how many things can happen over the course of a few decades. There's even a good bit written about the Boxer Rebellion since it happened during Cixi's rule. But it wasn't dry as some historical books can be. It kept me riveted the whole time and even though it lagged a bit in parts in the latter half, I still found it hard to put the book down. It's the kind where you can probably go back, read it again, and discover new facts you may not have noticed the first time around. Really, the parts that made it lag were some of the politics, but the book can't be faulted for that as it's a book about a country's leader and politics go hand in hand with that. And from what I can tell it is well researched. Wild Swans was also well done and both books have had a lot of care put into them.

An excellent book and one I'd recommend to anyone interested in history or China. It's a powerful biography on a very interesting woman.

Empress Dowager Cixi
Copyright 2013
373 pages

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

China is a fascinating country.  It is known for many things; fireworks, a rich history, exotic food, and communism.  Because of this it holds a certain, yet dangerous allure for a lot of people.  Wild Swans is an inside look at the culture and practices of China and life for its people.  The people that tourists don't often see or hear from.  And it exposes a lot of truths you couldn't even imagine.

Jung Chang's parents were officials for the Communist Party and Mao but their history started much before then.  Her grandmother, when young, was given as a concubine to a warlord and her mother was born as a result of that union.  Because the "marriage' was tumultuous and jealousy ran amok with the wife and other concubines, it was a difficult time for her grandmother and when he died, she sought a peaceful life with an elderly doctor as her next husband.  He raised Chang's mother as his own practically and while young she became a part of the underground communist movement in the area, eventually becoming a member of the party.  Here she met Chang's father, another party official and married him, eventually having Chang and her siblings.  Deeply immersed in the Party, they were on constant alert for themselves and the people out to bring them down as a result of rivalries.  And with Mao's bizarre politics and the Culture Revolution, instability reigned in China during Chang's childhood.

Chang and her family suffered a lot of hardships and were targeted by many even within their own Party.  Her parents were beaten, denounced, detained and the atmosphere was almost always hostile.  Chang herself admits to being a devout follower of Mao in her youth, because they were raised to think he was supreme and there was a lot of indoctrination.  It was only later, after a lot of atrocities had been committed by him, that she changed her view.  I couldn't believe a lot of the people and their actions in this book though.  It was simply astounding that someone could be so horrible to another human being.  But there was at least a little good, but not as much as you'd like to hope. 

It was an interesting memoir.  I couldn't imagine Chang's experiences and what her family suffered.  It even somewhat read as fiction because things were so horrific.  But it's not, this is a true story, and that makes it that much worse.  Chang tells it well though.  She has a clear cut way with words and descriptions.  It may have been a tad tedious and long in parts, especially with all the names and places to keep track of, but at the same time it was also informative.  I appreciated the history and facts that she put in with the memoir and she must have researched quite a bit.  I would have liked to hear more about her grandmother, this book mainly focused on Chang and her mother's experiences, but the grandmother only got a small section. 

Chang's book is one of three incredible women and I"m glad she wrote down her experiences.  It really makes you realize just how different things can be in other parts of the world and really just how human nature can differ greatly.

Wild Swans
Copyright 1991
517 pages