Jing to the new title, the palace lock Su Shuai. Shigezumi should not be hated, and be born when he is at peace. ——Xue Neng, "Three Elegy Lyrics of Empress Gongxi"
As we all know, during the period of China's feudal emperor society, there were two women whose power was above the imperial power, one deposed two emperors and finally called herself emperor Wu Zetian, and the other was Empress Dowager Cixi, who listened to the government at the end of the late Qing Dynasty and manipulated the puppet emperor.
If Wu Zetian, although fierce and fierce, was extremely wise, then Empress Dowager Cixi did not have too many good deeds, but was all a stain that made people criticize.
When the country was in turmoil, Cixi did not think about how to save the people of the country from water and fire, but instead arrogantly and lavishly labored the people and hurt her own desires.
According to legend, Cixi has many hobbies that make people criticize, one of which is the most difficult to accept, that is, when Cixi goes to the toilet, she wants to let the accompanying palace maid wait with warm water in her mouth, the reason is unacceptable, and it can even be said to subvert your imagination.
1. The extravagant Empress Dowager Cixi
When it comes to Empress Dowager Cixi, most people will grit their teeth in anger.
As the last person in China's feudal history to hold real power, Cixi did not think about how to defend the country when the country was in turmoil, but unscrupulously used the supreme imperial power to satisfy his arrogant life and various unacceptable hobbies.
It is precisely because she uses national resources in this way that the country is even more turbulent.
From birth, Cixi was trained as a concubine of the future emperor, and both her speech and manners and etiquette complied with the requirements of the royal nobility.
Cixi also lived up to expectations, and when she was 17 years old, she successfully married into the palace and became a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor.
Later, when the mother relied on her son to be noble, Cixi had the opportunity to contact the government of the dynasty, and they all said that power would make people lose, and Cixi was the same.
After tasting the benefits of power, Cixi was obsessed with power, not only eliminating several auxiliary ministers left by Xianfeng, but also supporting the puppet emperor to ascend to the throne, indirectly turning the entire imperial court into her hall of words.
After gaining supreme power, Cixi began to immerse herself in the privileges that power brought to her, and even used this privilege to satisfy her extravagant life and some unimaginable hobbies.
As a kind of banquet with higher specifications in the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu Han full seat was only used when it was special.
However, during Cixi's reign, she asked the imperial chef to select more than a hundred dishes from the Manchu han table for her to eat at each meal.
Of course, Cixi alone can't eat so many meals, in fact, Cixi only chooses a few favorite dishes to taste a few bites at a time, and the rest of the dishes are either thrown away or rewarded to the next person.
This vice of hers was preserved even when the treasury was empty at the end of the late Qing Dynasty, which invisibly added a lot of load to the Qing government's finances.
If this is the case, it can only show that Empress Dowager Cixi is only greedy for enjoyment, and what really makes her much criticized is her all kinds of unacceptable hobbies.
Second, Empress Dowager Cixi's strange hobbies
As the ruler of the supreme power of the Yangyang great power, it is easy to understand if there are some unique habits and hobbies, but some of Empress Dowager Cixi's hobbies are daunting. Among them, there are several hobbies, which are the direct reasons why she is criticized by future generations.
For example, in her later years, Cixi was obsessed with taking pictures, no matter how cold or hot it was, Cixi always pulled a large group of people to accompany her to take pictures.
These people have palace women, concubines and even princesses, and Cixi not only wants them to put on various shapes to force them to smile, but even often changes costumes and plays role-playing, without the slightest regard for the thoughts of others.
Of course, if this point is still understandable, then Cixi's other hobby is really confusing.
According to legend, when Cixi went to the toilet, she would always let many palace ladies accompany her, follow her and serve, and ask them to fill their mouths with warm water.
It turns out that the mystery came from the toilet paper at that time.
Due to the limitations of technology and production capacity at that time, even the richest royal family in the country used toilet paper was rough and abnormal, especially in the winter, which made the users very uncomfortable.
Therefore, in order to make the toilet paper more comfortable to use, Cixi will let the palace maid spit the warm water contained in her mouth onto the toilet paper after each toilet, so that the toilet paper can be used more softly and at the same time the temperature is moderate.
Although cixi's hobby was difficult to accept, and even many people today felt very disgusting, the palace women at that time did not have these thoughts.
In order to curry favor with Empress Dowager Cixi, they even held a contest to make toilet paper, and saw that the toilet paper made by the palace maid was softer and at the same time stronger and durable.
This morbid competition lasted for a long time during Cixi's reign, and there were many, many more such extremely morbid competitions or events, all for the sole purpose of pleasing Cixi.
3. Empress Dowager Cixi, who brought calamity to the country and the people
In such a special situation as in the late Qing Dynasty, the ruler who spread such a calamity to the country and the people may have doomed the Qing government to extinction.
In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing, and Cixi fled to Xi'an with the Guangxu Emperor and others. The Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904, Guangxu died on November 14, 1908, and Cixi died of illness the next day.
What makes people laugh is that when Cixi came to the end of her life, she seemed to have deeply reflected on her life, as a woman who held great power at the end of the Qing Dynasty, she actually left a last word to tell future generations:
"After that, women cannot predict the politics of the country. In particular, it is necessary to guard against eunuchs without authorization. ”
From Cixi's last words, we can see that Cixi may have realized her mistake at that time, but it was too late.
Qing rule came to an end shortly after Cixi's death, and after the Qing Dynasty there was no longer a feudal imperial regime in China.