China's modern history is a period of humiliation, the Corruption and Weakness of the Qing Government, and the eyes of the great powers have brought great pain and suffering to the Chinese people, and during these years, Cixi, as the empress dowager, her behavior has had a very profound impact on China.
Regarding Cixi as a person, most of the evaluation of her by history today is negative, and this is indeed for a reason, Cixi was arrogant and extravagant during her reign, nepotism, in order to be able to keep her position, "measure the material resources of China, and marry the happiness of the country." ”
However, she went to some commendable places, as one of the few women who had been in power for a long time in the Chinese imperial era, Cixi's political means were very capable, and she reused Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and other Han ministers, and in her later years, she advocated the establishment of a constitution, the prohibition of women's foot binding, the establishment of women's schools, new schools, and the use of Gengzi to refund the construction of education.
However, the purpose of these things she did was ultimately to maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty, rather than to start from the Chinese and the people, which led to the failure of the Qing Dynasty that did not cure the symptoms
In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out, and Cixi also wanted to use the Boxers against the foreigners she had long been dissatisfied with, so she gave the army of the great powers an excuse to enter Beijing, which led to the outbreak of the Eight-Power Alliance's invasion of China. On August 14, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing, and in the early morning of the next day, it attacked the Donghua Gate of the Forbidden City, so Cixi fled to Xi'an with the Guangxu Emperor and other retinues in a hurry, and the United States named it "Xi Hunt". The great powers looted the city of Beijing.
However, the fugitive Cixi still longed for her position of power, ordered Yi Xi and Li Hongzhang to negotiate with the great powers for the minister plenipotentiary, and signed the Xinugu Treaty, which agreed to compensate 450 million taels of silver according to the number of people.
At this time, Cixi put his mind at ease, sent tens of thousands of soldiers, with 3,000 luggage, set off from Xi'an, through Tongguan through Henan, Zhili, after three months, this "scenery and scenery" returned to Beijing in January 1902, after arriving in Beijing, the Forbidden City has long been in a mess, countless treasures were looted and left, back to the palace Cixi saw that his bed is still there, but it left a sentence carved with a saber: " Voglioviolentarel'imperatriceVedovaCixi。 ”
Obviously, this was written by a certain invader soldier, Cixi did not understand her intentions, hurriedly sent ministers to translate to her, and the ministers who knew foreign languages saw this sentence, but their faces were strange, they stuttered, this is to warn Cixi not to have the idea of being an enemy of foreign countries, Cixi is also a person in power after all, looking at the minister's face, it is obviously not this content, and called another group of people to watch, and as a result, they did not even say after reading it.
Cixi then understood that it was not that the ministers would not, but that they did not dare to say, which increased Cixi's curiosity and wanted to see what was written on it. So she found The Englishman Bagus, who often worked in the palace, and asked him what he meant, the Englishman was straightforward and fast,but still had some scruples, and Bagus told Cixi euphemistically that this sentence meant that he wanted to sleep with Cixi.
After Cixi listened, she did not get angry, but said, "Maybe he is still a child, and she certainly does not dare to say such a thing to her queen." At this time, Cixi's tone should be more helpless, but what she swallowed was ultimately her own evil consequence, and the Qing Dynasty, which signed the Xinugu Treaty, lost the support of the common people, and finally withdrew from the curtain of history under the Wuchang Uprising in 1911.