Empress Dowager Cixi can be said to be a legendary figure in the late Qing Dynasty, who controlled three emperors successively and held the power of the dynasty for forty-seven years. Most people remember her as political, but what is less known is that she was also a poet in private.
She wrote only one poem in her lifetime, because it was so wonderful that it was compiled into elementary school textbooks. Among them, the classic famous sentences are widely circulated and well-known. Why did Cixi have the feeling to write this poem? Who did she write for? This starts with her childhood experience.
Young Cixi
Cixi was born in Manchuria with a yellow flag, and their family was not a prominent prince and nobleman in the Qing Dynasty at that time, but could only be said to be an ordinary official's family. In order to one day be able to soar and expand the family's power, from an early age, his father was particularly strict with Cixi.
He hired several teachers to teach Cixi qinqi calligraphy and painting. His father hoped that Cixi would be able to stand out in the draft and serve the king in the future. However, Cixi did not like to be locked in the house all day reading and writing, and she admired the freedom of the city more than reading.
She grew up as a child and was a person who really liked to enjoy life. Every time mr. teacher snoozed, she would sneak out to the street to play, taking the pocket money given to her by her mother to buy a lot of exquisite pastries. Unfortunately, these behaviors of hers were soon discovered by her father. Her father scolded her, but Cixi was not convinced and rebelled against her father in public. In desperation, her father had no choice but to order her to be locked up in the firewood room, and also forbade the next person to bring her food.
All this was seen by Cixi's mother, who was extremely distressed about her daughter and even had a big fight with Cixi's father. However, in that feudal era, the status of women was not as high as that of men. Therefore, no matter how fierce the argument, the mother was still unable to defeat the father who was angry, and she could not rescue her daughter from the dark wood house as she wished.
There was no food or bedding in the firewood room, and in order not to let Cixi starve and freeze, her mother took advantage of her father's sleep to buy the next person and quietly sent Cixi bedding and her favorite pastries. While devouring the pastries, Cixi secretly swore that she would let her mother live a good life in the future.
In order not to let her mother continue to worry, Cixi finally succumbed to her father. After experiencing this, she no longer secretly ran out, but began to listen carefully to Mr. Teaching's lectures. The mother knows that her daughter has always liked freedom, and occasionally takes her daughter out shopping while her husband is dealing with official documents.
A few years later, the Xianfeng Emperor held a draft ceremony. Wearing a hairpin that her mother personally selected for her, Cixi went to the draft with confidence. She stood out among the showgirls because of her outstanding appearance, and was successfully named a nobleman.
Take power
After becoming a nobleman, Cixi was trapped in the Forbidden City and could not meet her family. Fortunately, the Xianfeng Emperor was very fond of her, and within a few years, Cixi successfully gave birth to the first son of the Xianfeng Emperor. The mother was noble, and she was therefore directly promoted from a noble person to a concubine.
At that time, the position of concubines in the Qing Dynasty was gradually upgraded from promises, constant presence, nobles, concubines, concubines, concubines, and so on. And Cixi was able to be promoted from a noble person directly to a concubine, which showed that the favor at that time was not fading.
Surprisingly, the Xianfeng Emperor's favor for Cixi did not stop there. Because Cixi's handwriting was particularly beautiful, the Xianfeng Emperor also specially authorized Cixi to approve the recital. At first, Cixi would read the contents of the recital directly to Xian Feng and review it under his instructions. But later, she could not restrain her ambitions more and more, and even wanted to control the government.
Cixi insisted that only if she had supreme rights could she live the life she wanted without worry. You can even protect your family and let them live this life. She cherished every opportunity to review the recitals and longed to learn some ways of governing the country so that she could take power in the future.
A few years later, the Xianfeng Emperor died, and before his death, he handed over the administrative affairs to eight ministers and gave two jade seals to Ci'an and Cixi. He wanted these people to hold each other back, so that no one could be dominant. But how could Cixi easily obey such an arrangement? It didn't take long for Cixi to unite with Empress Dowager Ci'an and eliminate eight ministers. At the same time, she also emptied her own son.
Soon the power of the government fell into the hands of the two empresses, Ci'an and Cixi. To Cixi's happiness, Empress Dowager Ci'an had no intention of ruling the country at all, so she became the true ruler of the imperial power of the Qing Dynasty.
Write poems to give to mothers
After taking power, Cixi became more and more indulgent, and enjoyed a luxurious life all day long. At each meal, she would ask the imperial dining room to prepare more than a hundred dishes, and she would only taste one bite of each dish. The basin she bathed in was made of gold and was quite expensive. This money can fully cover the cost of the army for more than half a year.
In handling government affairs, she adhered to the feudal and conservative ideology and made the court a miasma of black smoke. It can be said that Cixi is not a qualified ruler, but what is surprising is that she has always been a filial daughter. When she was young, her mother pampered her in every way, and now when she is in power, she has great respect for her mother.
Every time the imperial dining room developed a new dish, she would send it to her elderly mother to taste. Whenever there are beautiful clothes, I will think of my mother for the first time. Every year, she would spend countless gold and silver to wish her mother a happy birthday. Once, because Cixi was busy negotiating government affairs with foreigners, she failed to come to her mother's birthday feast on time, and she blamed herself in her heart.
On the occasion of the foreigner's congratulations, she wrote a poem on rice paper with a big stroke of a pen and sent someone to the banquet to give it to her mother. It didn't take long for the next person to arrive at the banquet, spread out the rice paper and read the verse to Cixi's elderly mother. The content of this poem is as follows: "The love of fathers and mothers in the world is the truest, and the blood of tears is integrated into the bodies of children." Exhausting all his efforts will eventually be a son, and the heart of poor parents in the world. ”
After Cixi's mother listened, tears appeared in her eyes and she smiled with relief. The audience also applauded and went forward to prostrate themselves to Cixi's mother. When Cixi arrived in a hurry, her mother took out from the sleeve the pastry that Cixi loved to eat when she was a teenager, and the two of them cried with joy and embraced each other warmly.
epilogue
When Cixi was a teenager, her mother took good care of her. When she grew up, she entered the palace to serve the king and successfully gave birth to a prince, promoted from a nobleman to a concubine, and often participated in the government, and her ambitions gradually rose. After the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, she united with the people to remove eight ministers and set up the Tongzhi Emperor, becoming the actual ruler of the Qing Dynasty.
Even in a high position of authority, she did not forget to filial piety to her mother and wrote poems to wish her mother a happy birthday. Now that this poem has been compiled into the primary school textbook, we should also be grateful to our mother when we are familiar with it, and we must not forget to honor our mother after we have achieved fame!
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