In the history of China, although the status of women is relatively low, because of the large population base and long history, many dynasties in which women hold great power have emerged. The most representative is the generation of empresses Wu Zetian, but in addition to this woman who established the dynasty, there are many women who do not become emperors themselves, but actually control the supreme power, and the ostensible emperor has become their puppets.
One of the representative figures is the empress Jia Nanfeng in the Western Jin Dynasty. At that time, Emperor Hui of Jin was born stupid, so he was not capable of handling the government. Jia Nanfeng took the opportunity to take advantage of the emperor's mouth to seize benefits for himself, quickly killed the ministers who opposed him, and then placed his own family members in important positions, delaying the government.
Jia Nanfeng's fate was miserable, but not every woman who participated in politics like her did not get a good ending. In the late Qing Dynasty, Cixi had more power than she did, but Cixi's true appearance remained mysterious until the photographs of Cixi treasured by American museums were exposed and became known to the world.
Cixi entered the palace
When Cixi first entered the palace, there was a small accident that caused a close loss of power from the peak of his power. According to legend, Cixi was a descendant of the Yehenara clan, and there is a rumor about the Yehenara clan: when the Yehenara clan was slaughtered by Nurhaci's soldiers, a curse was left behind--the Ai Xinjue Luo clan would be destroyed at the hands of the Yehenara women.
Therefore, Cixi's identity is regarded as unknown, and Ben is not eligible to be elected to the palace. However, because this statement has been said for a long time, bribes can still be used to accommodate the money, so with the help of money, Cixi still entered the palace smoothly. Because there is a Lan character in her name, she was named Lan Guiren.
The emperor at that time was Xian Feng, and Cixi, who was beautiful in appearance and knew how to seize opportunities, quickly won his favor, which laid a solid foundation for her later ascension. But Cixi understood that getting the emperor's favor was only the beginning, and that giving birth to a dragon for the emperor was an important guarantee.
With her unremitting efforts, she finally conceived the blood and flesh of the emperor and successfully gave birth to a boy. This was also the only son of the Xianfeng Emperor, which naturally attracted the emperor's great joy, Cixi was made a noble concubine, and her son naturally became the only candidate for the next emperor. Even if Xianfeng is no longer in the future, Cixi's status will not only not be affected, but will be further improved.
With his own descendants, Xian Feng's trust in Cixi went further, because he found that her handwriting was well written, so he occasionally dictated and let Cixi write for the recital. There were more criticisms, and Cixi gradually had her own political propositions.
After several conversations, Xian Feng found that Cixi's level was not low, so he simply let her take the idea for herself and completely entrust her with the matter of approval. In this way, Cixi completely took over the work of reviewing the recital, and her political status became more and more important. If giving birth to a prince was the beginning of her secure position, then the Criticism was the beginning of her involvement in politics.
Fight for power
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, China was already difficult to return, and if you met a wise emperor, it would not be easy to get better, not to mention that Xianfeng was a person who was content with pleasure. However, at this time, the overseas countries, because of the impact of the industrial revolution, were in a period of prosperity.
The invaders, represented by Britain and France, had been coveting this piece of fat in China for a long time, and soon after, the British and French coalition forces casually found a reason to launch a war, and the Qing army collapsed all the way, and even Xianfeng had to take Cixi and others and flee to the summer resort. Originally his health was not good, coupled with the bumpy journey, Xianfeng, who came to Chengde, had run out of oil and ran out, and soon passed away.
In fact, before Xianfeng's death, Cixi's influence in the court was already not small, and even aroused the vigilance of many traditional nobles. Before Xianfeng died, they proposed to get rid of Cixi and avoid the possibility of women causing trouble in the government in the future.
However, Xian Feng did not agree because he did not want his son to have no father and no more mother. After Xianfeng's death, his son became emperor, the later Tongzhi Emperor. This era name is very interesting, the literal meaning of "Tongzhi" is to govern together. The people who can govern the government with the emperor are basically anti-thieves, but if this person is the emperor's biological mother, it doesn't matter. So Cixi became the empress dowager, and the curtain became the real ruler behind the emperor.
However, Cixi's practice moved the interests of the ministers who cared for them, and although the proposal to kill Cixi was rejected by Xianfeng, the attempt in this regard has not stopped. When Cixi learned of this, she decided to preemptively strike out, first contacting Yi Yi, the new strength of the nobility, and in turn liquidating the eight ministers who were in charge of their lives.
This coup d'état that occurred because of the seizure of power, known in history as the "Xin You's Change", Cixi and Yi Yi eliminated the old nobles and their henchmen in one fell swoop, eliminating most of the opposition forces in the DPRK, and since then the entire Qing court has been completely controlled by Cixi. Neither the emperor nor the other ministers dared to easily rebel against Cixi's rule.
Cixi's later years
Cixi, who had just come to power, still made some positive reforms, and it was she who learned the lessons of the invasion of the Western powers and began the first step of military modernization reform. However, as Cixi grew older, his power was stable, his enterprising spirit had gradually worn off, and people had become extravagant and conservative, not only no longer carrying out reforms themselves, but also strongly opposing the reform ideas of others, which is probably the unsolvable cycle of dragon slayer eventually becoming a dragon. After the death of his son Tongzhi, Guangxu took the throne, and Cixi still wanted to control Guangxu as she did with Tongzhi, but was resolutely resisted by Guangxu.
Although Guangxu's restoration failed, Guangxu died of depression. However, Cixi had exhausted her energy because of this coup d'état, and died soon after. After Cixi's death, people dared to openly discuss her life, and many people wondered what kind of state such an old woman had to control the emperor and even the entire empire.
The state of Cixi in her later years can be seen from the photographs preserved in American museums. She is richly dressed and elegant. Although he is over the age of the flower armor, his skin is still fair, and with those sharp eyes, the image of a ruler in a high position is ready to come out. At this time, although Cixi was a woman, she was domineering with the king, perhaps this was an important reason why she was able to get to this step. Interestingly, the rumors of the Yehenara clan seemed to come true, and Empress Dowager Cixi really became the last woman of the Yehe clan to bury the Manchu Qing regime.
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