Cixi held the imperial government for more than 40 years, and under her rule, the Qing dynasty became corrupt and degenerate, and the national strength decayed, becoming the target of the law of the jungle of the great powers. 而慈禧自己也是极度奢靡，令人匪夷所思，小编只能说看完这篇文章，绝对会刷新你对奢侈的认知！
Recording of Cixi funeral video
On November 5, 1908, Empress Dowager Cixi died in the Yiluan Hall in Beijing and was buried in the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty, ending her shameful life. But although the people have already driven the crane west, Cixi's extravagance and waste are not at all. The mighty funeral procession stretched for dozens of miles, and the royal heirs and officials of the imperial court followed step by step. The huge coffin weighs a ton, requiring nearly 8,000 strong laborers to take turns to fight, and 120 strong men take turns to carry the coffin in order to keep the funeral procession moving forward normally. This is not the case, because the weight almost all comes from the material of the coffin, the oldest and heaviest goldenrod, the structure is tight and has its own aroma, the material can be said to be extremely luxurious, coupled with the large round ball made of pure gold on the top of the coffin, which causes such an amazing weight.
Empress Dowager Cixi accompanied the funeral paper man
In addition, the Qing Dynasty also helped Cixi prepare vivid paper people, they are close to life-size, some riding horses, some holding knives and guns, pair after pair, there is no end in sight, the scene is very strange!
Cixi clothes on display in the museum
On the ground, people can only see the grand scale, and under the mausoleum of Cixi hides almost half of the wealth of the Qing Dynasty, all kinds of rare treasures worth up to 100 million taels of silver, the quilt covered by the coffin alone is made of gold wire and precious stones, and the 25,000-word Dhonila scripture is all woven by craftsmen with gold thread word by word, which can be said to be priceless. And there are three in the coffin of this bedding Cixi, there are countless jadeite white jade in the coffin, jadeite lotus leaves the size of a bowl, tourmaline lotus flowers as large as a basin, and colorful jadeite watermelons, jadeite cabbage and so on... Countless treasures fixed Cixi's body in the coffin. Even she had a night pearl in her mouth, and in order to make the body more stable, countless pearls and red and blue emerald gemstones were finally poured into the coffin! Although most of the above comes from wild history, it is undeniable that the Qing Dynasty can be said to raise Cixi with the power of one country, and its extravagance is unprecedented, and such a great Qing is also rare in the world.
Records of the palace maid's past conversations
In addition, according to the "Records of the Conversation of the Palace Maids", Cixi had to eat 108 dishes for a meal before his death, and each dish could eat up to two bites, so there was: a meal for Cixi, the saying that the people had three years of grain, and the dishes that Cixi ate were very exquisite, all of which were mountain and sea delicacies, bird's nest, shark fin, bear paw, and deer antler velvet. And there must be eunuch palace maids waiting around at any time, which dish to eat, as long as Cixi raises her eyelids, there will be eunuchs to bring the dish to her mouth! Even when the Eight-Nation Alliance Army entered Beijing and Cixi fled, she refused to give up her pomp and circumstance, and still demanded that everything be eaten and dressed the same as in the palace!
Cixi ivory fan in the collection of the British Museum
In addition to diet, Cixi is even more particular about bathing, in the summer, she requires to use chrysanthemums from Hangzhou when bathing to ensure that she does not suffer from heat stroke, in winter, Cixi requires papaya soup, and more strangely is to take a bath, Cixi will use hundreds of towels, these towels are with exquisite embroidery, but in any case valuable to Cixi's hands it becomes a disposable item, every time it is used up, it will be lost, never reused, Just from the towels, you can see how extravagant Cixi usually lives. The socks I usually wear need to be supplied by 3,000 workers a year, and the cost is as high as 10,000 taels of silver!
Cixi and her fruit incense
It is said that Cixi does not like incense, her favorite is the natural fruit aroma, all year round with fresh fruit to smoke the hall, the large tank in the Cixi Palace to put fresh fruit every day, there was a palace maid who came out of the palace at that time said, as soon as you enter Cixi's palace is a fruity aroma, you can imagine how much melon fruit consumption, according to historical records, only during the Guangxu year, Cixi used up 150,000 apples in the palace!
Cixi's palace at the Summer Palace
In addition, in order to decorate the Summer Palace, Cixi also spent 30 million taels of silver, you must know that the price of the most advanced warships in Britain and Germany at that time was only about 250,000 silver, so the money for decorating the Summer Palace was enough to form 3 Beiyang fleets
Old photo of Empress Dowager Cixi
As the empress dowager who held real power, Cixi reigned for 47 years, a long time, and 3 years after his death, the Qing Dynasty collapsed. There were many reasons for the demise of the Qing Dynasty, the so-called "result of the combined forces of history", but many of the reasons came from some policies during Cixi's reign. Cixi was extremely responsible for the demise of the Qing Dynasty.