Xiaozhuang, hailed as the “Empress Dowager who founded the Great Qing,” led a life full of legend. After her death, she was given the posthumous title Empress Xiaozhuangwen and was buried at Zhaoxi Mausoleum. History often refers to her as Empress Xiaozhuang, and she is renowned as a wise and virtuous empress. She stabilized the Qing political landscape after Hong Taiji's death and assisted two emperors, Shunzhi and Kangxi, profoundly influencing the dynasty's early politics. She was an outstanding stateswoman of her era. Yet the story that has most captured people's imaginations is undoubtedly the tale of “the Empress Dowager marrying the regent.” Her romantic entanglement with Dorgon remains one of the Qing dynasty's great historical mysteries, and scholars still debate it today.
Combining authentic accounts with artistic portrayal, this book vividly brings to life the tenderness and wisdom of the Empress Dowager who founded the Great Qing. It depicts the true figure of this remarkable stateswoman: from her youth on the grasslands, to her marriage into the Qing imperial house, and finally to her elevation as Grand Empress Dowager. It also recounts how, through her intelligence and wisdom, she weathered two crises of succession, consolidated the state, unified the realm, and set the Qing dynasty on the road to prosperity. The novel is tightly paced, full of twists and turns, and gripping throughout. It is an excellent portrayal of Empress Xiaozhaosheng of the Qing.
