Cixi in the Unofficial Histories

Empress Dowager Cixi has long been a controversial figure. The supreme ruler of the late Qing, she was known as the Qing dynasty's "uncrowned empress." She was also the birth mother of the Tongzhi Emperor and a consort of the Xianfeng Emperor.

Empress Dowager Cixi put one emperor on the throne and deposed another. When she entered the political arena, the Great Qing was in dire straits. The Anglo-French allied forces had ransacked Beijing, the Taiping forces controlled half the country, and the Nian and other rebel armies kept rising up. The Qing Empire knew almost no peace.

Although most later generations believe that Empress Dowager Cixi's rule brought disaster to the country and its people, this woman truly used her intelligence and ability to save a tottering dynasty amid the crises of the late Qing.

So what kind of person was Empress Dowager Cixi? How did she rule from behind the curtain? And what secrets, unknown to the world, surrounded her during her life and after her death? This book will reveal the truth behind the mysteries of the "Old Buddha" one by one.