Posts Categorized: Chapter 4

Passing Away

Cixi passed away in 1908, one day after her nephew, the Guangxu Emperor. Suspicions linger over whether foul play was involved. She was buried in an elaborate mausoleum among other Qing tombs, which she had spent nearly 8 million silver taels preparing. She had held China together for nearly 50 years, and had overseen sweeping… Read more »

Cixi Late in Life

Later in life, Cixi attempted to embrace the West and a new series of reforms. She opened the Forbidden City to foreign guests for the first time, expressed a passion for photography, abolished the imperial examinations, and reformed China’s ministries along Western models. She began following Japan’s lead in sending delegations abroad to study constitutional… Read more »

The Boxer Rebellion

Following the Hundred Day’s Reforms, peasants in the north of China increasingly began to follow a popular rising political, mystical and martial arts movement known as the Boxer Rebellion. The growing movement, disgruntled at the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War and the unequal treaties, began to threaten foreigners in northern China. When foreign diplomats in… Read more »

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