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 reform.

Empress Dowager Cixi used photographic portraiture to rehabilitate her public image. She was fond of posing as the Bodhisattva Guanyin, a Buddhist embodiment of mercy, as seen here. For more pictures of Cixi, read this essay by David Hogge on Cixi’s photographic record.

Cixi as Bodhisattva Guanyin