A Game of Thrones in China: The Case of Cixi, Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty (1835–1908)

Abstract

Women who have served as regents or dowagers, counselling young boy rulers, predate the existence of written history. In 1478 BCE, Hatshepsut ruled for 20 years as regent to the boy pharaoh Thutmose III. Other examples from antiquity, during the height of the Roman Empire, include the reign of Cornelia Africana, mother of the Gracchi. Eleanor of Aquitaine and Margaret of Anjou wielded considerable influence at court in premodern Europe. Catherine the Great ruled over one of the most prosperous and dynamic periods in the history of Imperial Russia. Throughout history, women who ruled by direct means or as regents frequently challenged conventional gender norms of the day. Whether they know it or not, fans of the popular series Game of Thrones have been given a very realistic portrayal of this kind of gendered power in the character of Cersei Lannister. For fans and scholars alike, it is instructive to weigh her character against the legacy of one of the most well-known female regents in world history, China’s empress dowager Cixi. She was one of the last women in world history to rule as a dowager and is almost synonymous with the term. Cixi ruled China as a regent during the later years of the Qing dynasty (1861–1908).