Abstract
The vilified Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908) of late Qing China remains a symbol of national humiliation and weakness in modern Chinese historiography. Scholars attribute Cixi’s “rule behind the curtains” responsible for the ultimate decline of the Qing dynasty and its capitulatory peace with foreign powers. This article revisits the conditions that enabled Cixi’s rise to power during the Tongzhi reign (1861–75) and argues that Hanlin academicians regarded her as a potentially capable regent upon whom they could count to manage state affairs in the best interests of the Tongzhi emperor. This article also argues that Cixi acquired her political vocabulary from her Hanlin lecturers who compiled a unique primer for their patroness – the Zhiping baojian (A precious mirror for governing the peace) – on female regency in China’s imperial past.
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