Cixi is by no means as stupid as many people think. How can a woman who reached the political peak through a coup be a fool? Many things are not that she is stupid, but that as the head of the Qing government, her position cannot be completely consistent with that of the Chinese nation. When China faced the invasion of modern powers, Cixi kept the Qing Dynasty stable for decades, but in the end she was not completely colonized. It should be said that she has made some contributions. Empress dowager cixi has been accompanied by "two" all her life, and this "two" has brought great changes. An ancient empire with a history of 5,000 years of civilization was reduced to the tragic fate of obeying people and becoming a semi-colony of foreign powers at her hands. Three successive emperors all inherited the childhood throne in her hands, and they never exercised the power of governance. Only three years after her death, the Revolution of 1911 was a cannon, ending the centralized monarchy in China for more than two thousand years, and there was no emperor in China. Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi's influence on the history of China can be summarized in three words: two and a half years, nothing, and the homonym "250". As a political figure, Cixi was both a success and a failure. Her success lies in winning the highest power that should have been held by men in the world ruled by men, and achieving a career according to her own will. People can't help asking: there were more than a thousand beautiful women who entered the palace at that time. Why can Cixi stand out? She listened to politics three times, ruled the Crown Prince twice, and acted arbitrarily, bearing the pulse of the Qing Dynasty in her palm, which greatly influenced the trend of modern China history. Obviously, to answer this question, we can't avoid Cixi's unique ability and personality charm. This kind of ability and personality charm is insight into human nature, scheming, personal supremacy and daring, which is exactly the quality that an autocratic emperor should have. Imagine how she could rule the world as a woman if she didn't have this sense of superiority. Cixi failed again. Her failure lies in her morbid desire for power. She spent most of her life enjoying the pleasure of chasing power and enjoying the pleasure of getting power. In other words, she will do anything for power! Cixi lived in the historical era when the industrial revolution in the western world had been completed and the west wind was spreading eastward. This is an unprecedented new era for mankind, and it is also a crucial moment for China, a sleeping lion, to cope with this life-and-death challenge. At that time, the supreme ruler of China, Cixi, should have used her strength to lead the ancient rickety ship, China, through the dangerous beaches and stormy waves and successfully sailed to the other side. Unfortunately, although she is familiar with the imperial art in the field of power, she knows nothing about the world trend. In the face of crisis, China either turned a blind eye, or was slow to respond, or made repeated mistakes in judgment and decision-making. As a result, it slipped into the semi-colonial and semi-feudal abyss. This is really China's tragedy, and it is also her personal tragedy! As a woman, Cixi is both lucky and unfortunate. Her luck lies in her position that women of that era could not get. Cixi did not come from a powerful family that lived for generations. She was just the daughter of a middle-level flag officer. If she hadn't accidentally entered the Forbidden City at the age of seventeen, thus setting up a political platform for her to revolve around Gan Kun, how different would her fate be from that of thousands of ordinary girls in Qian Qian, Qian Qian? Cixi, relying on her step-by-step drilling, from noble to concubine, was lucky enough to give birth to the only prince of Xianfeng Emperor, so that "the mother is expensive and the son is expensive" and was promoted to princess and lady until Empress Dowager Cixi, and "listened to politics" for 47 years.

Positive evaluation

Cixi was one of the few women who had been in power for a long time in China during the imperial era. She is clever and capable in political skills, especially in manipulating the balance of power between pro-expensive courtiers and maintaining the absolute authority of the Qing court. During the reign of Cixi, the centralization of the Qing court and the sovereignty of China faced various threats from both inside and outside. From the standpoint of defending the authority of the Qing empire and its own power, the measures she took were not successful, but most of them were reasonable in the historical context. In order to cope with the challenges from the European and American powers since the Opium War and suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and other civil resistance forces, Empress Dowager Cixi reused Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and other Han dignitaries and launched the Westernization Movement in the local area, which was the beginning of China's development of modern industry. With the support of the achievements of Westernization Movement, the Qing court was able to pacify the internal rebel forces, maintain the relatively stable situation of China under the imperial system, and build modern Lu Haijun armaments, thus creating an atmosphere of "rejuvenating the country with the same rule". Some people began to think that Cixi's reform measures were actually very clever, and the 100-day reform was too fast. This is just a farce, and it can't be successful. After the disaster in Gengzi, Empress Dowager Cixi realized that the current situation no longer allowed her to adhere to the imperial tradition. The so-called "ancestral law" allowed the Qing court to implement various New Deal measures. The New Deal after Gengzi involved many things, the most important of which included: changing the official system, replacing the imperial examination with new education, and even preparing for constitutionalism. In terms of social reform, it is worth noting that women are forbidden to bind their feet. To sum up, during the forty-eight years of Cixi's reign, she was quite strict with government affairs, even when she was sick. During the nearly half century of her rule in China, she worked hard to maintain and firmly control the situation of the centralized empire, and only then did China avoid falling into the chaos of separatist regime. Besides, the family of Empress Dowager Cixi can't interfere in state affairs except attacking the "benefactor". Compared with the unhealthy trend at that time, Cixi was still distinguished between public and private in this respect. In fact, throughout Cixi's life, God didn't regard her as a woman at all. A series of wars, disputes and reforms run through her, including the loss of a young man's father, a young man's husband, a middle-aged man's son, the Second Opium War, the British-French Allied Forces, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Sino-French War, Eight-Nation Alliance, the Boxer Movement and the Reform Movement of 1898. Not to mention Lv Hou Wu Zetian and sourdrang dowager, even any emperors and queens at all times and all over the world have never experienced such wars and changes. Cixi lived in an era of great change, and the difficulty of governing the country was far greater than that of emperors in previous dynasties. According to this, neither Wu Zetian nor Lv Hou nor Queen Victoria can compete with Bill. For a long time, people have imposed some evil deeds and guilt that have nothing to do with Cixi, which has made her bear the eternal stigma. People think that she blindly compromised the powers, ceded land for compensation and signed many unequal treaties; It stifled the Reform Movement of 1898, a political movement that revived the Chinese nation for the last time.

Negative evaluation

In terms of personal character, he gained political power from the court struggle. 186 1 year, Ye Henara, who had just become the empress dowager, joined Prince Gong after the death of Emperor Xianfeng in Jehol Summer Resort. For example, the royal family staged a coup from the royal prince Zai Yuan and Duanhua, and Zheng Qinwang actually took power from the Eight Ministers Group with Su Shun as the core, and executed three of them (Zai Yuan, Duanhua and Su Shun). Later, in order to establish and maintain her autocratic power, Empress Dowager Cixi was merciless in cleaning up her political opponents, and even manipulated and controlled her own son, Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu who succeeded her. From the perspective of China's national sovereignty, many people have made negative comments on the administrative results of Empress Dowager Cixi. Including 1885, won a great victory in the war against France and successfully prevented the French from landing in Taiwan Province province. However, he ended the war by taking the initiative to make peace and signing the Sino-French Treaty of Tianjin, which made the Qing Empire lose the suzerainty of Annan. In addition, the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese Shimonoseki Peace Treaty of 1895 and the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty of 190 1 deprived China of great benefits because of the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894+0894 and 1900. Empress Dowager Cixi's ruling and decision-making have an unshirkable responsibility in the occurrence of these two events. Although Empress Dowager Cixi is very capable politically, her supreme purpose is still to maintain the Qing Dynasty's rule over China. The results of several wars that humiliated the country and power listed above are not necessarily the same. Among them, the Yiyou Qing Law War and the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War are both more conducive to continuing the war than accepting humiliating peace conditions. However, although the result of continuing the war will defeat France, which was in chaos at that time, or bring down Japan, which was about to run out of national strength at that time, so that the Chinese nation will have a better result, the central government chosen by Empress Dowager Cixi may have always made peace and been humiliated by women's short-sightedness, which not only reflected her political skills, but also worsened the future of modern China many times. In addition, Cixi personally knew thrift and hard work at the beginning of her early years in power, but later she became more and more extravagant. Rebuilding Yuanmingyuan (later banned by Prince Gong and other ministers), Qingyi Garden (later Summer Palace) and organizing Wanran's birthday will cost a lot of money. Although not all the above things were initiated by Cixi, Cixi did not discourage emperors and courtiers from pleasing them, but indulged them. Even after the Gengzi Incident, when China was faced with huge compensation for the peace treaty between Xin and Chou, its extravagance and waste did not obviously converge. Invisibly, the already stretched financial problems in the late Qing Dynasty worsened, and people's livelihood was depressed.

Edit this passage from the tomb of Cixi.

Unwilling to be an equal with Cian. According to the status and role of Cixi in the feudal society of China, it should be slightly inferior to Ci 'an, and it will also be reflected in the provisions of tombs, so as to reflect the grade difference. However, in view of Cixi's special status, the mausoleum originally designed was as close as Ci 'an in terms of regulation and quality, and she should have been satisfied. But Cixi was not satisfied. Because of her inflated arrogance and uncontrollable greed, she could not stand side by side with Ci 'an. Since the choice of burial place must be subordinate to Ci 'an, it is necessary to surpass Ci 'an in the construction and decoration of the mausoleum to show her uniqueness. Long 'en Temple of Ding Dong Mausoleum in Cixi

The reconstruction project of Cixi's mausoleum lasted for thirteen years until her death. The rebuilt Long 'en Hall and the East-West Attached Hall rank first in the Qing Emperor's Mausoleum in terms of expensive building materials, exquisite workmanship and luxurious decoration. Even compared with the imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty, some imperial tombs are inferior to her. The luxury of her funerary objects is also staggering. Cixi's funerary objects are divided into two parts: the treasure placed in the golden well in the tomb before his death and the buried treasure. After the death of Cixi, she put all the treasures she plundered in her life into the coffin. According to the Qing Palace archives "Chronicle of Empress Dowager", Cixi put six batches of treasures into Jinjing before her death. And how many treasures are buried with him? His confidant eunuch Li personally attended the treasure burial ceremony of Cixi. According to "Notes on Love Moon Xuan" written by him and his nephew, before Cixi's body entered the coffin, there were three layers of gold beads and a layer of pearls at the bottom of the coffin, which was one foot thick. Cixi's body was placed between the lotus leaf and the lotus flower. The head is made of emerald lotus leaf, which is green and full and exquisite. The ribs on the leaves are not carved, they all grow naturally. Pink tourmaline lotus under your feet. Wearing a crown bead, the largest pearl in the crown is four to two times as heavy as an egg, and it is worth12 million silver. This is a rare treasure in the world. Wearing a colorful embroidered robe with gold beads. There is a big peony flower made of pearl on the quilt she covers, and the bracelet is a big chrysanthemum inlaid with diamonds and six small plum blossoms. There are twenty-seven Buddha statues carved with gold, rubies, jade and jade beside him. Put two emerald watermelons, melons and cabbages on both sides of your feet. Emerald watermelon is green, with red flesh, black seeds and white silk. One of the jadeite melons is green skin and yellow seed meat, and the other is white skin and yellow seed powder meat; Two turquoise cabbages, with green leaves and white hearts, are covered with a green slug, and two yellow wasps are parked next to the leaves. On the left side of Cixi's body, there is a jade lotus, three sections of which are from jade lotus root, including natural plaster, green lotus leaf, pink lotus flower and a jet water chestnut. There is a jade carving red coral tree on the right side of the body, with a flat peach and red leaves, and a kingfisher parked at the top of the tree. There are more than 200 peaches, plums, apricots and dates made of precious stones. Put a Yu Lian on the left and a jade coral tree on the right. In addition, there are eight jade horses and eighteen jade arhats, totaling more than 700 pieces. After the funeral, four liters of pearls and 2200 rubies and sapphires were poured into the coffin, filling the gap in the coffin. There are 500 eight-point pearls, 1000 two-point pearls and 2200 three-point pearls in four liters of pearls. Gems and pearls are worth about 2.23 million silver. According to the Records of the Interior Office, the number and types of jewels and jades buried in the coffin are extremely amazing, which is almost a complete collection of jewels and jades. These treasures are all carved from natural materials, which is extremely rare in terms of material selection, not to mention the ingenuity of conception and carving. According to people's estimation at that time, the value of this rare treasure is not the personal dedication of the royal relatives and princes, but only the record of the royal funerary objects, which is worth 52 million taels of silver! As for the artistic value of these treasures, it is incalculable and priceless. The coffin of Empress Dowager Cixi is the most precious in the world. 1June, 928, Sun Dianying, a warlord in Henan province, nicknamed Sun Ma, went straight for the Qing Dongling in the name of beating bandits. Engineers blasted the tomb, blasted the King Kong wall at the entrance of Empress Dowager Cixi downstairs, opened the passage to the underground palace, and knocked down the stone gate before entering the tomb. At the bottom of Cixi's coffin, there is a brocade mattress woven with gold thread, which is seven inches thick. There are more than 0/0000 pearls, 85 rubies and more than 200 white jade. There is a silk mattress embroidered with lotus flowers on the brocade mattress, which is covered with 2400 pearls weighing five points. Cixi's body is covered with a Toni quilt made of gold, with a bright yellow satin bottom and twisted gold. It is made up of 25,000 Chinese characters of Dalagni scriptures and more than 800 pearls. There are countless pearls and precious stones embedded in the rockhopper on the head, of which only one pearl is worth about10 to 20 million silver. There are countless large treasures around the body, such as the Nine Linglong Pagoda, Jade Buddha, Jade Watermelon, Chinese Cabbage, Ruby, Emerald, Jade, Red Coral Tree, Moyu Mustard and so on, whose whereabouts are unknown. Empress Dowager Cixi's teeth were pried open, and the luminous pearl in her mouth was two transparent and dull pearls when separated, and a round pearl when closed, emitting green cold light. At night, people's heads within a hundred paces can be clearly seen. There is a story in the vernacular of current affairs published in North China. When Sun Dianying opened the tomb of Cixi, he saw that the body was still lifelike. A soldier was clamoring and egging on by other soldiers to rape the body. Because this soldier is a handyman, that is, to clean up the body. It has become a habit for him to rape young women's bodies. As a result, the soldiers stripped off the body and looked around for a while. But after a while, the corpse and embroidered robe melted at the sight of the wind, and suddenly Cixi's face shrank into a skeleton state. The soldiers who wanted to rape the corpse were depressed and stopped raping the corpse. After this grave robbery case was reported, it shocked the world, and people from all walks of life in various places condemned it by electricity, demanding that the murderer Sun Dianying be severely punished and the treasure be recovered. Chiang Kai-shek ordered the underground palace of Yan Dingdong's mausoleum.

Xishan investigates and deals with grave robbery cases. Sun Dianying gave Dai Li the two largest scarlet beads in the dried dragon neck beads, and then asked Dai Li to give a Kowloon sword to Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the National Government. Gave the emerald watermelon to Song Ziwen; Song Meiling got the pearl in Cixi's mouth, and Song Meiling decorated it with embroidered shoes. Since then, Sun Dianying has not only been at large, but also led troops to be an official, and he has been promoted step by step until he was promoted to commander-in-chief in advance; The arrested felon Tan Wenjiang was also released on bail and continued to be his teacher ... This abnormal phenomenon was a true portrayal of society at that time. Nineteen years after Cixi's death, her "land of eternal happiness" was bombed by warlord Sun Dianying, which not only exposed her bones, but also suffered humiliation, and even the treasures buried with her were looted. The "Lafayette" who enjoyed the splendor of the world left only a lonely wasteland for future generations to comment on.