According to Xiang Si, the person in charge of a library in Oxford University revealed that they had a particularly precious manuscript version, which recorded in detail this unforgettable love affair of Cixi: the officer who had an affair with Cixi was Edmund Backhaus, then 29, and Cixi was 63.
The data recorded the detailed process of Cixi's first relationship with this young officer. This foreign officer is very handsome. Later, Cixi gave him a copy of Liu Ren's Twenty Poems on Fishing-sticks, which was written in clay.
According to experts, Edmund Backhaus is indeed such a person in history. He was born in 1873. From Beijing 1899 to 1902, Cixi officially summoned some foreign ministers and their wives in June. So as an important China hand, he must have entered the palace at the same time. However, Xiang Si also pointed out that the evaluation of Edmund by the outside world is not entirely true-some people say that Edmund is indeed the historical authority of Britain in the late Qing Dynasty, while others think that many things of Edmund are fabricated.
According to the manuscript, the handsome and versatile Edmund lived in seclusion in Beijing for Cixi, and the Cixi described by Edmund was particularly beautiful.
The beauty of Cixi is real. It is said that in July 1928, the warlord Sun Dianying opened the underground palace of Cixi Mausoleum with explosives in the name of military exercises. A strange sight appeared before the soldiers when they opened the coffin. I saw a lifelike female corpse wrapped in a coffin, lying on her back in countless treasures, with smooth skin and raven hair coiled around her head. This woman is Cixi. Although she was over 70 when she died, she looked like she was over 40.
Lindege, who took care of Cixi, also recorded in her memoir "The Fragrance of Imperial Incense" that Cixi was old and her skin was still white, tender and smooth, just like a girl.
Now the photos and portraits of Cixi make people think that Cixi looks plain, but in fact Cixi is a very beautiful and charming woman. The most attractive thing about Cixi is her eyes, which artists can't draw.
Carl, an American female painter, described Cixi like this: "I saw the Empress Dowager Cixi in front of me as a very beautiful and kind woman. I guess her age is no more than 40, and all parts of her body are perfectly matched. Her beautiful face, smooth and beautiful hands, slim figure and shiny black hair make her laugh and pose, which naturally makes people happy. " According to legend, when Cixi was a girl, every time she went out to play, everyone she met could not help but stop and look askance, saying that she was as beautiful and charming as a fairy.
Cixi used to show off in her later years. When she was young, everyone in the palace said she was beautiful and everyone was jealous of her. De Ling, who worked as a waiter in Cixi for nearly two years, described the appearance of Cixi in the book (Empress Dowager Cixi was young and true: "When Empress Dowager Cixi was in her prime, she was indeed a charming and radiant girl, and was often praised by the palace people; Even if it is gradually squeezed out by the years, Yi still retains a bit of charming beauty after entering the old world. "