The Dragon Empress: Life and Times of Tz'u-Hsi, 1835-1908, Empress Dowager of China by Marina Warner: A Book Review

The Dragon Empress: Life and Times of Tz'u-Hsi, 1835-1908, Empress Dowager of China
Author: Marina Warner
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography
Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicholso
Release Date: 1972
Pages: 271
Source: My State Public Library
Synopsis: From 1861 to 1908 a woman - the Empress Dowager Tz'u-hsi, born the daughter of a minor mandarin - held the supreme power in China. Opportunist, ruthless, malicious, she ruled over 400 million people. This biography explores her complex personality - her extreme conventionalism, her hatred of foreigners, her passion for power and intrigue, her vanity and her delight in ritual, her extravagance and corruption, and her love of gardens, painting and the theatre. The book also portrays a China in rapid decline, as poverty, civil war and foreign exploitation and invasion brought about the fall of the Ch'ing dynasty.

My Review: Empress Dowager Cixi is one of history’s most controversial empresses. It was during Cixi’s rule that the rule of imperial China ended. Empress Dowager Cixi ruled for nearly fifty years. In this biography of the Empress Dowager, Cixi is portrayed as ruthless, power-hungry, and malicious. Despite her negative qualities, the author shows how she was a strong and politically-adept woman.

Marina Warner largely portrays Empress Dowager Cixi in a bad light. Unlike Sterling Seagrave’s biography that describes Cixi as an illiterate woman, who had no experience in politics, Marina Warner portrays her as an intelligent woman who knew how to rule. When she was the favored concubine of Emperor Xianfeng, she mostly ruled during his reign and criticized him for being a coward. During her reign as regent, she was shown to be morally corrupt, indulging in earthly pleasures such as picnics, boat rides, and theater. She was portrayed as so evil that sometimes it almost seemed very cartoonish, and at times I found it utterly comical and unbelievable.

Overall, there is not much new in this biography. It portrayed Empress Dowager Cixi in the traditional light. There was so much negativity about her that I honestly questioned its validity in some aspects. When I looked at the sources that the author mentioned, I found that some of them were questionable. However, it was very easy to read. I also loved the illustrations and thought it enhanced the reading experience. Therefore, it was an entertaining read. However, I suggest that you should read it with caution. The best and most balanced biography of Cixi to date that I have read is Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang. After you finish reading the biographies by Marina Warner and Sterling Seagrave, immediately read the biography by Jung Chang in order to form a well-rounded portrait of the Empress Dowager.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Eleanor of Castile: Queen and Society in Thirteenth Century England by John Carmi Parsons: A Book Review

Eleanor of Castile: Queen and Society in Thirteenth Century England Author: John Carmi Parsons Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Book Release Date: 1998 Pages: 388 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: Medievalist feminist studies' early concentration on the lives of prominent women has more recently given way to an interest in their less exalted sisters. Historians have seemingly avoided the careers of medieval queens, creatures of romance and legend, women who enjoyed rank and wealth merely as a consequence of birth or marriage. A renewed interest in such women has, however, followed the opening of new avenues to the study of women and power in the Middle Ages. That the lives of these women will reward reconsideration has been amply proven in the works of such historians as Pauline Stafford and Janet Nelson. Eleanor of Castile studies the wife of Edward I of England, a woman eulogized since the sixteenth century as a model of ...

Interview with Meihan Boey

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing author, Meihan Boey. She is the author of The Formidable Miss Cassidy , which is the first novel in the Miss Cassidy trilogy. The first novel is about how a Scottish governess helps her employer's family who is haunted by a malevolent spirit. She has recently released, The Enigmatic Madam Ingram , which is the second novel in the trilogy. In this interview, we discussed not only her latest novel, but also Singaporean mythology. Thank you, Mrs. Boey! What inspired you to write The Formidable Miss Cassidy ? Did you know it would be a trilogy before you started writing or did it form while you were writing it? Yes, I did know I wanted to create a trilogy - I just didn’t know at the start whether or not I would be able to get there! The Formidable Miss Cassidy started life as a COVID project, sent as a short story to a little Canadian indie press. Because I didn’t think a typical Canadian audience was go...

The Enigmatic Madam Ingram (Miss Cassidy #2) by Meihan Boey: A Book Review

The Enigmatic Madam Ingram (Miss Cassidy #2) Author: Meihan Boey Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal Publisher: Harper Perennial Book Release Date: September 8, 2026 Pages: 512 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Miss Cassidy returns to nineteenth-century Singapore to help solve another dazzling supernatural mystery in this follow-up to the award-winning novel that The Guardian called a “classic-in-waiting.” When Letty Ingram arrives in Singapore in 1906, she is an enigma even unto herself. To the residents of the small Scottish village where she lives, she is a wealthy, half-Malay recluse who emerges from her home only for walks with her great beast of a hound. To Letty, she is a woman trying to lift a curse that causes her lose consciousness and wake up in strange places—sometimes, with blood on her hands—and no memory of what occurred. Letty ...

History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

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