EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI DOCUMENTARY - CIXI BIOGRAPHY PART 2
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- čas přidán 5. 07. 2024
- PART 1 : • EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI D...
The dragon Lady. Such is the nickname given by western observers to a woman who successfully seized power in late imperial China, and subsequently ruled the celestial empire for half a century, empress dowager Cixi. Her reputation as a ruthless and cruel ruler has often been depicted in both China and the west, while her image at the time was promoted as that of a compassionate leader. Between tradition and modernity, Cixi’s role in the end of the Qing dynasty was undoubtably of pivotal importance for the fate of a whole civilization. But who was she really, and how did a woman outside the imperial clan managed to rule china for over 47 years? Today, I bring you the biography of the the dragon lady, Empress Dowager Cixi.
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♫ MUSIC ♫
清代宫廷古乐合奏专辑 - 張福全
Combats de Tu-Lê
Qing Court Music
Civilization V - Washington War Theme
The Loyalist - Lotus Lane
🎬 VIDEO CREDITS 🎬
The War of Loong (2017)
The Sino-Japanese War at Sea 1894 (2012)
Towards the Republic (2003)
东陵大盗 (2008)
The Last Emperor (1987)
📜 MAIN SOURCES 📜
Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912) , (1943), Arthur W. Hummel, Sr.
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, (2013), Jung Chang
Cixi, the controversial concubine who became queen, led China into the modern age, (2016), Josep Maria Casals
🏷️ TAGS 🏷️
empress dowager cixi documentary
emperor tongzhi
tongzhi restoration
Yixin
Prince Gong
self-strengthening movement
self strengthening movement china
empress dowager ci'an
cixi biography
tz'u hsi
empress dowager cixi
Introduction: (0:00)
Ruling alone: (01:06)
"Retirement": (04:10)
Return to power: (08:54)
Boxer rebellion: (10:57)
Final years: (14:48)
Conclusion: (20:20) - Zábava
For those asking about what happened to Puyi or requesting for the story of Puyi, there's a big Hollywood movie that was made about him. The movie is "The Last Emperor". It's quite well made and in my opinion historically accurate.
I watched but not impress, fiction added.
I know for sure there is a part overdramatized/fictionalized - that when Puyi was kicked out of his palace by warlord troops - he was then portrayed as playing tennis with his tutor Reginald Johnston .....well that's pure Hollywood.
This same channel now has a 2-part documentary on Puyi. Just finished watching it before watching Cixi's two videos. Highly recommend.
Very good movie.
you could read his tutor’s book, Twilight in the Forbidden City, as well, which the movie is based on
This is somehow the story of the fall of many dynasties: Once the reign over their empire is secured, the descendents of the victors slowly decay into the petty squabbles of internal disputes about the court’s influence and who get what from whom. Soon enough a parallel world develops: the inner reality of the wealthy court (a la Versailles, etc.) and the factual reality of the general population and worse: the foreign enemies who don’t rest because the nobility is oblivious to what’s happening in the world. The rulers’ first priority then becomes first and foremost to secure their strength inside the court (with all the ramifications along the empire) rather than being preoccupied by their empire/countries and countrymen, not realizing that it is there where their strength is based in the end.
And also, when these dynasties try to enforce reforms (think of the Russian Empire among many) it is already too late and often to their dismay the same people influenced (and sometimes benefited) by these reforms turns against the old rulers, as they develop their own power.
That's the problem with absolute rule. *Centralization* of all the power in the society/nation created a situation where the ruling elites (the nobility, or the clergy, or the central planners in case of Socialist state) lost connection to what is really happening on the ground.
The court (or the party) became its own microcosm where the ruling elites struggle for supremacy. After all, you only need the approval of your *fellow elites* to maintain your position, instead of having to deal with fluctuating public opnion.
Decentralization means less unity and more conflicts in the society. Our ancestors view this as a bad thing, since they value *order* and "harmony" over all else and see selfishness and defiance as "sin".
On the other hand, "the West" (particularly in "Anglo-Saxon" tradition) believe that society/govt should protect the freedom of the individual citizen. Their society is a collection of free people, free to express themselves and free to pursue *individual dream/goal,* in contrast to our ancestors who believe that individual citizens must *conform* and serve the society/govt.
L
The cost of the summer palace is quite an interesting subject, historians often paint Cixi negatively due to it.
1. Cixi never indulged in long trips, such as trips to the hunting lodge or the coast. Emperor Qianlong would commonly have 2 - 3 trips a year, each costing hundreds of thousands of taels.
2. Historians who have intesively studied court records estimate the sum to be around 6 million taels. For a comparison, Emperor Guangxu's wedding cost around 5.5 million taels.
3. Cixi contributed 3 million of her savings from royal household allowances towards this, in addition to donations from officials.
4. While she did using funds earmarked for the Navy (which had an annual budget of 4 million taels), the interesting part is that she syphoned this money from the interest of these funds deposited in foreign banks, not the capital - money that would not make an impact on the navy's funds. We don't know how much she took exactly, but it's estimated to be 3 million taels in just under a decade.
Well the wedding was more for her niece. She wasted ALOT of money funding her tomb, her 60th birthday, and her daily lifestyle, all of which could have gone to other more pressing funds. She also insured and ignored the corruption weaking the Dynasty, which is why it fell shortly after her death, and the deaths of the old gaurd loyalists.
The Qing dynasty from the reign of the son of Qianlong had numerous opportunities to actually reform and save themselves, they made the wrong choice each time. They could never overcome their own delusions of grandeur.
It's the same with China now. Xi Pooh Bear thinks he can take on the world and have it submit to his whims. Kid knows nothing except his delusion of grandeur for sure.
@@SirChocula u r thinking of trump
@@Excalibur_86 Both. Both. Both.
Both is good
@@SirChocula You know, I think we should just wait for time to tell then decide who exactly is the idiot.
@@SirChocula ironically, Xi's aggressions towards China's neighbors has brought these countries together in an anti-china alliance, thus weakening china
Shes so iconic i love her
I can't help but think her death is revenge from the King who was poisoned a day prior. Heaven's wrath was brought upon her for all the evils she's committed.
I think she knew that she will die in a few days hence she poisoned the emperor to make sure that he wont do anything after her death.
She knew the end of the Qing Dynasty was coming. In her mind the death of the fatuous Emporer was in China's best interest. The Emporer was anti-western. She calculated how the dynasty should end in the best interest of the Chinese people. Was she wrong? We still can't say and will never know.
@@veronicapalmer5667 Guangxu was Anti-West, but less so than Cixi was. Guangxu's image in the west was better than that of Cixi's.
that's nonsense; you are watching too many dramas.
@@veronicapalmer5667 Emperor Guangxu was never anti-western. In fact he wished to emulate Japan's Emperor Meiji's Restoration/revolution/reformation/full-scale western learning.
Empress Dowager Cixi, no matter what's said here, will always be the person responsible for Imperial China's downfall in China, sort of like how Liu Bei is also viewed, even now, as a virtuous man. And to be honest, I agree. She wasted away all of Imperial China's money and only thought of herself and not the country.
Yeah but no one checked her
@@jackieclan815 Who could? With the emperor by her side, who'd dare to?
@@ktttttt lol yeah. She wasn't very good at succession planning
@@jackieclan815 I agree. She basically did anything she could to stay in power, without thinking how it would affect her country and even though she _wasn't_ Han Chinese, I think it was really irresponsible.
@@ktttttt Yeah she was incredibly self centered lol.
Thank you for making an effort to pronounce these names correctly. ❤️
谢谢！ps your pronunciation is excellent!
Its really sad that no one could stop her ambitions. She really thought she was the only one capable of ruling the country and cared much about leaving some of her heritrage in the throne. Sickening how she didnt even care about the emperor that she chose and not even the country
Thank you so much for making this video! It has helped me so much with understanding this part of history, and for my school assignments, saving me from reading through stacks upon stacks of thick books.
Finally! I've been waiting for the part 2! Thanks so much 😇
It's as ever your docs are, extremely enlightening and well explained...thank you. Looking forward to your next!
Thanks!
There is some correlation between fall of Qing Empire and Western Roman Empire, both are ended with a puppet boy emperor (Pu Yi and Romulus Augustulus), have "true ruler" behind the curtain (Empress Dowager Cixi and Orestes) both empire are invaded by foreign power (Huns and European forces), destroyed from within by rebel forces (Ricimer coup and An Lushan rebellion), try to reform the empire in the last seconds but failed.
BTW first King of Rome is Romulus, the last emperor of western Roman Empire is Romulus Augustulus.
First dynasty that united China is Qin
Last dynasty is Qing
Wow - I love your videos about ancient China - having watched the Chinese costume dramas, I got quite obsessed about China's history and am so glad my friend sent me your link. I have Chinese roots through my mother and it's exciting to know that my ancestors came from China. Thank you very much, your videos are so interesting and informative.
Your production absolutely excellent quality. Thank you.
I'm hoping also that you can make a video about the Step Empress Hoifa-Nara and some of Qianlong's Imperial Consorts and Concubines.
I'll consider it, though it wouldn't be any time soon
Oh yea Haifa-Nara is on the famous series yanxi palace she’s a handful.
I love ruyi royal love in the palace. I saw that she was the antagonist in yanxi palace. I do what to know her true story
@@gabbielee1498 me too I've been binge watching Ruyi and just couldn't stop. But maybe it will be hard to make a video about her considering Qianlong erased her records 😔
@@gabbielee1498 Ula Nara! I’d love a documentary on her life too!
Yay! Finally! Was checking back since the last one cos i tot i missed the part 2 upload. haha
Great job! Thank you so much 🌷
Excellent video. Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
I'm so glad this is in English been looking for documentaries on China.
sweet I've been looking forward to seeing this the first video was great 😊❤️
Thank you!
You did a really amazing job with this video so much detail and effort gone into developing. I need to watch a few times to fully comprehend, but thanks so much for all your hard work. Such an incredible fast moving time in the development of modern China
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoy my work :)
How needs Game Of Thrones when we have the real events of the many Chinese dynasty's? This was great stuff! It's almost unthinkable today that so muchwars after each other, and lost battle after lost battle did not bring down the Qing Dynasty even earlier.
18:36 The emperor is on high
Riding the dragon.
I love this channel💖
very informative and interesting
She really did lose the plot. To even think about going to war with 11 technologically advanced nations was an act of utter madness.
Good video. There is a theory according to which Li Lianying was the one who poisoned emperor Guangxu, to save himself from his revenge. Once Cixi was dead Guangxu would have retaken his power, and punished the ones who held him prisoner, so maybe the eunuch decided to act first. It could also have been Yuan Shikai, who had betrayed the emperor during the Hundred Days Reforms, and surely didn't want him to rule again.
The reforms came too late to save the dynasty, and rapid changes could have further destabilized an already weak empire. This could be the reason why Cixi stopped everything. At the end she was a chameleon, like the Italian Prime Minister Depretis who ruled during the same age. Both were able to become whatever the moment needed. Sadly, for China, this never meant a coherent and capable leadership.
Now you could make reviews of Chinese classics, or of Chinese historical movies judging their historical accuracy. An Italian CZcamsr I follow does something similar.
Could you tell me his channel name I think I could use his videos for my history essay
Yeah a chameleon. But it all failed. The reforms were necessary in the long run. Any reforms will temporarily destabilize a nation. Similar to Meiji. Martin Luther. And Martin Luther King Jr
Another excellent video on Chinese history. Please make a video on the last emperor of China. As a child I saw a film on this topic, "The Last Emperor" (1987)
Thank you ! I definitely will :)
@@History_of_China It would be interesting to view your take on Puyi. For in the long line of Chinese and later Qing Emperors, Puyi as a baby Emperor was a mere historical footnote. An unfortunate life manipulated by Cixi, then by Japanese as the puppet emperor of Manchuko, and by Mao showcased as citizen of a 'new' China. An ironic but fitting end to Chinese imperial rule, he wasn't able biologically to produce heirs to the throne even if the 1911 revolution hadn't taken place.
Awesome. Wish we had some credits so I could cite you as a resource.
Would love to see a video on some Chinese classical literature 😁
I can't help but admire the Empress Dowager. She wasn't a good ruler, but you cannot say that she didn't have courage.
She was a tyrant and power hunger..... and a radical traditionist which ruined the empire.
*****She lived in extravagant even on the collapse of the Qing. [From the legend...For her 60th birthday, She took almost the national budget for her grandeur with The same time Qing lost to Japanese.]
Just because someone has courage doesn't mean you should admire them. Evil people can have courage. Serial killers can have courage. That shouldn't make them admirable. And she wasn't as courageous as you make her out to be. Her flip flopping on the issue of the Boxer Rebellion doesn't speak well of her "courage."
she was an expert politician but a terrible ruler. much like Mao
wow these are some quality videos here.
Thanks! Glad you like them
Nice vid as always, Will you do a summary of your qing series when youre done with the xinhai revolution?
Thanks ! I might do that, yes
At 4:33. Wait, what? The New Summer Palace is part of the Old Summer Palace? Wow. The New Summer Palace is HUGE! I was always under the impression that it was a totally new section, apart from the Old Summer Palace. I lived nearby so wandered through the New Summer Palace grounds three times. IT IS MASSIVE. As big as Versailles and its gardens, which I've also visited and walked. And this was but one fraction of the original Old Summer Palace burnt down by the French and British in 1860. OK, so now I get why the Old Summer Palace was considered the biggest palace complex in world history before being burnt down, because there are still huge parts to the south. Did this palace complex fit the WHOLE of Haidian?
I also like it when they snatched Cixi's necklace and it fell to the ground while raiding the tomb, it reminds me of two siblings fighting over candy.
Speaking of eunuchs there was a movie about a boy who became one near the very end of the Qing dynasty.
I can't remember the name of the movie, but remembered it was pretty heartbreaking.
Lol every time you say CiXi I hear Cersei. I wondered if RR Martin got his idea of Cersei from CiXi. They are both women who ruled behind young kings and eventually taking over the throne for them self.
The parallel is interesting
Yes we would watch part one if we could find part one !!!
i was always curious about the relationship between guangxu and cixi and whether it was completely hostile or if the relationship was like between a mother/son, etc. i've also heard theories that guangxu was murdered by yuan shikai
Nobody who wants to sleep in peace after death, should build a giant mausoleum or take anything of value to their grave.
It's not that hard to understand.
Interesting and agreeable. I wonder if the members of the House of Windsor think alike.
An iron fist, but rather a metal claw.
I understand that Xian had been an important ally for Cixi for many years so I have to wonder if she missed her when she died or if she was too ambitious at this point to give it much thought
Great. What will be the topic of your next video?
I have several ideas in mind. I'll make a post to ask
she was a fucking superstar
I hope you are doing one on the life of Puyi with 1908-1912&1912to1945 highlighted
Definitely !
What movies do you get this footage from
Will you be covering the last emperor of china, the downfall of the qing dynasty? Or if possible, even events beyond that such as xinhai revolution and warlord era?
I definitely will do Puyi. I talked about the Xinhai revolution in my Yuan Shikai video, but I might make a dedicated video on it :)
Wow
The video clips you put in between, where they could be found or is there any dramas for empress dowager cixi, if anyone knows, please tell
Hi, he often puts them in the video description! Also you can watch “Firmament of the Pleiades”, it’s pretty accurate
@@nefosworld thankyou so much
There has to be some "ancestral treasure or gem" that has been hidden and survived being looted and stolen. Possibly passed on to descendents of the Dynasty. That would dope if so...
Are you going to do a video on sino french ear it’s not biggest but still seems cool
I definitely want to! However, since I've moved away from the Qing dynasty, I probably won't get into it for a while
Can you make a history video of the terms "the passion of the cut sleeve" and "the divided peach." Thank you!
YES
Wasn't the first idiom implies gayness? The idiom came from Emperor Ai of Han. He had a young man sleep by his bed sometimes. One time, when that young man held Ai's sleeve, the emperor cut the sleeve to let the man sleep.
@@chialuenlis5931 both a slang for gay, along with comrade and vase.
btw, the man was Dong Xian.
I'll consider it :)
Yes please from a Chinese.
Thanks... enjoyed it.. would love to know what happened to the 3 year old Emperor.
“The last emperor” is a movie loosely about his life up to his death
@@kathyh4804 thanks 😊
Watch the movie the last emperor and you’ll know
è fottutamente buono. dov'è il patreon?
Excellent video, thank you for your time. History witness that, a leader not only smart also must be a moral and compassion in order to withstand the power and order. With the US strategy of IR, it is a failure and millions suffer for a leader mistake.
Thanks for your comment!
Sorry, but what is the source of the photo of Guangxu at 07:16? As far as I know, it is generally thought that there is no photo of Guangxu left today.
Hi, it was produced by the company "Underwood & Underwood" and taken c.1901, branded as "The type of race that rules China". I'm not entirely sure that really is Guangxu, but the dragon on the clothes could be a cue. In any case, I think it represents the idea quite well :)
@@History_of_China Thank you! I have never seen this photo in any Chinese source.
@@xiaoxiaowu6449 You're welcome!
At 20:02. Fun fact--during the Cultural Revolution of the mid-1960s, Maoist Red Guards also violently broke into Cixi's tomb, stripped her corpse of all finery and then paraded it around before flinging it in a ditch outside the mausoleum. That poor dead body really went through the wringer in the 20th century, LOL...
Can you do late Yuan emperors please?
I'll probably get to it after the Qing series
Tonkin has the same characters as Tokyo, interesting
I’d like to learn more about the life of Princess Darling.
can you make a video about puyi and consort xi and the war of the 8 princes
I definitely will talk about Puyi soon. I'll cover other topics after finishing the Qing dynasty
I think empress cian keep the empress cixi sane notice when she died everything start going downhill
Please make videos on Genghis Khan,his sons,and grandchildren.
I don't know if I'll talk about Gengis, but definitely Möngke and Kublai when I start the Yuan dynasty.
when will the emperor puyi video be upload?
I still have to finish the Sino Japanese war and Boxer Rebellion first. Puyi will come after :)
@@History_of_China Ok I like your video very much 😂❤️
We Wish to Feature about the Xinhai Revolution
I'll definitely talk about it, either as part of Puyi's biography or in a dedicated video
The 23 dislikes came from Cixi's supporters
people say the idea of standardized test today derived from Chinese imperial exam. is that true?
Couldn't guanxu just start a coup of his own to get revenge on cixi and her allies. Doesn't make sence
He tried to in 1898 but Yuan Shikai, who was part of his plot, betrayed him.
*Video Idea:* How Imperial China selected its officers? | Imperial Chinese Exams
I definitely will talk about that subject
@@History_of_China Christmas came a bit late for me, but it came. Thanks.
Dude. Love your work. Binged on all. Just a little feedback, since it is about China and really only about China, getting the pronunciation of Chinese names right would be important. And fairly easy.
Ci2 Xi3 is a difficult word to pronounce. The Xi3 is in the 3rd tone with air hissing through the front teeth if we wish to pronounce it correctly. Translated it means Benevolent Joy.
Please make a history of the Miao people from China.
The Miaozu aka Hmong 苗族
I'll consider it :)
Wow thank you °~.☆.~°
The fall of Qing dynasty has many similar parallels to fall of different monarchies. Absolute power corrupts, breeds complacency and encourages degradation of the government.
If cixi had known what shikai was gonna do later, she wouldn’t have appointed him
Reupload?
Or was it just the same again and again, lol
This isn't a reupload, though I talked about the same events in my Guangxu video (from the emperor's perspective).
@@History_of_China I see, thanks
几百年一下就过了。所以人生是十分短暫的。
When digging a grave, dig two graves....Cixi leadership skills were poor. Poor Puyi didn't have a chance with the foundations set prior
That’s why you have to be careful who you bring around your kids bc some people are so mean to the children of other. This lady killed the young emperor while she died a natural death 24 hours later .
Why didn't Empress dowager cixi just become an offcal monarch herself?
Because she was not connected by blood to the ruling Aisin Gioro dynasty. Also, she was a woman, and the only empress to actually rule the empire, Wu Zetian, has quite a bad reputation.
Despite her huge polticial power, the cultural rules of the Qing dynasty prevented her from becoming the official monarch
Like many East & Southeast Asian royal dynasties as well as the Chinese dynasties that came before the Qing Dynasty, the Aisin-Gioro clan followed legitimate direct male-only primogeniture in the agnatic lineage.
In other words: She cannot become empress regnant because she is simply not a member of the House of Aisin-Gioro. She is a member of a Manchu clan of Mongolian origin called Yehe-Nara (a branch of the Mongolian Borjigin clan). Sure, she is distantly related to the Qing Emperors (through a common ancestor Yangginu, maternal grandfather of Emperor Hong Taiji) but she still isn’t born as a member of the imperial Aisin-Gioro clan. She married into the imperial Aisin-Gioro clan by becoming a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor; eventually becoming empress dowager.
As @History of China said earlier, it is due to the cultural rules of the Qing Dynasty that prevented her from becoming an official monarch.
I don't understand how any Chinese person in their right mind could have a positive view of this woman. She literally ran the country into the ground while pursuing her selfish interests.
There were many reasons for China's multiple economic, political, military and social crises during that time and to lay the blame at the feet of one woman, a woman who has been much maligned and misunderstood by western historians, is a bit much. For emperors who had not come of age it is perfectly natural to have regents rule in their stead and that would include, i imagine, their mothers, whatever the rules said. Similarly, it is not at all unusual for incompetent or debauched emperors to be deposed, just look at the Roman empire as an example.
If the emperor is now married to Cuxi's niece, then were not the emperor and empress first cousins? He was her nephew, she was her niece, Cuxi had no in-law relatives. Therefore: it makes sense to me they were first cousins.
Honestly she was one of the most capable rulers ever. Reforms are hard and she had nothing but shards thrown at her over and over.
Him: " China a is ruled by a wayman and a 9 year old"
Pewdiepie: "hmmmmm....I approve"
Wu Zetian of the Manchu empire.
Cixi sounds a lot like Cersei👀👀
She is crazy
Despite all the turmoil at the end of the Qing dynasty, China survived as a nation, the Chinese survived and moved forward. The future is yet to unfold. Communism will evolve and may also change to a future ideology yet unknown。 My only wish is that there is no all-out nuclear war between China and USA. China will be destroyed even though America...a nation with a shallow history will also be wiped out. But it is the destruction of China, a nation that goes back 5,000 years, that will be tragic.
north vietnam tonkin is definitely looks like china
I don't understand how the succession works, how can the emperor had a living father, shouldn't the throne pass to him?
By the time of Emperor Yongzheng (1678 - 1735), the emperor secretly selected his heir, who would be revealed when the monarch died. After the reign of Xianfeng, who only had one son, each emperor died childless, so a new son of heaven had to be selected by a council (i.e. Cixi)
@@History_of_China Many thanks!
She's very powerful for a woman that time.
She was very powerful for a woman of any time! It's extremely rare throughout human history, past and present for any womam to have that much power
@@fatimaani8346 by virtue of being the Empress Dowager of China, a feudal kingdom, and continuing to manipulate/dominate weak/child emperors.
I am still confused why all these nations were fighting with China. Like what is their business there?
Capitalism. Capitalism demands new markets and new investment opportunities; new streams of income and new resources to exploit. It is insatiable. That and the tendency of nation states, and certainly empires, to expand their territory whenever they can. Basically, they did it because they could. The strong devouring the weak.
Who took over after dowger died
Officially, it was Puyi, the child emperor. His father Zaifeng however acted as regent
Very admire … English people talk Chinese History 😅😅😅
Glad you enjoy!
8 Countries alliance Again to China 2021 (1900 happened)😁😁😁 the reason was - China Killed 🗣🗣🗣diplomat
You know I wish people would really understand the past 100 year history of China.
They would certainly shut up about their stupid remarks regarding the country.
Something, something, rhymes with "arrest Hillary Clinton."
Sorry, I think your video is so bring
以至于我无法观看下去。
你的视频不应该只是平淡地叙述，变得更有趣些，才会有更多人看下去，播放量才会高。
这是我给你的 advices。
Cixi destroyed the dynasty
No help from westerners then‽