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A Imperatriz de Ferro: A concubina que criou a China moderna by Donaldson M. Garschagen, Jung Chang
siria's review against another edition
3.0
Jung Chang's biography of the Empress Cixi is a fascinating look at a period of history about which I know very little. As I'm not familiar with the existing historiography, I don't know to what extent exactly this is a revisionist biography—certainly, if Chang's characterisation of previous historical works on Cixi is true, then this is a swing of the pendulum in the other direction. Chang presents a picture of a woman who was not without her faults, who could be ruthless if necessary, and who was firmly rooted in a traditionalist and monarchist worldview, but who was also a reformer and a moderniser. Chang bases this, she claims, in large part on Chinese-language sources which have been largely disregarded by Chinese scholars and inaccessible to Anglophone ones.
I think there's much to consider here, and Chang is good at unpicking the ways in which gender shaped both how Cixi had to present herself and the ways in which both her contemporaries and later scholars have viewed her. However even I could see that there was special pleading in operation here. Telling me that Cixi rarely used torture or execution as a political tool when diplomacy and tact would do instead is one thing—but you cannot then gloss over in a couple of lines the fact that Cixi ordered that her adoptive son be poisoned when she was on her own deathbed, or his favourite concubine thrown down a well because there wasn't enough room for her in their entourage when fleeing Beijing!
Empress Dowager Cixi really reads like the first salvo in a broader reassessment of Cixi's life—Chang has probably been too laudatory here, but I think this biography should lead to further study and reassessment.
(To nitpick as a historian, I really disliked the citation style—why do publishers seem to think that a popular audience will faint away if footnotes are used? I also really, really wish that people would stop using the word 'medieval' as a synonym for 'barbaric.')
I think there's much to consider here, and Chang is good at unpicking the ways in which gender shaped both how Cixi had to present herself and the ways in which both her contemporaries and later scholars have viewed her. However even I could see that there was special pleading in operation here. Telling me that Cixi rarely used torture or execution as a political tool when diplomacy and tact would do instead is one thing—but you cannot then gloss over in a couple of lines the fact that Cixi ordered that her adoptive son be poisoned when she was on her own deathbed, or his favourite concubine thrown down a well because there wasn't enough room for her in their entourage when fleeing Beijing!
Empress Dowager Cixi really reads like the first salvo in a broader reassessment of Cixi's life—Chang has probably been too laudatory here, but I think this biography should lead to further study and reassessment.
(To nitpick as a historian, I really disliked the citation style—why do publishers seem to think that a popular audience will faint away if footnotes are used? I also really, really wish that people would stop using the word 'medieval' as a synonym for 'barbaric.')
sciura's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best biographies I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Chang is sweeping in scale and also absolutely meticulous in her rendering of one of the greatest politicians in history.
avril_schroten's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
absolutely incredible
periparaparasakura's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.75
julieabe89's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This is a fascinating look at a flawed ruler of a nation who tried hard to bring her people into the modern world. She tried hard to be fair and just, despite not being able to rule in her own right. Her revolutions were slow but mostly bloodless with the bloody parts being some of her few errors. I loved learning about her.
sav_pls's review against another edition
DNFd; as soon as we got into part two we started going crazy. The historical accuracy here is,,,, suspect and the tone is very weird. The last whole chapter has just been "Cixi was so cool and #femminist and so much cooler than every man in China because she believed the West was So Cool and loved them and made everything in China Western like it should be."
And regardless of the truthfulness of that statement the tone is so "girls rule boys drool"
And regardless of the truthfulness of that statement the tone is so "girls rule boys drool"