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A review by karingforbooks
Empress Dowager CIXI: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
My biggest issue with this book is the organization. It’s pseudo chronological, but she jumps between years and themes so there’s no continuous thread in the book to keep you on track. Aside from that I think the writing is good. I think her clarity was excellent. Her bias which every author has was weirdly pro
western and sinulteanously pro china, and I couldn’t quite
figure out which way to go with that. It wasn’t a bad thing, just unusual. I loved learning about this woman, however, and I love that she is being vindicated. I think the author did a really nice job of presenting Cixi as an empress in her own right rather than continuing the myth that she was only a woman, and therefore couldn’t have done anything let alone correctly.
western and sinulteanously pro china, and I couldn’t quite
figure out which way to go with that. It wasn’t a bad thing, just unusual. I loved learning about this woman, however, and I love that she is being vindicated. I think the author did a really nice job of presenting Cixi as an empress in her own right rather than continuing the myth that she was only a woman, and therefore couldn’t have done anything let alone correctly.