Cixi - Infinite Women

Born: 29 November 1835, China
Died: 15 November 1908
Country most active: China
Also known as: 慈禧太后, Yehe Nara Xingzhen, Cíxǐ Tàihòu, various spellings when transliterated into English

The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.

Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) was born Yehe Nara Xingzhen in 1835 Beijing.
Cixi, a Manchu Yehe Nara clan member, held power in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for nearly five decades, from 1861 to 1908. Initially a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor, she gave birth to a son, Zaichun, in 1856.
After the Xianfeng Emperor died in 1861, Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci’an jointly assumed the roles of co-empress dowagers for the young Tongzhi Emperor. Cixi later solidified her authority by placing her nephew on the throne as the Guangxu Emperor in 1875. She oversaw moderate reforms during this period.
Despite resistance to Western governance, Cixi supported technological and military advancements and endorsed the Hundred Days’ Reforms in 1898 with reservations. She placed the Guangxu Emperor under virtual house arrest and executed key reformers. After the Boxer Rebellion and defeat by Allied forces, Cixi adopted a more conciliatory approach toward foreigners in Beijing.
Cixi’s death in 1908 led to Manchu conservative rule, with a young Puyi as the emperor. Historians debate her legacy, with some blaming her for the Qing dynasty’s downfall. In contrast, others credit her with maintaining order and implementing reforms, including abolishing slavery and the old civil service examination system, which was replaced by institutions like Peking University.

From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:

Empress Dowager, the most famous woman in Chinese history, born in Pekings. She came of a Manchu family named Hui Cheng, and in her sixteenth year was selected for the Imperial harem of the Emperor Hien-fêng.
She started as a concubine of the fifth rank, but because of her beauty and talents was advanced in rank, until in 1858 she was second only to the first concubine, Tze-an, who became Imperial consort on the death of Hien-fêng’s legal wife.
Practically uneducated when she entered the palace, she applied herself diligently to a thorough course in Chinese history and classics, and became known as a fine scholar of the old school.
Having given birth to a son, afterward Emperor Tung-chih, her influence greatly increased, and she became Empress of the Western Place. In 1861 on the death of Hien-fêng, she frustrated a conspiracy to put her out of the way, and together with Tze-an, the Empress of the Eastern Palace, and Prince Kung she secured the overthrow of her enemies.
She was twenty-six years of age, and easily dominating Tze-an, she became the real ruler of China, remaining so during the reigns of Tung-chih and Kwang-sü. She had the political wisdom to select the great statesman, Li Hung Chang as her chief advisor, and later became his protégé, Yuan Shih-Kai. These two men, together with Prince Kung and Prince Ching, helped her to direct her foreign policies.
She was able to keep her country in fairly good standing among the nations of the world until the Chino-Japanese War (1894-1895) revealed the weakness of China and its ability to prevent territorial aggression.
After seizures, leases, and concessions of the Powers, came the Boxer Rebellion, and although she at first disapproved of it, she later gave the movement encouragement and imperial support. The tragic results of the Rebelling having taught Tz’u-hsi that the old order in China must eradicate, from 1901 until her death she distinctly encouraged the modernizing of China, and the gradual forming of a constitutional government.
Tz’u-hsi has been much maligned by her enemies, and as much overpraised by her admirers, but she was undoubtedly a great ruler and one of the few women who have profoundly influenced the world’s history.