Empress Dowager Ci'an

Uncommon card · No. 178960

Empress Xiaozhenxian (12 August 1837 – 8 April 1881) was the empress consort of the Xianfeng Emperor of China's Qing dynasty from 1852 until her husband's death in 1861, after which she was honored as Empress Dowager Ci'an. As empress dowager and one of the most senior members of the imperial family, she and Empress Dowager Cixi became co-regents during the reign of two young emperors: the Tongzhi Emperor and later the Guangxu Emperor. Although in principle, she had precedence over Cixi, Ci'an was in fact a self-effacing person and seldom intervened in politics, but she was the decision-maker in most family affairs. Instead, Empress Dowager Cixi was the decision-maker in most state affairs. A popular view of Empress Dowager Ci'an is that she was a highly respectable person, always quiet, never hot-tempered, and that she treated everybody very well and was highly respected by the Xianfeng Emperor. However, some historians have painted a very different reality, mainly that of a self-indulgent...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Artiste anonyme de la dynastie Qing, Public domain