---
product_id: 6464013
title: "Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China"
price: "€ 42.50"
currency: EUR
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reviews_count: 9
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---

# Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China

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desertcart.com: Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China: 9780307456700: Chang, Jung: Books

Review: Unveiling the True Empres - Jung Chang’s Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China offers a compelling and well-documented reinterpretation of one of China’s most influential yet misunderstood historical figures. The book vividly portrays the life of Empress Dowager Cixi, emphasizing her intelligence, political skill, and vision for modernization amid the rigid structures of the Qing dynasty. Contrary to earlier depictions that portrayed Cixi as a ruthless and conservative ruler, Chang presents her as a pragmatic and forward-thinking leader who initiated significant reforms in governance, diplomacy, and technology. The author’s meticulous research and engaging narrative provide a nuanced view that restores fairness to Cixi’s legacy, long overshadowed by historical bias and gender prejudice. Set against the backdrop of the final years of imperial China, the book immerses readers in the complexities of political transition and cultural change. Overall, it is an insightful and thought-provoking work that contributes meaningfully to the understanding of women’s leadership and China’s path to modernity. Highly recommended for readers of history and gender studies.
Review: Don't Know Much About (Chinese) History - I don't know how history is taught these days, but in my generation, the term "history" in the schools was largely European history - and that usually meant British, French and Italian. Northern European history was not taught, presumably because I was a post-WWII baby and we didn't want to know about THEM, nor was Asian history. As a result, most of what I know about Chinese history is what I've read, and I don't really have a sense of whether what I read is accurate or not. Thus, I can't tell you whether Jung Chang's history of Empress Dowager Cixi is factual, or if - as some reviewers say - revisionist and inaccurate. What I can tell you is that this is an interesting book about a very interesting period and a fascinating woman who ruled China for many years in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Is it a perfect book? Not really. It's well written and interesting, but I wouldn't necessarily call it gripping and a page-turner. The author also prompts one of my pet peeves in history and biography - she has a point to prove and insists upon making it over and over and over again. As a result, she never misses an opportunity to tell us that Cixi wasn't the bitch on wheels that some say she was, a reactionary determined to preserve the ruling Manchus at any cost and opposing modernization wherever it reared its ugly head; instead, we're constantly reminded that Cixi really led the way for modernization. I wish I knew the truth, but I suppose even history (or capital-H History) doesn't know the right answer, so I'll have to be content with a good read if not a great one and a lingering question whether the author protests too much. It's not as bad as it is in some works (for example, Meacham's biography of Jefferson), and it doesn't detract from the fascinating life Cixi led, but it is irksome at times. That said, it's definitely a worthwhile read, and one I recommend pretty highly, if not at the 5-star level.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #221,212 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #27 in Historical China Biographies #50 in Chinese History (Books) #786 in Women's Biographies |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (2,152) |
| Dimensions  | 6.13 x 1.25 x 9.16 inches |
| Edition  | Reprint |
| ISBN-10  | 0307456706 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0307456700 |
| Item Weight  | 1.5 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 496 pages |
| Publication date  | September 9, 2014 |
| Publisher  | Vintage |

## Images

![Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81rpzJCItGL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Unveiling the True Empres
*by R***C on October 13, 2025*

Jung Chang’s Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China offers a compelling and well-documented reinterpretation of one of China’s most influential yet misunderstood historical figures. The book vividly portrays the life of Empress Dowager Cixi, emphasizing her intelligence, political skill, and vision for modernization amid the rigid structures of the Qing dynasty. Contrary to earlier depictions that portrayed Cixi as a ruthless and conservative ruler, Chang presents her as a pragmatic and forward-thinking leader who initiated significant reforms in governance, diplomacy, and technology. The author’s meticulous research and engaging narrative provide a nuanced view that restores fairness to Cixi’s legacy, long overshadowed by historical bias and gender prejudice. Set against the backdrop of the final years of imperial China, the book immerses readers in the complexities of political transition and cultural change. Overall, it is an insightful and thought-provoking work that contributes meaningfully to the understanding of women’s leadership and China’s path to modernity. Highly recommended for readers of history and gender studies.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Don't Know Much About (Chinese) History
*by R***M on March 9, 2014*

I don't know how history is taught these days, but in my generation, the term "history" in the schools was largely European history - and that usually meant British, French and Italian. Northern European history was not taught, presumably because I was a post-WWII baby and we didn't want to know about THEM, nor was Asian history. As a result, most of what I know about Chinese history is what I've read, and I don't really have a sense of whether what I read is accurate or not. Thus, I can't tell you whether Jung Chang's history of Empress Dowager Cixi is factual, or if - as some reviewers say - revisionist and inaccurate. What I can tell you is that this is an interesting book about a very interesting period and a fascinating woman who ruled China for many years in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Is it a perfect book? Not really. It's well written and interesting, but I wouldn't necessarily call it gripping and a page-turner. The author also prompts one of my pet peeves in history and biography - she has a point to prove and insists upon making it over and over and over again. As a result, she never misses an opportunity to tell us that Cixi wasn't the bitch on wheels that some say she was, a reactionary determined to preserve the ruling Manchus at any cost and opposing modernization wherever it reared its ugly head; instead, we're constantly reminded that Cixi really led the way for modernization. I wish I knew the truth, but I suppose even history (or capital-H History) doesn't know the right answer, so I'll have to be content with a good read if not a great one and a lingering question whether the author protests too much. It's not as bad as it is in some works (for example, Meacham's biography of Jefferson), and it doesn't detract from the fascinating life Cixi led, but it is irksome at times. That said, it's definitely a worthwhile read, and one I recommend pretty highly, if not at the 5-star level.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cixi: The ultimate survivor!
*by G***S on December 21, 2014*

In response to the many criticisms of this biography by Jung Chang being predisposed to admiration of Cixi rather than impartial, let us all imagine the empire of China as it was. Thoroughly despotic, enshrined traditions that refused updating, Emperors isolated and encumbered by court rituals and the courtiers who clung almost irrationally to them, China had imposed self isolation upon itself further encouraging fatal stagnation. For all its intense inventiveness and the one grand voyage of exploration, China faced no real unity, entrenched in Confucian ideology, a corrupt bureaurcracy, and numerous peasant revolts. With no incentive to change, there was no standing professional national army, only regional armies whose governance lay under the governors of those states, no navy, China was in actuality very weak. Foreign nations found her ready for despoliation, and in the classic imperialistic trend of the 19th century, China suffered humiliation after humiliation at their unjust invasions, and found her people enslaved to the opium trade. She was raped and pillaged; her national treasures looted and burned, then made to pay reparations to those who savaged her! Imagine how Europeans and Americans would respond to enforced religious proselytism, alien take overs of ports, and having alien armed services to quell any revolt against them and to punish any person who harmed one of the occupiers' people! Imagine being treated as a second class citizen in one's own country! Imagine the legitimate governments having to bow to their demands, to helplessly watch their populaces succumb to drug addiction with drugs provided by those "civilized Christian" nations! Chang's biography of this amazing woman who overcame the stigma of her sex, her lack of formal education, and whose survival skills allowed her to become a formidable force, reveals Cixi to be thoroughly human, a complex woman with many more virtues than flaws. She had no points of reference from which she could derive deduced plans of action; she had to learn by doing, so of course she made mistakes, of course she authorized actions that came from her gut reaction to the almost impossible horrific situations created by the so-called civilized countries. In the end she regretted her missteps bespeaking her conscience. She never had recognition as the legitimate leader of her country; she could not interact with foreigners because of court protocol. She was constantly balancing her rule with managing her obstreperous Court Advisors, all while learning how to interact with aggressive, pugnacious, greedy, avaricious foreign powers. She was almost literally blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back! Remember, China had no previous foreign missions, no previous diplomatic contact, and no one who could or would school her. China had closed her doors; China now found herself totally unprepared for the whirlwind landing on her shores. Cixi overcame her inexperience by being precociously able to evolve; she overcame her prejudices by becoming open to change. Placed into her shoes with only her knowledge of her environment, who among us could rise (let alone survive) from concubine to empress, then from a virtually powerless ceremonial position to being the invisible ultimate power of the largest nation in the world even while constrained by obsolescent but nearly insurmountable court protocol! Chang did an amazing scholarly work relying on newly uncovered primary resources that bely previous held beliefs about Cixi. This is an amazingly well written biography that is also easily read. Considering it is not welcome in China may speak to its veracity. For future editions, a pronunciation guide would be welcomed by most. Also numbered footnotes would be lovely.

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*Last updated: 2026-01-23*