Empress Dowager CIXI

Cixi s extraordinary story has all the elements of a good fairy tale: bizarre, sinister, triumphant and terrible. The Economist

A truly authoritative account of Cixi s rule. Her story is both important and evocative. Orville Schell, The New York Times Book Review

A fantastic Machiavellian tale. . . . Dives into a genuinely fascinating figure: a fierce imperial consort who ruled behind the thrones of two successive Chinese emperors and helped ease China into the twentieth century. New York magazine

Certain to become the standard by which all future biographies of the Dowager Empress are measured. The Daily Beast

Jung Chang has written a pathbreaking and generally persuasive book. The New York Review of Books

If there is one woman who mattered in the history of modern China, it is the empress dowager Cixi. . . . [Her] conventional image is queried in this detailed and beautifully narrated biography, which at long last restores the empress dowager to her rightful place. The Sunday Times (London)

Sets out to rehabilitate the reputation of a woman who, [Chang] argues, helped modernize China. . . . While Chang acknowledges Cixi s missteps such as allowing the Boxers to fight against a Western invasion, which led to widespread slaughter she sees her as a woman whose energy, farsightedness, and ruthless pragmatism transformed a country. The New Yorker

[An] authoritative and epic biography. The Toronto Star

Well-researched and provocative. . . . Cixi deserves to be remembered and this book is to be welcomed for giving an important figure in Chinese history the prominence she deserves. . . . This spirited biography reminds us that a greater female presence might be a trigger for much-needed political change. New Statesman

Fascinating. . . . Wonderfully illuminating. . . . Jung Chang s new book gives the infamous concubine Cixi her due. The Spectator

This is a rich, dramatic story of rebellions, battles, plotting, rivalry, foreign invasion, punishment and forbidden love. . . . [Chang] uses new evidence and meticulous research to cast a spotlight on the amazing woman she regards as the mother of modern China. Daily Mail

Corrects a longstanding misconception about a woman whose impact on China can t be overstated. It s a fascinating look at power, politics and the gender divide. BookPage

A rich and fascinating book that never relaxes its hold on the reader despite the marshalling of a mass of complex historical details seen through the prism of Cixi. The New York Journal of Books