Empress Dowager Cixi was the de facto ruler of China from 1861 until her death, in 1908.

The Empress Has No Clothes

Sir Edmund Backhouse, the author of a highly influential book on the Qing empress dowager Cixi, claimed affairs with everyone from Oscar Wilde to the empress herself—but was any of it true?

By Ralph Pezzullo

In our era of concern over the venomous influence of misinformation and propaganda, consider the case of Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), of the Qing dynasty, who remains one of the most controversial figures in Chinese history.

In the minds of some historians, Cixi was a narcissistic “dragon lady” who would stop at nothing (including poisoning members of her own immediate family) to retain power. To others, Cixi was a victim of circumstances who tried to preserve the dignity of the Qing Empire and China in the face of voracious foreign interests.