Empress Dowager Cixi (reigned 1861 – 1908)
Cixi started her royal life as the concubine to the Xianfeng Emperor, bearing him his only son, Tongzhi. The Emperor died when his son was 5 years old, and Cixi staged a coup to gain power. Empress Cixi understood the power of borrowing from other cultures. She developed schools that trained students in foreign languages and customs, built arsenals full of western-style weaponry, and developed the first foreign service office in China. When her son turned 17, Cixi gave up power, but reclaimed it when he died two years later, holding on to the throne until her nephew, Guangxu, came of age. Guangxu passed reforms meant to modernize Chinese society, but the faction who opposed the sweeping changes helped Cixi, who also opposed the reforms, regain power.
