Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China

Pearl Buck states in her Forward to this book that she has tried to portray Tzu Hsi accurately based on "available resources" and her "own memories" of how the Chinese that she knew in China, growing up there as the daughter of missionaries, felt about the sovereign. Buck says that Good and Evil mingled in Tzu Hsi in heroic dimensions, and Buck's story-line describes instances of both qualities. Consequently, being pulled back and forth between sympathy with and aversion to the main character makes for a conflicted and not very satisfying emotional trek for the reader.Tzu Hsi is given the personality and character traits of a "Tigress." She is someone who is, therefore, capable of seizing and holding ruling power over a long period of time.One element in her personality, as presented by Buck, is fixed stubbornness. She can't be persuaded even by counselors whom she loves and respects that she would be wiser to ameliorate her hostility toward the Imperialist Westerners that have pushed into China. She disapproves of their modern innovations that destroy age-old traditions, she is angered by their planting of a new religion, and she is incensed against them for invading the empire and having forced their privileged treaties on the Chinese. Against advice, she spends money extravagantly in order to build glorious, exquisitely-furnished palaces and wondrous outdoor parks even though the costs are a terrible burden on the people who must be taxed ever more heavily in order to pay for the luxuries that she loves.Unlike most Chinese women, the Empress was eager to study and learn, spent much time mastering the learning available to her in the royal library into which she gathered whatever additional resources she was able to discover. Her learning about Chinese history aided her from a political standpoint. From behind the scenes, she was able to assist the emperor and later her young son when she became empress dowager. In this story, Buck shows Tzu Hsi spending a great deal of her leisure time in reading and study. Also, she seems to have been mad about theatricals and plays, and the reader would guess that she must have contributed much to traditional theater art by her craving for that kind of entertainment.On only two occasions Buck shows Tzu Hsi becoming able to change her stubborn attitudes and opinions about how China ought to act in certain critical situations. Once convinced that her actions have been very unwise, she made immediate turn-arounds and took absolutely new courses that were as stubbornly fixed as the previous courses have been.Imperial rulership in China strongly linked its rulers with divinity, seeing them as almost divine. The Chinese imperial mother was customarily termed "Holy Mother," for instance, and the male ruler was called the "Son of Heaven." Tzu Hsi had a devotion to the Chinese goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin, and Pearl Buck depicts the empress at her devotional prayers to this goddess and to Buddha in such a way that she appears to be worshiping in a style very similar to typical Roman Catholic devotion. She prays in a shrine, uses prayer beads, addresses the goddess in prayerful requests for divine wisdom and guidance. The Empress is depicted bringing her deep emotional feelings to the merciful Kwan Yin. Likewise with her devotions to the Buddha.Buck's narrative also depicts for the reader the elaborate traditional devotional rituals of royal Chinese funerals and the traditional elaborate rituals asking divine help for the nation in time of trouble.The Chinese people themselves apparently associated Tzu Hsi to a large extent with Kwan Yin and the quality of Mercy, despite her many cruel act. They also associated her with Buddha, their name for her in the latter part of her life being "Old Buddha." They seemed to love her as a matriarch who cared for them and took care of them. According to Pearl Buck, they lamented her passing, felt bereft without her, wondering who would take care of them when they learned she had died. (Many Chinese in isolated parts of the empire didn't know of her passing until some years afterward!)Possibly so that the story will be more interesting and satisfying for the reader, Buck weaves together the Empress' lonely court life with a romantic love interest based upon a supposedly hidden love existing between the lady and her kinsman, Jung Lu. She attributes the fathering of the then ruling Emperor's son to Jung Lu. The two apparently loved one another before "Yehonara" became the favorite concubine of the Emperor. The emperor is portrayed as having become too wasted by sexual dissolution and opium addiction to be capable of engendering any vigorous offspring. Supposedly, the one act of love between the concubine and Jung Lu is the only intimate contact that ever occurs between the lovers, with the Empress remaining celibate for the rest of her life while she goes on loving Jung Lu, just as he continues to love her and serve her conscientiously over the years. If it were not for the love element, the "political" story Buck has to tell would not be very compelling for most readers and the reportage of the "Imperial Woman's" cruel acts would probably be more thoroughly alienating than they are, even in this rather sympathetic story about her.Numerous students of this mysterious ruler's life have developed widely varying claims about the real facts of it. It seems that anyone who wants to discover the true facts about her and her reign should delve into all other fictional and scholarly books available about her, not taking Buck's book about her as the last word or the absolute truth about her. A recent biographer has been historically astute enough to rescue Empress Dowager Tsu Hsi from the false rumors of disgusting immorality that blighted her reputation over the last century. Another writer has made a case against her supposed conservatism and has hailed her as a quite progressive ruler--a very unexpected turn of events.I found this biographical novel a bit difficult to read. It was for me not really what I'd call a "page-turner." I had to repeatedly make an effort to focus and pay attention to what I was reading. I had a hard time keeping the various identities of counselors and eunuchs and concubines sorted out.I felt that one of the best things about the story (just in my personal, untutored estimation) was the perspective it affords for Westerners on the point of view of many Chinese regarding the "Imperialist" Westerners' aggressively forced presence in a China where many Chinese preferred to remain isolated and traditionally fixed in their old ways. The book does not shed light on the machinations of the many Chinese who, on the other hand, wanted to bring down the Qing Dynasty and who helped to further the Nationalist movement that was taking firmer hold in China after the turn of the century.Another good thing (actually a very informative thing) about this book is the running descriptions throughout of the splendid Chinese buildings and parks, artwork, jewelry, and elaborate formal clothing typical of the Qing period court and gentry. The book is replete with descriptions of the glorious marvels of artisanship and architectural creativity that are typical of China. Here it appears as the marvelous and incomparable culture that it is! And all these beauteous surroundings are just what the Empress Tzu Hsi loved to create and to enjoy. In the arts and in learning (according to Pearl Buck's creation of the Empress Dowager), she found respite from her cares, not least of which was aloneness.(If you want to see some very interesting photos of Empress Tzu Hsi and people associated with her, go to your Google Search, or other search box, and click "Images," then insert her name in the search box and Enter.)(Because I wanted an edition that would match other Pearl Buck books in my collection, I ordered a 1956 hardback edition of Imperial Woman through Amazon. Published by The John Day Company, in good condition, and the price was comparable to more contemporary editions that are available on Amazon right now. I mention this just in case other readers might be interested in old hardback editions, which Amazon usually has available from time to time.)

Working on needlework

This is a very respectful and admiring account of the rise of the great Chinese Empress, Cixi, or Tzu Hsi as her name was written in English during the life of Pearl Buck.Fans of Pearl Buck will certainly like this book, as it is very well written. Buck has such a deceptively simple style that paints layer upon layer of the story.Much of this story is fictional, as it tells Cixi's story from her personal viewpoint. Buck has most likely invented a romance with one of her cousins, Jung Lu, who became an important statesman and general in her service. I had no problem with that, whether it was totally fictional or not. I hope the real Cixi did find romance (in fact, many people believed she was in love with one of her eunuchs). She must have been desperately lonely at times.I was, however, a bit unhappy at how Buck portrayed her co-Empress as a "frenemy." That was totally unnecessary, and I'm always irritated at how authors so often feel the need to present women as rivals and backstabbers. It's so unfair and so unnecessary. In fact, the two women for the most part got along very well, and thanks to that, they were able to come up with a plan to jointly seize power after the death of their mutual husband, the former emperor. They did not always agree, but over several years, who does?Other than that, Buck does a fine job of showing Cixi's life, considering what was known at the time. Since the book is about Cixi as a person rather than as a ruler, it does not deal extensively with the complexities of the political situation. For the full story, I would very highly recommend  Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China , an extensive and spectacular account of Cixi's life and reign. That book contains much information that was not known to Buck as a great deal of documents have only recently been discovered that explain Cixi's motives and actions.The real Cixi was an amazing woman, and a great but not perfect, empress. This book is an excellent introduction to her.

The prose is difficult at times to slog through, but overall a good read. I would have appreciated a little more detail on the inner workings of the palace.

We know that Pearl S Buck lived in China for some time with her parents that were missionaries. She understood the mind and customs of the Chinese and Manchu people. The empress reign was around England's Queen Victoria reign. Although China was changing to fast and couldn't be stopped. The empress called her sister.The biggest problem that modern China was facing was the exclusion of the emperor from the advances of the modern era. The Forbidden Palace was highly guarded and full of strict rules that had to be follow. The news from the outside world came from different emissaries that not necessarily was the truth.

This is a biographical novel based on the life of Empress Tzu Hsi (Sacred Mother), the most powerful figure in late 19th century China and the real power behind the throne during the reigns of two of the last three weak Emperors in China. She was originally chosen as one of many concubines to the young Emperor Hsien Feng. Her position confirmed when she gave birth to a healthy male heir, she then became Regent to her son when Hsien Feng died aged 30 ("For ten years of her young womanhood she must rule in her son’s place. And what was her realm? A country vaster than she could guess, a nation older than history, a people whose number had never been counted, to whom she was herself an alien"). She ruled over her equally weak nephew when her son died at an even younger age. In many ways an arch-conservative, she was unable to stem the tide of other countries' attempts to exploit China economically, and failed to realise the need for her country to compete through developing industry and railways and trading more overseas. As depicted in this novel, she is a compelling figure, clearly dominating the court with a strong sense of what she at least sure as China's imperial and national interest ("a man’s mind in a woman’s body"), dealing with the competing forces of aggressive foreign nations, the Tai Ping rebellion and later the extreme nationalist Boxers. An autocrat of course, but seeing herself as a benevolent one, "she set herself to clean away rebels and reformers from among the Chinese whom she ruled, and to bring the whole people under the power of her own hand and heart again". This novel ends a few years before her death in 1908. The author records in a foreword that "decades after she was dead I came upon villages in the inlands of China where the people thought she still lived and were frightened when they heard she was dead. "Who will care for us now?" they cried".

I've had a hard job finding this book as it's quite old. considering it's age the book is in reasonably good condition and perfectly legible (though the cover is rather worn !!)I have read several Pearl Buck novels and wanted to read her version. I'm already half-way through the book - it's a bit laboured in parts, slow moving, but does give you an insight as to what life /conditions were like in the Imperial household in China and the problems they faced with the foreign 'invaders' They were completely immersed in age old customs and traditions and needed to modernise and move with the times. Tzu Hsi , or the Empress, is an interesting character and how she rose to such a powerful position is testament to her determination and resourcefulness - I've yet to see how everything evolves and how her rule as Empress unfolds. Didn't realise that she only died in 190 - .ruled at the same time that Victoria was on the English throne!

A very interesting book fall of Chinese history, trial and tribulations, full of traditions, true love never to have, untouchables.

Read this many years ago, and it stands up well. The descriptions of customs, costumes and places are vivid and instructive. A really good read for adults and teens.

Excellent book and I enjoyed it very much. It was, I felt, a little too detailed in some parts but that's only my opinion.