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royba -

[quote] [Or is she (Ci Xi) viewed in a equally negative light in China?/QUOTE]

Having lived in China for over 20 years I have not once met a Chinese who knows anything about Ci
Xi (or cares, anyway).

With regard to Ci Xi, there are many views about her. Seagrave has good and readable stuff (but he
is wildly inaccurate about Chinese eunuchs) and Marina Warner has some good stuff too (also wildly
inacurate about eunuchs). However, these two are professional journalists and not professional
historians. They have read and regurgitated the official records about her, and the amount of spin
about her is tremendous. Careful thought will soon bring you to the concuisin that what has been
wirtten about her is based on hearsay, gossip, and rumour. I do not think anyone has ever written
a book about Ci Xi after serious and detailed investigation into her life.

Start off with the vaguenes about where she came from, who her parents were, where she was born,
how many brothers and sisters she had, and get lost in the vagueness and mystery of her affair
with her first eunuch and why why died. Start adding in the guff published by Der Ling, and see
how it clashes with Seagrave and Warner, Read Katherine Carl's book about her. She at least met
her and provides an honest account of her, though she did not get to know her in detail. Read the
American Envoy's wife's account of her meetings with Ci Xi and learn how little she lfound aout
about Ci Xi. The unanswered questions surrounding her murders, and political machinations are
legion. The more you will read the more you will realise that she is a mystery woman with a
capital M.

Ci Xi is an enigma. But she is worth studying, and fun to do so too. But be careful which book you
read. No two books say the same thing.



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