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Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Western descriptions of Chinese emperors, royalty and nobles often mention fingernails long enough to mark the person above any possibility of manual labor. These fingernail protectors, or guards, might be worn as a single jewel on the hand or in multiple sets.<br/><br/> According to the San Diego Museum of Art: 'Fingernail protectors were worn by a very elite group–Manchu court ladies of the late Qing dynasty. Although scholars of Chinese costumes usually date fingernail protectors to the Qing dynasty, they are in fact characteristic only of the late 19th century. Portraits of early Qing court ladies show natural fingernails. Late Qing rulers, however, pursued a life of absolute luxury. For example, photographs and portraits of Empress Jixi (1835-1908) show her wearing two or three nail shields on each of her hands–a sign of her ability to rely upon servants to carry out any of her wishes, as she herself could perform no manual tasks'.<br/><br/> The wearing of fingernail protectors was specifically associated with the Manchurian high culture of the Qing Dynasty. Han men were forced by law to wear Manchu clothing and to groom themselves by Manchu custom, whereas Han women were free to continue wearing traditional Han fashions. Manchu women felt that long fingernails were a status symbol they protected with fingernail covers that might be finely carved and inlayed with gold silver and gem.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Foot binding (pinyin: chanzu, literally 'bound feet') was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the first half of 20th century. There is little evidence for the custom prior to the court of the Southern Tang dynasty in Nanjing, which celebrated the fame of its dancing girls, renowned for their tiny feet and beautiful bow shoes.<br/><br/> What is clear is that foot binding was first practised among the elite and only in the wealthiest parts of China, which suggests that binding the feet of well-born girls represented their freedom from manual labor and, at the same time, the ability of their husbands to afford wives who did not need to work, who existed solely to serve their men and direct household servants while performing no labor themselves. Bound feet were considered intensely erotic in traditional Chinese culture. Qing Dynasty sex manuals listed 48 different ways of playing with women's bound feet.<br/><br/> Some men preferred never to see a woman's bound feet, so they were always concealed within tiny 'lotus shoes' and wrappings. Feng Xun is recorded as stating, 'If you remove the shoes and bindings, the aesthetic feeling will be destroyed forever' - an indication that men understood that the symbolic erotic fantasy of bound feet did not correspond to its unpleasant physical reality, which was therefore to be kept hidden. For men, the primary erotic effect was a function of the lotus gait, the tiny steps and swaying walk of a woman whose feet had been bound.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) was originally created during the Ming Dynasty, but was designed in its current form by Qing emperor Qianlong (r. 1736 - 1795). It is however Qianlong’s mother, the Qing Dowager Empress Cixi who is most irrevocably linked to the palace, since she had it restored twice during her reign, once in 1860 after it was plundered by British and French troops during the Second Opium War, and again in 1902 when foreign troops sought reprisals for the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-Christian movement.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi, 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) of the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908.