Empress Dowager Cixi Research Paper

The Tang was a very aristocratic society that is known for being the “Golden Age” in Chinese history, with some of the greatest developments in the society occurring, (CD Benn, 2002). The dynasty made the unheard-of move of allowing women to sit for the Imperial examination and serve as government officials, with women enjoying the unprecedented power in politics (CD Benn, 2002). Charles Benn’s book, “China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang dynasty”, is a secondary source in the form of a book, published in 2002. He is a professor studying Chinese history, in particular, the Tang dynasty, and in his publication, details the lives of Chinese people in this dynasty. Women had much more freedom than seen in any dynasty before it and it gave women a voice and saw women with almost as equal rights in society, with women finally being able to enjoy the privilege of education and marriage

The Qin court gained control and established the Qin family. King Cheng called himself Qin Shi Huangdi and that means "the first emperor of Qin. " In order to strengthen their empire, the priority of authority and standardization of the different peoples they conquered was one of their priorities 4) Document 4: Women had very different roles in early China. Chinese women could not hold government posts. However, women in the royal court could influence government decisions.

Emperor K’ang-hsi was one of the greatest Chinese emperors of all time. Ruling from 1662 to 1722 he was also one of the longest ruling emperors in Chinese history and for that matter the world. K’ang-hsi brought China to long-term stability and relative wealth after years of war and chaos. Jonathan Spence writes from the eyes of K’ang-hsi getting his information from K’ang-hsi’s own writings. Though a little biased towards himself this book still provides important insight into his mind. Emperor of China is divided into six parts; In Motion, Ruling, Thinking, Growing Old, Sons, and Valedictory.

The Heian court of medieval Japan was a progressive and dynamic society where women commanded a fair amount of power and respect. In many ways it seemed to be the basis of the "rank n file", material culture of today’s society. The social structure of society throughout the court was set up in three different ranks. In chapter two, Genji’s friend, To no Chujo explained the three roles and how they determined the role of women in court. Women of high rank would be the wife of a high ranking elite, thus responsible for raising the future heirs, women of lower rank were concubines and often had better relationships with the man than his wife. did It was this complicated ranking system that led to the abundance of accepted promiscuity, however the two roles kept a bit of stability and normalcy throughout the court.

Within chinese society, this meant that the ideals for a women were strictly tied to their role within the family home, and specifically the inner chamber. The prevalence of this model of feminine behavior is backed by the many writings directed toward the instruction of women. One of these is written by Song Ruozhao, and her Analectics for Women became a text of rules to aspire to within the Tang dynasty (SEAT, 415). This writing emphasises the role of women in maintaining the family, and the shame associated with “the ways of lazy women” (p. 419). In actuality, it is unlikely that this perfect female ideal could ever be achieved. This did not mean that women did not try, but it can be assumed that this would have been more common for those of the elite classes. For those women who were of lesser birth, it is probable that they would have had more flexibility with the gender roles, as their labor would have been needed to supplement with tasks that were seen as traditionally masculine, such as in

A woman’s role on the other hand does not consist of such significance and does not grant the power that the male role does. Rather, the female role consists of women acting modest and submissively; women are expected to be confined to being in their home, care for their family and depend on their spouses’ or males relatives.

It can be concluded that the princesses are trained by the imperial court to only be married. A famous writing by a Chinese princess proved this to be true. She wrote “My family married me to a lost horizon…Were I only a brown goose and could fly back home.” (p. 81) Despite the low status of women in this era, their role in the society was needed to keep relations between kingdom friendly. As a khatun, Taihe had power in the Uygur court. Although women rarely were able to hold such a position, Taihe was “allowed to establish her own quarters, and for almost a year she had the company of the Chinese ministers” (p.86). The status Taihe gained through marriage displayed that the tradition held a lot of power.

Therefore, because of women's role as child-bearers, women in the Heian times were considered to have quite an important role to play in politics. As Richard Bowring puts it, women were regarded as ‘vital pawns', where their purpose was to deliver a boy to inherit the power and legacy of the family 8. In this sense, the Empress has a large amount of power. However, regardless of a women's position, there is always a male with a higher position – her father, the emperor etc. Even so, this is not to say that men are not dependent on women. This inescapable cycle of life and men's dependency on women is what grants women their power within the court.

In 690, Empress Wu assumed the title of emperor for herself –the lone woman to act as emperor in Chinese imperial history – thereby finally facilitating the great improvement in China that Wu’s legacy left for women, the Buddhist clergy and the classes less fortunate than the aristocracy. Despite her despotism in ascending to

However, one thing women could not do is they could not hold an office. The woman in the house was essentially the housekeeper. She cooked, cleaned, and raised children. The freedom of the woman depended upon the wealth of the family. Often times higher status women were not tasked with as many household oriented chores.

The only woman to become the emperor of China in all of its history was Empress Wu from 690-705. She used her physical beauty and intelligence to make her way up until eventually she had worked her way to the highest position in the government. Her marriage to Gaozong, the emperor before her, led her closer to the position. She showed no mercy to those who tried to impede her strides to the top. Many did not concur to her becoming emperor because she was a woman and at the time men were seen as superior to the woman, and therefore a woman could not be emperor. She did not let these things hold her back and ultimately was a positive addition to China. Empress Wu was the emperor of China who overcame the standard role of Chinese women to get

Many people argued that Empress Dowager Cixi accelerated the speed of the demise of the Qing dynasty. Cixi might be a blasting fuse but she was not accounted for the final fall of the dynasty. The actions Cixi took had profoundly changed the foundation of feudal China so as to push China forward into a modern stage. Although many historical data suggested that whatever Cixi had done were to consolidate her authority and personal status. But no matter what, the impact on the country was obvious. Cixi broke the previous traditions from Confucianism that had been lasted for centuries. Tensions between the Manchus and Han Chinese had been greatly improved, which made a great contribution to China for later unification. Under the reign of the Empress Dowager, the social structure had undergone a series of changes. Qing 's demise is doomed, this was resulted from issues that had stacked up from previous generations. Moreover, Cixi did her best to secure China’s status in the world in such a chaotic period in history. She made undeniable contributions to China.

Queens played great roles during the period of New kingdom Egypt. They were known as the Great Royal Wife's of the pharaohs and contributed politically, religiously and diplomatically influencing the roles of women during this period, and even future queens.

History reports that though there were many women in leadership positions (Queens, empresses, etc.), they appeared to be second-class citizens. It seemed as though the only relationship they were prompted to have was with their husbands. However, they endured. They came to the realization that if this is how life would be, this is the life they would have to get used to. Due to multiple different influences, there are many inconsistencies when it comes to the role of women in ancient Japan.

During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) in Ancient China, the gender in which a person was born as, changed their whole path of life. Their role in society, their education, their power in the household were very different depending on if they were male or female. A typical female had much less power compared to a man; they were considered the inferior gender. It was unfair, and to an extend, cruel, the way that women were treated compared to a man, but during that time in China, it was so normal that no one questioned it. The roles that each gender held were rigid, quite different, and clearly not equal. As China gained power during this time and became more powerful, women were greatly downgraded by men because men were thought to be the ones