Birth of Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi was born on 29 November 1835 in Beijing. A Manchu consort of the Xianfeng Emperor, Cixi became the dominant political figure in Qing China during the last decades of the dynasty. After her husband's death in 1861 she became regent for her young son, the Tongzhi Emperor, and later for her nephew, the Guangxu Emperor, effectively controlling the throne for nearly half a century. She supported some modernization, including the self-strengthening movement, but resisted deeper reform and put down the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898. She backed the Boxer Uprising, which led to foreign intervention, and then introduced limited reforms. She died a day after Guangxu.

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