{"product_id":"empress-dowager-cixi","title":"Empress Dowager Cixi","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDiscover the extraordinary story of the woman who brought China into the modern age, from the bestselling author of\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWild Swans\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Empress Dowager Cixi – the most important woman in Chinese history – brought a medieval empire into the modern age. Under her, the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state and it was she who abolished gruesome punishments like ‘death by a thousand cuts’ and put an end to foot-binding. Jung Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative and cruel despot and also takes the reader into the depths of her splendid Summer Palace and the harem of Beijing’s Forbidden City, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs – with one of whom she fell in love, with tragic consequences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePacked with drama, fast-paced and gripping, it is both a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of a woman: as the concubine to a monarch, as the absolute ruler of a third of the world’s population, and as a unique stateswoman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e‘Powerful’ Simon Sebag Montefiore\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e‘Truly authoritative’\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e‘Wonderful’\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e**Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Biography Prize**\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Best of Used books","offers":[{"title":"Used","offer_id":43882796024065,"sku":"2D1XNCREQ-Used","price":150.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0421\/4299\/0495\/products\/EmpressDowagerCixi.jpg?v=1627232243","url":"https:\/\/bestofusedbooks.com\/products\/empress-dowager-cixi","provider":"Best Of Used Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}