Page 44 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

rebellions. This restoration was actually considered a success and became known as a

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time of Qing revival. At that time, the West had become one of China’s most

significant threats, and while Cixi did not relish its close involvement in her country, she

did take a stance that cultivated a compromise between total modernization and anti-

Western ideology in China. Throughout her reign, Cixi realized that China had to

modernize, and as a result she promoted projects like creating a railroad in China.

Largely due to Cixi’s support, the Beijing-Wuhan railroad was built in 1876, but Cixi was

careful to preserve traditional Chinese values by ensuring that the railway did not disrupt

any ancestral funerary sites. The railway was met with such negative opinions by the

local populations that it ultimately had to be dismantled. Along with these

modernizations, Cixi supported the introduction of electricity and coal mining within the

country. While evidence supports Cixi’s dislike for modernization and the West, it is

clear that the issue was not simply one-sided. It was ultimately too little too late for the

empress dowager, who became an easy scapegoat for the slow unraveling of the Qing

government.

As opinions of the empress became increasingly negative, she appears to have

attempted to display her sovereign power by exhibiting her control in ways that had been

successful in the past. Harnessing artistic patronage, large-scale celebrations, and radical

edicts, Cixi made attempts to reestablish her power. These attempts resulted in primarily

unfavorable outcomes. Possibly the worst of these political choices was the organization

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of a massive and expensive 60 birthday celebration. Her celebratory plans included an

immense party, a complete palace renovation, and the procurement of a marble boat

20 Mair, Chen, and Wood, Chinese Lives, 195-196.

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