Decadence in power never fails to fascinate. The butcherous Laurent Kabila liked to bathe in Chanel No. 5 after he finally gained power in the Congo. The Borgia Pope held orgies in the Vatican. And the Empress Dowager didn't lift a finger to stop The Boxer Rebellion: I Ho Chuan, a secret society of righteous fists (translated as 'Boxers' by Americans) hacked people to death with swords and left their heads on village gates to rid China of foreign devils in 1900, but the Empress Dowager refused to outlaw such activities. As a 16-year-old named Orchid she had been taken to the Emperor's palace with 60 other concubines and received the inappropriate name Tz-u-his, meaning kindly and virtuous. After she bore a son, she pleaded with the ailing Emperor Hsien-feng to name her son Chih the next emperor. He became China's ruler at five in 1861. Tz-u-his ruled China through her son as the Dowager Empress, then maintained influence through intrigues and alleged murders. Dave Bouchard has fictionalized her remarkable story for Dragon of Heaven (Raincoast $39.95) illustrated with 25 oil paintings by Zhong-Yang Huang.
1-55192-525-7-7 -[BCBW AUTUMN 2002]