Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-11-16
rsI AN AND KwANG So.

"
,fo,. IN the spelling of Chinese names
s,,+h>r;tios disagreed: and also or ths'
danlise OF the real ruler OF Chili'i'
since 1861 and the succession oi y
vi. an infant, under the rsgelies y
his father. Prince Chun This Is nm
nortant news The change OF rulera
may mean more rapid development
or CHINA in n liberal direction, or II
may mean reaction,
OF the deceased emperor very MUS
"a known. but the remarkable history
or The empress dowager has peeli 'o'u
repeatedly. Her life has pee'i w
much like that OF the leadlng 'aus ~
an intensely interesting drama fof
over thirty years she has played u
winning game against the great pow
ers of the world, and only lately ma
she manifested any disposition 10
yield to foreign influences.
Tsi An was born somewhere in the
west OF China In 1884 Her parentage
Is not known. but it Is supposed that
she was the daughter of an impoVer-
ishcd Manchu nobleman. He sold her,
in childhood, to a rather amiablo OLD
general. and part slave, part adopted
daughter she acquired partrician ac-
complishments with eagemess In 1901,
in company With 500 other young girls,
she stood on her big feet, which had
never been bouud then or since, at the
portals of the imperial palace, whence
the EnIpror had issued a proclamation
for court ladies'. She was one OF tho
ten selected. She had beauty, brains,
aud III duo time became the mother OF
Il son. and with these advantages sine
found herself in a position To take a
hand III the politics of tho country.
AT tho death OF the old emperor, her
infant son. succeeded TO the throue,
and male regents We're appointed for
him, but here Isl An demonstrated her
shrcwdncse and shortly after the fun
4 cral of the emperor. an edict appeared
supposed to have been issued incon-
fprmancc Will, tho views of the
four year-old monarch which APP
pointed his mother aud the imperial
Empress; as regents. When the male
regents protested they.werc command
ed TO hang themselves, while the pub.
s lie eSecutioner cut Oft the head of the
Secretary of State. Isl An then OPP
enly took the leins of government.
Under her administration the empire
was safely conducted through the Tai
ping rebellion, as we'll as Il series of
other insurrectionary crises which in
eIuded the Mohammedan rebellion in
Yunnan, that Of Yakub Beb in Kasll-
gar. ali of them actual national dan
gers. The quarrel with Japan in 1874
Was adroitly smoothed over.
When Isl Ans son. Tung- CHA weak
able-asccndcd the throne and
manifested some notions about doing
his own ruling, his determined mother
set aside his DEGREES, and soon the
young emperor mounted to heaven
and in 1875, the Empress. calmly ig-
noring the laws Of succession. had her
baby nephew, Kwang-su, snatched
from his bed on bitter winter night.
carried to the palace and proclaimed
emperor.
Nevertheless, Isl An's character has
its bright lights. Some time ago. when
empire. she had it published in the
Pellin Gazette that she could not bear
. TO eat expensive viands while her peo-
pie were starving. At another time
she issued u proclamation denouncing
that very graft by which she has
amassed her fortune. In 1900. When
the embassies We're besleged and the
fate OF the European inmates seemed
sealed she made courteous Inquiries
after the health of the members OF
the diplomatic corps and sent them
fresh vegetables and flour for their
support III the intervals OF the on
slaughts.
In her old age this remarkable wom-
an has given receptions TO the ladies'
of the diplomatic corps; she has shat
tered precedent by holding audiences
in the. most sacred hall of the Forbid
den City, which women are prohibited
entering. Things foreign have beer
introduced with her sanction. Not many
years ago she bestowed her imperia
smiles upon two girls, half American
by birth, wholly Partisan by education
the Misses Nellie and Lizzie Yu keng
the daughters Of the late Minister tt
Paris. One day, so the story goes, tht
SUSPICIOUS natured Empress asked one
of these girl, who, of course are thor
oughly conversant With the frencl
language, to translate a French stat'
document whose alleged translation b,
. ,,,.,,>t,,. az th.. ,hjuaSfs Foreign OF