Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-12-10
WOMAN OF POWER
Was Tsze Hal, Chinais Empress Dow
ager, Who Ruled Kingdom with
an Iron Hand.
SUBDUEO THREE REBELLIONS
Characteristics of a Slave Girl Who
Rose to Occupy Oriental Throne
Had Human Side.

TsZe usi, the empress dowuger OF
China, who recently died in re,,in.
was known rs the western empress"
She was born on Nov. II. 1884. and
was the child of poor persons who
lived in Pekin 1t an early age. fol-
lowing common practice in China
she was sold as Il slave by her par
ents on account of their poverty. She
became the property of famous gen
eral. who, enchanted with her beauty,
adopted her and offered her as pres
ent TO the reigninG emperor, Hsien
Feng. She so charmed the emperor
by her looks and intelligence that he
made her his secondary wife and OF
her bearing him son, the future EN-
peror Tung Chin. raised her to the
first rank. On his death she became
the regent of the empire. administer
ing the national affairs with more
vigor than any of her predecessors.
The empress dowager was In China
foreigner" being 4 Manchu. and
was under the ban of Chinese pa
triots and an increasing anti-Manchu
party, which sought the suppression
of the dynasty or at least the restora-
ton of the Manchu emperor to the
throne. She wore the Manchu gar
lnentS, but her speech was Chinese.
She was dominating to the last de
gree and magnetic and seemed to be
all seeing TO her courtiers. who stood
as If on eggs in her presence.
Among the populace she was feared
and hated, principally because of her
treatment of the emperor, for whom
the enlightened and the common peo-
pie had a sympathetic liking She was
commonly referred to as 1.-The old
Buddha," and her character III the
eyes Of the masses was that of the
tyrant of the emperor. She was z
law unto herself She violated the
constitution of the dynasty that for
bids woman ruler and broke the
sacred customs given by the sages.
She relentlessly ordered all betrothals
and marriages in the imperial house
hold, family and imperial court and
supervised scrupulously the conduct of
individuals
Responsible for Two Emperors.
Two nominal emperors succeeded to
the title held by her husband. and she
was responsible for both. She put her
son, Tung Chin, on the throne and on
his sudden death enthroned the son OF
her dead husbands brother The lat
ter was the late Emperor Kwang Seu.
She dethroned him in 1900 and made
f'hr1r, Of T,;,,
parent without authority, as the sue
cession in China is only rightfully de-
termined by the emperor She then
degraded Pu Chun In obedience to the
mandate of the allies because his ia
Their was the palace leader of the
Boxers and restored Kwang Seu. Dur.
ing the minority of her own son she
ruled through her appointed regent.
Prince Eung. She was then an un-
disputed tyrant, who forbade any one
consulting the eastern empress
Hsien Feng's real wife, on political
matters But in 1881 the eastern
empress" died, leaving her autocrat in
both name and deed.
As TO political wisdom, her talents
appeared to be strictly limited to the
narrow field of the palace. This
ground she knew well. She personal
ly passed, however, on much of the
business with foreign nations, which
she would decide on the advice of the