The Republican journal., 1922-10-12
HISTnRY'S'
hYS TEREES
THE PUZZLE OF THE PEASANT
EMPRESS

a Ii the mystery and intrigue for
"a which the East is famous could
easily be epitomiZed in the strange,
almost uncanny story of Tsu-Hsi,
dowager empress of China, and for
! years the power behind the throne of
the Celestial Empire. Where she came
from, how she exerted her almost su-
pernatural power, the way in which
she managed to substitute the first
cousin of her dead son in the place
of the baby emperor, the manner Of
her death, and the very disposition of
her body are all veiled in a cloud Of
uncertainty, from which there emerges
only the fact that Tsu-Hsi deserves to
be ranked with Catherine of Russia
as one of the few women who ever
completely dominated a vast, half-sav-
age kingdom
The first that was known Of TSu-
Hsi was when she arrived in Peking,
unheralded to take her place in the
ranks of the wives of the emperor,
Hsien-Feng. Her beauty and her
charm attracted the favorable atten-
ton both of the dowager empress
and the first wife of the emperor, and
she was soon accorded the compara-
tive position of honor as fourth wife
to the emperor, taking the place of the
second wife when the latter died some
months later.
Two years after Tsu-Hsi entered
! the palace she gave birth to a SON!
boy who succeeded to the throne
upon the death of his father five
years later, the first wife of the en-
peror being childless. Long before
this time, however, official Peking was
boiling over with gossip as to the
origin of the peasant empress as
she was known on account of the fact
that her feet had never been bound.
According to one story, she was
slave-grl whose beauty had attracted
the attention of the emperor. An
other rumor maintained that she had
been given to the governor of south
ern province in return for favor
conferred upon her mother and that
the governor, wishing 10 secure favor
in the eyes of the emperor, had sent
her to Peking, where she soon ruled
the court by virtue of her overpower-
ing personality. A third report
and one which was most generally
accepted-was that she was the pro-
tege of Ii Hung Chang, who was sup
posed 10 have placed her in the i'm
perial palace TO further his own ends,
knowing that she was the daughter
of Tartar general, heritage which
would have accounted both for her
brains and her ability to dominate
those around her.
But. no matter what her origin
was, high or low, the fact that Tsu-
I Hsi ruled the imperial palace with
a rod of iron is a matter of record, as
is the dramatic manner in which she
foiled the plot to wreck her power
through the murder of her son
shortly after he had ascerded the
throne. The conspiracy was success
full. so far as the death of the boy
was concerned. but no sooner had he
succumbed to a very brief illness than
the empress left the bed where his
/ DOQN lay anu DIONCtQtfl at oiNC "
another part Of the palace, snatching
up the three -year-old cousin of the
dead emperor, KwangHsu. and pre-
senting him to the assembled mandar-
ms as the new ruler of China-a coup
which the empress is said to have en-
gineered by means of threats of per
sonal violence against the mandarins
and an oath that she would encom,
pass the death of any who dared op-
pose her wishes. From this time un-
til the death of KwangHsu. in 1908,
Tsu-Hsi was the real head of the
kingdonl-not only as dowager en-
press but as the power which DOM
mated the emperor by means of the
lash whenever ne showed disn-
clination to fall in with her wishes.
AS befitted one of the most remark
able women in history, the death of
Tsu-Hsi was as dramatic and mysteri-
Gus as her origin and early history.
On November 3, 1908, the court as
sisted in the celebration of her sew
enty-fourth birthday-an occasion in
which she appeared to be in the best
of health Less than fortnight later,
however. it was announced that the
empress had suddenly died and, at
the same time a bulletin was Ssued
stating that the emperor had passed
away on the preceding evening. Those
familiar with the intrigue surrounding
the Chinese court shook their heads
wisely and smiled with more than
trace of grimness at the thought of
| the fate which had overtaken Tsu-Hsf
and her protege.
"The death which she had meted out
to Others has overtaken her at last"
was the popular verdict but beyond
| this nothing was discovered Thus
passed. as mysteriously as she had
lived. one of the most remarkable char
acters in history-an autocrat whose
! birth. life and death were all shrouded
; in uncomfortable mystery.