The Empress Dowager
The Empress Dowager is a 1975 Hong Kong historical film directed by Li Han-hsiang and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio, starring Lisa Lu as Empress Dowager Cixi.
Katharine Carl
Katharine Augusta Carl( February 12, 1865 – December 7, 1938)( sometimes spelled" Katherine Carl") was an American portrait painter and author.
She made paintings of notable and royal people in the United States, Europe and Asia.
She spent nine months in China in 1903 painting a portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi for the St. Louis Exposition.
On her return to America, she published a book about her experience, titled" With the Empress Dowager".
Empress Dowager Ma (Southern Ming)
Empress Dowager Ma( 1578 – 1669), personal name unknown, formally known as Empress Dowager Zhaosheng( 昭聖太后), was an empress dowager of the Southern Ming Dynasty.
She was the birth mother of the Yongli Emperor.
She converted to Roman Catholicism and adopted the name Maria.
Empress Dowager Hu (Northern Qi)
Empress Hu( 胡皇后, personal name unknown) was an empress consort and empress dowager of the Chinese dynasty Northern Qi.
Her husband was Emperor Wucheng( Gao Zhan).
She was the empress dowager during the reign of her son Gao Wei.
Li Han-hsiang
Richard Li Han Hsiang (7 March 1926 in Jinxi, Liaoning - 17 December 1996 in Beijing) was a Chinese film director.
Li directed more than 70 films in his career beginning in the 1950s and lasting till the 1990s.
His "The Enchanting ShadowThe Magnificent Concubine", and "Empress Wu Tse-Tien" were entered into the Cannes Film Festival in 1960, 1962, and 1963 respectively.
Li also won the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards for his work on the movie "Xi Shi" in 1965.
Most of his movies in the 1970s and 1980s were Chinese historical dramas.
He died in Beijing due to a heart attack.
He was seventy.
Empress Dowager Dong
Empress Dowager Dong (died 189), personal name unknown, formally known as Empress Xiaoren, was an empress dowager of the Eastern Han dynasty of China.
She was never empress throughout her life because she was the wife of a marquis; she only became empress dowager because her son, Liu Hong (Emperor Ling), became the emperor by chance.
During her son's reign, she developed a rivalry with her daughter-in-law, Empress He, because she wanted Emperor Ling's younger son, Liu Xie, to be crown prince while Empress He wanted her own son, Liu Bian to succeed his father.
Emperor Ling died in 189 before he managed to designate either of his two sons as crown prince.
Liu Bian eventually took the throne as Emperor Shao; Empress Dowager Dong, as the emperor's grandmother, became grand empress dowager, while her daughter-in-law became empress dowager.
Empress Dowager
He eventually conspired with her brother, General-in-Chief He Jin, to unseat her mother-in-law from power.
Grand Empress Dowager Dong died of illness shortly after her downfall; the common people held Empress Dowager He and her family responsible for the grand empress dowager's death.
Lu Huinan
Lu Huinan( 412 – February 24, 466), formally Empress Dowager Zhao( 昭太后, literally" accomplished empress dowager"), semi-formally Empress Dowager Chongxian( 崇憲太后), was an empress dowager of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song.
She had been a concubine of Emperor Wen, and she became empress dowager because her son Liu Jun later became emperor( as Emperor Xiaowu).
Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan
Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan( 上官太皇太后)( personal name unknown)( 89 BC – 37 BC), also known as Empress Shangguan( 上官皇后), Empress Xiaozhao( 孝昭皇后) and Empress Dowager Shangguan( 上官太后), was an Empress, Empress Dowager and Grand Empress Dowager during the Han Dynasty and wife of Emperor Zhao.
Her father was Shangguan An( 上官安), the son of Shangguan Jie( 上官桀).
Her mother was the daughter of Huo Guang.
She was a key figure in a number of political incidents during the middle Han Dynasty, and she spent her entire adult life as a Grand Empress Dowager and a widow without family.
Both sides of her family were wiped out in two separate mass executions as punishment for being relatives of individuals accused of seeking to usurp the throne.
She remains the youngest person in Chinese history to assume the titles of both Empress Dowager and Grand Empress Dowager.
Empress Dowager He (Eastern Wu)
Empress Dowager He (240s–264), personal name unknown, was an empress dowager of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
She was a concubine of Sun He, a son of Wu's founding emperor Sun Quan.
She became the empress dowager during the reign of her son Sun Hao, the fourth and last emperor of Wu.
Empress Dowager Bo
Empress Dowager Bo( 薄太后) was an imperial concubine of Emperor Gaozu of Han( Liu Bang).
She was also known as Consort Bo( 薄姬) during the life of the Emperor, and more formally as either Empress Dowager Xiaowen( 孝文太后) or( rarer) Empress Gao( 高皇后).
Despite being a concubine of lower standing, her son, Liu Heng, became Emperor Wen of Han, cementing her place in history.
The year of her birth is not known.
She died in 155 BC.
Empress Dowager
Bo is formally the first grand empress dowager in Chinese history, as Empress Dowager Lü, the only other empress dowager till then who lived to see her grandson become emperor, never claimed the title.

Question: When did the director of film The Empress Dowager die?
Answer: 17 December 1996