Empress Dowager (Chinese and Japanese: 皇太后; Chinese pinyin Húang Tài Hòu, Japanese pronunciation: Kōtaigō) was title given to the mother of a Chinese emperor. The title was also given occasionally to another woman of the same generation, while a woman from the previous generation was sometimes given the title of Grand Empress Dowager. Numerous empress dowagers held regency during the reign of an underage emperor. Many of the most prominent empress dowagers also extended their control for long periods after the emperor was old enough to govern. This was a source of political turmoil according to traditional view of Chinese history.
Chronological list of famous Chinese empress dowagers
The dowagerempress certainly seems to have had a high opinion of her own intelligence and importance; a member of her court, Princess Der Ling, who wrote a book called Two Years in the Forbidden City, quoted Tzu Hsi as saying, "I have often thought that I am the most clever woman that ever lived...
The new emperor, Kuang Hsu, was skinny, sickly, and terrified of the EmpressDowager.
With the EmpressDowager of China by Katherine A. Carl.
She was privileged to become empressdowager only because she was the biological mother of Emperor Tongzhi.
ConcubineDowager Kangci was the highest ranking surviving concubine of the late emperor Daoguang, and so she was the woman with the highest status inside the Forbidden City.
EmpressDowager Ci'an died suddenly on April 8, 1881, during an audience at the court.
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