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From the bestselling author of Wild Swans and Mao: The Unknown Story In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Empress Dowager Cixi âe" the most important woman in Chinese history âe" brought a medieval empire into the modern age. Under her, the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state and it was she who abolished gruesome punishments like âe~death by a thousand cutsâe(tm) and put an end to foot-binding. Jung Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative and cruel despot andalso takes the reader into the depths of her splendid Summer Palace and the harem of Beijingâe(tm)s Forbidden City, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs âe" with one of whom she fell in love, with tragic consequences. Packed with drama, fast-paced and gripping, it is both a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of a woman: as the concubine to a monarch, as the absolute ruler of a third of the worldâe(tm)s population, and as a unique stateswoman. âe~Powerfulâe(tm) Simon Sebag Montefiore âe~Truly authoritativeâe(tm) New York Times âe~Wonderfulâe(tm) Sunday Times Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Biography Prize

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