Empress Dowager Cixi

Jung Chang tells a story and what a colourful tale it is…This is history at its most readable.

George Walden, Evening Standard

An absorbing read.

Josh Neicho, Independent on Sunday

A truly authoritative account of Cixi’s rule. Her story is both important and evocative.

Orville Schell, New York Times

If there is one woman who mattered in the history of modern China, it is the empress dowager Cixi…[Her] conventional image is queried in this detailed and beautifully narrated biography, which at long last restores the empress dowager to her rightful place. Chang’s book relies heavily on the vast holdings in the imperial archives in Beijing... She has a wonderful eye for the telling detail and excels at unravelling palace intrigues and corridor politics.

Frank Dikotter, Sunday Times

In this vivid biography, as colourful and intricate as the embroidery on a Chinese robe, [Jung Chang] uses new evidence and meticulous research to cast a spotlight on the amazing woman she regards as the mother of modern China…This is a rich, dramatic story of rebellions, battles, plotting, rivalry, foreign invasion, punishment and forbidden love.

Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

Chang has a proven Midas touch... Empress Dowager, by returning to female experience in the style of Wild Swans yet focusing, like Mao, on a controversial ruler, should appeal to fans of both.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Financial Times

Filled with new revelations, it's a gripping and surprising story of an extraordinary woman in power. Using Chinese sources, totally untapped by western books, this reappraises one of the great monstresses of modern history... Jung Chang's revisionism means that this book reveals a new and different woman: ambitious, sometimes murderous, but pragmatic and unique. All of this adds up to make Empress Dowager Cixi a powerful read.

Simon Sebag Montefiore, BBC History Magazine

This is an important book, drawing attention to a period in China's history that has received little, and usually only negative, attention. Chang writes with verve, energy and evident concern for the country in which her books are proscribed and her family was made to suffer during the Cultural Revolution.

BBC History Magazine

A captivating cradle-to-grave biography

VOGUE

Fascinating… A depiction of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of a woman, this is history writing at its best

Ben Ridgeon, Haverhill Echo

A beautifully narrated biography… Chang has a wonderful eye for the telling detail

Frank Dikotter, Sunday Times

Groundbreaking.

Jersey Evening Post

Chang turns the harridan into a heroine.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, The Times

Filled with new revelations… Gripping and surprising… Powerful.

Simon Sebag Montefiore, Blackmore Vale Magazine

Absorbing… Chang has a novelist’s eye for small detail… Chang weaves a suspenseful, anecdote-laden tale.

Nadine O’Regan and Anna Carey, Sunday Business Post

One of those rare non-fiction books that reads like a novel without compromising the quality of research – we couldn’t put it down

Topping & Co. Bookshop, Bath Chronicle

One of the most important authors of our age, in that she has shown China to the world.

Catholic Herald

This is an electrifying description of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of an extraordinary woman

Olivier Philip Ziegler, Good Book Guide

Chinese political history can be a tough nut to crack, but Chang weaves in and out of Cixi’s biography with an ease that is almost as astounding as the events themselves

Rosemary Maccabe, Irish Times