Empress Dowager Cixi of China Part 1: Coup There It Is | 4

Even The Royals

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.4 • 844 Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Empress Dowager Cixi wasn’t born into power – she took it. After participating in a 19th century version of The Bachelor, Cixi was chosen as one of the Emperor’s concubines. In part one of this two-part series, Cixi uses her cunning, wit, and scrappy attitude to rise through the ranks, eventually becoming one of the most powerful Chinese empresses of all time. But getting power is one thing – keeping it will prove to be an entirely different challenge.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to Even the Royals early and ad-free right now.
0:04.1	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:07.9	A quick note about our show.
0:09.4	We do a lot of research for our stories, but we also aren't your boring high school history class.
0:14.3	So some details and scenes are dramatized.
0:17.0	And heads up, there will be swearing, murder, and some forbidden love. Please be advised.
0:29.1	So, Eresha, can you just complete this lyric for me? Who run the world? Girls. Yes. And it could not be more appropriate for who we're talking about today. She's a total
0:42.0	rebel who as a literal teenager was like, I should run one of the largest empires on the planet.
0:48.2	Ugh. I mean, I had the same thought as a teenager. Didn't happen, though. Right, right. Well,
0:53.1	you're running this empire, our podcasting empire.
0:55.6	So.
0:55.9	Yep.
0:56.9	So this is the story of the 19th century Empress Dowager Sashi.
1:01.8	She ran China for almost 50 years and totally reshaped the country.
1:06.0	Like the China we know today would not be what it is without her.
1:09.7	But the best part is that Sashi didn't inherit her power or even marry into it.
1:16.0	She just took that shit.
1:17.5	Oh, my God.
1:18.8	Wait, as a teenager?
1:20.6	No, she's like in her 20s, but still impressive.
1:24.4	And Sashi is legit the definition of started at the bottom now we're here because she started as a concubine.
1:32.2	Love that.
	...

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