Dragon Lady

Book cover of Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China

Book description

The author of The Soong Dynasty gives us our most vivid and reliable biography yet of the Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, remembered through the exaggeration and falsehood of legend as the ruthless Manchu concubine who seduced and murdered her way to the Chinese throne in 1861.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Dragon Lady as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sheridan Prasso

Author

This book takes what you think you know about China’s Last Empress, Cixi, and turns it upside down. Far from the monster created by puerile Western conquerors to justify their imperial domination over China, this historical account uncovers the reality behind the woman who held great power in China. This reality is core to the destruction of the Dragon Lady stereotype in Western culture that I lay out in my book.

From Sheridan's list on Asian women.