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Summary: The controversy never ends
Review: This is a worthy biography of Tzu Hsi, the Last Empress of China. While some people criticize the history, the distortion over the events and character of Tzu Hsi still rage today. I have read the Backhouse account that Seagrave attributes to besmirching the Empress's reputation and I agree, it's imaginative, inflammatory rot. The Backhouse bio attributes some sexual exploits of the author so is completely suspect. But it was taken as gospel for years. This biography is more balanced, and shows the various sides of the despotic but venerated ruler who tried to stem the tide of modernism in Old China, and failed. The onslaught of the Western culture broke down centuries of stable peasant culture, making way for the Revolution. An interesting look into the last remnants of Imperial China.
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Summary: A Great Source for China During Tzu Hsi's Reign, but...
Review: This is an outstanding and extremely detailed nonfiction which highlights almost every single historical event (at least to me, it seem like it) that occured during Tzu Hsi's reign. It describes how the corruption between the royal princes and ministers lead to the fall of the Ching Dynasty, and what the real life as the secluded empress dowager lived. Although many of these events, such as the Boxer Uprising, helped somewhat a little in understanding Tzu Hsi, I personally felt that it was not worth hundreds of hours trying to read through details of small battles. I was attracted to this book because of its caption, "The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China," not other political happenings during her life. The book could have been shorten to a quarter of its present quantity. However, I would like to congratulate Seagrave's defense of how Tzu Hsi wasn't an evil and murderous woman, displacing unaccounted writings of Bland and Backhouse. I strongly recommend this book for students studying China during Tzu Hsi's time, but not as strong to those who wish to read solely about Tzu Hsi.
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Summary: Brian Wayne Wells, Esquire, reviews "Dragon Lady"
Review: Tzu Hsi is one of those characters in history that suffers from a gross distortion of her actual person on the pages of conventional history. She has been portrayed as an all-powerful conniving and blood thristy leader of the Chinese Empire shortly before the Revolution of 1911. She is portrayed in the opening scenes of the movie, "The Last Emporer" as the somewhat sinister and ancient woman talking with the young 4-year-old Pu Yi. Sterling Seagrave endeavors in his 1992 book called "Dragon Lady" to dispell the myths that have grown up around the life Tzu Hsi. Futhermore, he reveals that the myths had their start with rumormongering on the part of British and European journalists interested in advancing the interests of Britain in China at the expense of the independent Chinese government, nominally headed by a woman, at the time of the Boxer Rebellion.
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Summary: Dry Adaptation
Review: While there exists little in Chinese history that is not thoroughly fascinating, Sterling Seagrave manages to tirelessly and in great detail, unsubstantiate every myth surrounding the last empress of China. She no longer maintains any sort of mystique, as it has been entirely laid bare by someone who is too intent on debunking the half-truths presented by the Europeans. Previous reviews that state that the book lacks of biographical element have it right, with as much pomp and circumstance as possible, the author seeks to prove his postion as a self-proclaimed "expert" rather than relaying the story of what could have been a truly fascinating woman.
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