Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress

Cixi's residence - Chang Chun Gong (Palace of Eternal Spring), Forbidden City, China

It is quite typical for most Singaporeans to dismiss the Singaporean arts scene as a cultural wasteland. We consume large quantities of American, Hong Konger and even Taiwanese cultural products and find ourselves generous with our praise to these artists. There appears however, to be a natural tendency for a Singaporean to dismiss local cultural products as that of third world quality. I once fell under this category, thinking that the Singaporean arts scene was headed for the pits, but after watching Forbidden City, I have become a convert.

Unfortunately, I do not think I am yet qualified to comment upon the quality of a musical in terms of its form (beyond the simplistic, "wow, it was wonderful", or "that was terrible"), so I have decided to focus on an area that I have at least some knowledge of, that is the quality of its content. That is not to say the Forbidden City isn't good. It was an excellent production with wonderful music and props.

Empress Cixi's life has been a very controversial one. Many Chinese and European historians have variously accused her of opulence, corruption, tyranny and megalomania. Yet there is also a wide variety of literature (including the Forbidden City musical) that portray a sympathetic view of her. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

As one watches the progress of the play, one cannot help but notice several gaps in history that the play did not address. In the interest of being sympathetic towards the empress dowager, other characters of late Qing history have been villified. In this article, I hope to be able to supplement some historical facts that the musical might have inadvertently omitted and present a more complete picture surrounding the life of the empress.

Gap #1: On his death bed, the Emperor Xianfeng appointed his son, the three-year old Zaichun as his heir, and Cixi as regent.

The actual story is more complicated than that. On his deathbed, the Emperor Xianfeng appointed eight senior officials Zai Huan, Su Shun etc. to rule on the young emperor's behalf. However, these officials could only pass decrees with the seals of the emperor and the elder empress Ci An. As the emperor was still young, his seal naturally fell into the possession of his mother, the empress Cixi. Why was such a bizarre ritual required? This was to serve as a check on the power of the officials (there was an earlier precedent when a high-ranking official Ao Bai had attempted to seize power from the boy emperor Kangxi in the late 17th century).

With the help of Prince Gong, she launched a major political reorganization. The eight officials were stripped of their executive and military powers. Zai Huan and a few officials were granted permission to commit suicide. Su Shun was beheaded. Entire families were placed under the executioner's axe and their property confiscated by the state (the Chinese believe that the best way to avert vengeance is to kill every single person who is related to the offender). Others were sent to far-flung border outposts to serve in the military. From then on, the two empresses and Prince Gong had a free rein over the Qing government. The Emperor's reign, which was initially named Qixiang, was now renamed Tongzhi.

Gap #2: Prince Gong is a villain who harbours imperial ambitions.

While it is not certain whether or not Prince Gong did harbour imperial ambitions, the fact remains that together with the two empresses, he was the de facto ruler of China. Historically, it would appear that Prince Gong was a collaborator with the two empresses, rather than an usurper. Due to the awkward nature of his position, it was inevitable that there would be some friction between him and the two empresses. In 1884, Prince Gong was blamed for China's losses in the Sino-French war, and was stripped of all his political and military positions. However, he was reappointed immediately by the empress before the commencement of hostilities in the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895), where he served until his death in 1898. As the Boxer Rebellion only occured in 1900, it is highly unlikely that Prince Gong died during the chaos of the Boxer Rebellion, as portrayed in the musical.

Gap #3: What happened to Emperor Guangxu?

In 1898, the Emperor Guangxu issued a series of imperial edicts that would drastically change China in what would be known as the Hundred Days Reform. The emperor was an idealistic young man who could have been a second Peter the Great, if he had the strength and the power of authority to execute his reforms. While his reforms were brilliant ideas that might have strenghthened China, were they implemented, many of these came too quickly and too drastically. As a consequence, many of the officials who were supposed to execute the imperial edicts often second guessed him, sometimes even going to the extent of ignoring his authority. Unlike Peter the Great, he did not possess the political means to threaten his officials with poor health if they failed to implement his reforms with rigor.

As long as he was creating new offices, nobody really cared about what he was doing. His downfall began when he started abolishing offices of long-established mandarins. Another act contributing to his downfall was infringing upon the rights of the self-interested Manchurian nobility. These officials and nobles were naturally quite unhappy, and made their protests known to the empress dowager. She acknowledged their complaints, but made no indication as to what she would do.

When the emperor heard of the empress' visitors, he was concerned that she might scheme against him to oppose his reforms. In his fear and suspicion, he secretly ordered the General Yuan Shikai to bring his troops to the capital to surround the Summer Palace (where the empress resides), in order to allow him to continue his reforms. It was a risky adventure, and there was no reason why Yuan Shikai, a self-interested man would risk his position to betray the empress. He promptly reported the matter to his boss, Rong Lu, a protege of the empress. As a consequence, the emperor was placed under virtual house arrest in the Imperial Garden for the rest of his natural life, a pathetic shade of his former self.

Gap #4: The Boxer Rebellion is a consequence of Emperor Guangxu's reforms.

The Boxer Rebellion arose from a society known as the Righteous and Harmonious Boxers. It was alleged that by performing certain rituals, one could be made invincible from bullets and swords. The boxers consisted mostly of peasants, driven to the edge of starvation by famine and floods, blaming the foreign powers for their plight. The initial aim of the Boxers was to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, then drive out the foreigners. However, through sheer brilliance, the empress was able to turn the theme to "drive out the foreigners, support the Qing dynasty". The empress, believing that the Boxers were indeed invincible, decided to throw her lot behind them and declare war against the foreign powers. The consequence of this misadventure was the occupation and looting of Peking by the Allied Powers (comprising Great Britain, the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian empire) in 1900.

Thus, while the exaggerated accusations (e.g. killing her own son) levelled against the empress may not have been fair, it would have been too far off the mark to portray her as a meek little lamb at the centre of a power struggle. She was definitely quite capable of ruthlessness when the situation demanded it -- not that being ruthless is always a bad thing. In the imperial court, self-preservation is a justifiable pretext for extreme responses, and many of her political opponents probably had such instincts too. I personally think the more pertinent question should be -- given the challenges facing China at that point in time, was she the best candidate to rule China? How could she or someone else have done better under those circumstances? The answer to this question is however, outside the scope of this article.

Having said all that, the quality of the production is nevertheless, excellent, and such questions do not mar the production values. In terms of content however, it could best be said to describe the life of Empress Cixi from the perspective of the empress herself, which is after all, what she had been narrating to Kate Carl all this while.

I am told by some of my friends that my last article on Germany is very "cheem" (Hokkien slang for complex).

Upon examining the article, I think it is not so much that the article is "cheem". However, I might have inadvertently made several assumptions concerning the reader's knowledge of European history while penning the article. I will thus endeavour to write my articles with less assumptions in future. :P

So, to help you all with my last article, I have included links where applicable so that you will understand the context I am coming from.

Castle Hohenzollern, Germany

"She weeps, but takes just the same." - Frederick the Great, on Maria Theresa's participation in the partition of Poland

I've always had a fascination for German history. After all, it was the Germans who started the two world wars that happened in the last century. Yet, as recent as 150 years ago, there was no such entity as Germany. In those days, Germany was a collection of fragmented states ruled by petty German princes, with the most powerful being Prussia and Austria. Ask someone today if they know what "Prussia" is, and chances are that you will get blank stares. What kind of country would have a name that is formed by adding a letter to another country's name? Still, if you can get over the name, Prussia actually does have a very fascinating history.

The Hohenzollerns were previously the rulers of a small strip of land known as Brandenburg. Brandenburg's rise began after the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), when good diplomacy gave it a large helping of land. Over the years, she managed to acquire even more territory, including Eastern Prussia (a successor state of the Teutonic Order). It also helped that she was ruled by a succession of able leaders, the most famous of whom is Frederick the Great, who ruled from 1740-1786. Towards the end of the 17th century, she became a kingdom and Prussia came into existence (which isn't really different from before, except that the Elector of Brandenburg could now call himself King of Prussia and derive the imagined privileges of being a king). From one of the small petty states in the Holy Roman Empire, it gradually found itself in a position where it could compete with Austria (once the most powerful German state) for supremacy in the empire. Do not be fooled by Austria's present size. Although it has been reduced to minor power status today, in those days before World War I, it was a major power in Europe. In 1871, Prussia became the leader of the newly unified German nation under the able guidance of her Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

The Hohenzollerns, the kings of Prussia soon became the Kaisers of the new German nation, and less than half a century later, World War I started. A pity that the Central Powers lost the war (not that I side with them), and Kaiser Wilhelm II was soon forced to abdicate. This was followed by the Treaty of Versailles and the rest of it is history. If you have any interest at all in the fate of the Hohenzollerns, you can check it out at the web page of the Prussian royal family. Check out the breathtaking Castle of Hohenzollern. Now, if only I had a house like that!! The part about the history of the Prussian kings is in German though, so unless you can read German, you can just forget about it. :P

Of all the kings in Prussian history, my favourite has got to be King Frederick II (reigned from 1740-1786), otherwise known as Frederick the Great. Speaking of sheer cunning and wit, he was second to none in his time. Taking advantage of the newly crowned Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa's distraction during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), the seizure of Silesia from Austria was an act most Machiavellian in nature that served to immediately double the size of Prussia. The Seven Years War (1755-1763) that followed were extremely dark days for him, as he was invaded from all sides by Austria, France and Russia (Maria Theresa was clearly quite unhappy over the loss of Silesia). Frederick was said to be on the verge of suicide in those desperate days. However, thanks to his persistence, superior tactics and some luck (upon the death of Czarina Elizabeth, Peter III of Russia, an ardent admirer of Frederick, brought Russia out of the war), he was able to survive the war without any loss of territory. He was an "enlightened despot", and under his reign, Prussian infrastructure and industrial output advanced significantly. Prussia was firmly on the path to German supremacy.