The Rise of Empress Cixi | Chinas Forbidden City

[Music] a fairy tale about a 15 year old girl from a poor family in beijing and a young prince who becomes the ruler of a great empire when his father dies this is the forbidden city in the year 1850 the court is still in mourning but soon there will be just one topic of interest in the palace who will be the bride of 20 year old sham feng the new emperor of the jing dynasty the dynasty which has ruled the middle kingdom for more than 200 years sixty young girls from the ruling clans are ordered to report to the forbidden city champion's mother will choose one as the emperor's bride the others will become his concubines the chief eunuch receives the candidates among them is fifteen-year-old yehenera she must bid farewell to her family before the mighty meridian gate for the emperor's subjects may not enter the forbidden city crosses the threshold of the empire's holy of holies for the first time she's entering a strange magical world [Music] her route takes her across one of the five bridges over the goldwater river past the splendid imperial palaces [Music] and through a gate into the center of the forbidden city here the hall of supreme harmony rises majestically this is the center of the world it's a sight that takes the breath away spiritual architecture is accompanied by strict ritual even the criteria for choosing an imperial bride are clearly set down [Music] the choice itself is the privilege of the emperor's mother the most senior woman at court [Music] the most unpleasant part of the procedure is the physical examination are there any blemishes does she have bad breath or even body odor is she still a virgin [Music] is asked to step forward and receive her engagement present many others were jealous of me as i was then considered a beautiful woman yehenara is supposed to have said it seems the emperor's mother doesn't agree she appoints yahanara a concubine of the fifth and lowest grade [Music] the main prize goes to another girl she is to be the emperor's bride and she will give the dynasty its heir and so she becomes yahenara's greatest rival for the emperor's favor [Music] yehinara looks into eyes that have known nothing but an empty pointless existence waiting many have spent their whole lives hoping in vain for a call to the emperor's bed chamber some have never even seen him this could easily be yehanara's fate too but she has no other choice for an imperial concubine may never leave the forbidden city in the monotony of a minutely regulated day seconds turn into hours hours become weeks two years pass and yehanara has never been called to emperor shanthing the fairy tale has turned into a nightmare a life locked in a cage with purple walls and gilded roofs a concubine had only one chance to rise in the palace hierarchy by giving birth to the heir to the throne but in two years the emperor had not summoned yehanara even once [Music] then andei hai the young eunuch allocated to her as her servant breaks all the rules of etiquette he knows that if his words displease her she can order his death but perhaps he has ways of making the emperor more aware of her at first she's furious at his insolence [Music] but then she reconsiders perhaps he can help her after all but what can he do for her [Music] yehanara can go nowhere at court without being noticed but he can be her eyes and ears at court he knows the guards at the gate he can slip anywhere unseen like a cat she will find ways for his mistress to get herself noticed so that she will find favor at court [Music] only eunuchs like andei hai have access to the inner sanctums of the palace about three thousand of them live in the forbidden city apart from guarding the haram they're responsible for all the day-to-day tasks in the palace from garbage removal to the administration of the imperial household no one else is so close to the emperor so eunuchs are among the most influential members of the palace hierarchy of all the eunuchs the most powerful is the chief eunuch he has the privilege of presenting the emperor every day with jade tablets engraved with the names of his concubines the son of heaven chooses the woman with whom he wishes to share his bed that night [Music] aided by her enterprising servant yehanara is granted an audience with the chief eunuch she presents him with the engagement gift she received from the emperor [Music] [Music] the chief eunuch is shocked he refuses to accept this token of the emperor's love but this gift will be much more valuable when yehanara has borne the emperor's son [Music] yehanara has gained an important ally at court she can rely on him but what if the emperor chooses another of his concubines the chief eunuch has ways of making things happen in the forbidden city he will start by telling the emperor how beautiful she is [Music] yahenara's plan succeeds the emperor chooses to spend the night with her the preparations take the whole day [Music] bathed perfumed and draped only in a silken sheet yehanara is led to the emperor's chamber as night falls no one knows what happened at the first meeting between the emperor and yahinara she may have been specially instructed for this moment the chief eunuch would certainly know the emperor's preferences [Music] according to ritual the love act with a concubine was intended to serve the teachings of yin and yang not the creation of an imperial heir the emperor was expected to hold back in order to increase his strength by the unification of feminine and masculine yang pregnancy was reserved for the empress [Music] at least that was the theory [Music] in any case the eunuchs stayed in the room in order to take a detailed record of the proceedings after the love act yehinara slept alone on her side as the ritual required only the emperor was allowed to face heaven whatever did happen that night yahenara had achieved her goal for three months more she remained the emperor's only nighttime companion [Music] and finally yehenara's deepest wishes are fulfilled a doctor checks her pulse at the end of a silk ribbon but he's not allowed to touch her in spite of this inexact method he is in no doubt and her majesty the empress must be the first to know [Music] the doctor informs the empress that yehanara has the happy pulse rate [Music] the dragon seed has germinated she is pregnant what fate denied the empress is granted to yehanara from now on yahanara will live with the mordant hatred of her rivals they will stop at nothing to hurt her [Music] her faithful servant and tries to protect her as far as you can [Music] behind its facade of harmony the forbidden city is riven by envy and hate yehanara learns her lesson well she will soon use them as weapons herself [Music] on the 27th of april 1856 yahanara brings a son into the world as the mother of the heir to the throne she is now the highest ranking woman in the empire after the empress [Music] but her meteoric rise has come at a price she will hardly ever see her son tyjoon for his upbringing is in the hands of the empress and the eunuchs all bow before the empress and the heir to the throne even as an infant the crown prince has godlike status he secures the continuity of the dynasty but kanye nara come to terms with her own role [Music] just when the court inside the forbidden city believes it has won the approval of heaven the world outside the walls threatens to dissolve into chaos floods destroy the harvest there's famine throughout china despair leads to uprisings bloodily suppressed [Music] and now foreigners especially the british are gathering on the frontiers of the empire china had always cut itself off from the influence of the foreign barbarians but after the first opium war in 1840 britain enforced the opening of chinese ports now other european powers are demanding their own share and insisting on trading with china as equals [Music] the emperor now sick and weary of his ritualized daily routine is incapable of dealing with the situation [Music] he relies more and more on his favorite concubine yehenera to help him carry out the tasks of government it's jahanara who studies the official proposals and guides the emperor's decisions this is sacrilege an unthinkable break with traditional roles yehanara is getting her first taste of imperial power and she's enjoying it [Music] when the emperor gives an audience even to the most important visitors yahanara stays at his side [Music] the emperor's brother prince kong arrives with bad news [Music] the british and french are again demanding embassies in china to the chinese this is pure insolence the emperor will never allow the barbarians to reach beijing some at court want the barbarians killed or better their ambassadors taken hostage until the foreign soldiers leave the barbarians have humiliated china enough the time for concessions is passed china must use force to maintain its freedom and its honor the chinese must rediscover their warrior qualities and repel the white devils [Music] the emperor agrees [Music] and his subjects obey the 20-strong anglo-french delegation are arrested and paraded through the streets of beijing past the incensed crowds the white devils only narrowly escape the lynching so the humiliation china suffered at the hands of the western imperial powers the relegation of the middle kingdom to the status of a colony was a traumatic experience which has influenced chinese politics especially chinese foreign policy to the present day after the second opium war but then the fighting flared up again in 1860 an expeditionary force was dispatched to beijing expeditions with their modern weapons the europeans shoot their way into the capital the court flees the forbidden city for the first time in chinese history the official explanation is that the emperor has departed to join the traditional hunt at his summer residence [Music] vehemently opposed the decision to flee it was the most humiliating moment of my life she later wrote but flee she did that she won't leave without her son this is not only a mother's love if she stays in beijing she will lose the only card that guarantees her position at court the decision to leave soon turns out to have been the right one [Music] the europeans take out their fury on the treasures of beijing's summer palace where their diplomats had been held they destroy irreplaceable works of art splendid gardens reserved for centuries to a select few are turned into rubble and ashes on hearing the news emperor feng loses his will to live the son of heaven lies on his death bed far away from beijing but he has not yet decided the succession according to tradition he must name his son as his heir making known his divine will in his own words something yahenara's enemies at court want to prevent [Music] her attempts to reach the emperor are in vain as a mere concubine she has no rights [Music] she's not even allowed to take her son to his dying father instead the chief eunuch threatens to arrest her [Music] finally the emperor himself calls for his child has to know who will be the next emperor of china he will lead china to new greatness but the emperor must still choose a name for his son's reign with his last breath the emperor fulfills his ritual duty the motto for the new emperor will be ruling together [Music] in the year 1861 tongzhou ascends the dragon throne a six-year-old in command of an empire in fact it's his mother who holds all the power yehenara the concubine will go down in history under the name of sishi [Music] her decisiveness has saved the dynasty which would have broken up in power struggles without a legitimate successor allies herself with prince kong the late emperor's brother against the court officials for them the presence of a woman at the head of the empire disturbs the harmony of the traditional order the elite officials of the empire were trained at the hanlin academy their studies were based on the teachings of confucius from the 5th century bc these teachings were supposed to lead to a state of perfect harmony between the rulers and the ruled if you passed the exam you were guaranteed a career in the forbidden city but this training was useless in the changing world outside the palace walls [Music] how can you reform a political system based solely on ancient rituals on the infinite repetition of identical gestures when tongzhou reaches majority and formally takes over power his mother is the guarantee that the status quo will be maintained the emperor issues his proclamations but the decisions are taken by his all-powerful mother listening her own contemporaries actually refer to her as the ruler behind the curtain see she is not prepared to give up her power and privileges this is unprecedented in chinese history she has overstepped the boundaries of imperial tradition the very tradition that she is striving to maintain the son of heaven is just an extra on the imperial stage you

Channel: hazards and catastrophes

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Id: LCXALPySATg

Length: 27min 21sec (1641 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 27 2021