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Consort Zhen
Imperial Noble Consort Keshun (27 February 1876 – 15 August 1900), of the Manchu Bordered Red Banner Tatara clan, was a consort of the Guangxu Emperor. She was five years his junior. She was known to foreigners as the Pearl Concubine. Legend has it that she was drowned in a well on the orders of Empress Dowager Cixi. Life Family background Imperial Noble Consort Keshun's personal name was not recorded in history. * Father: Changxu (), served as the Right Vice Minister of Revenue ** Paternal grandfather: Yutai (), served as the Viceroy of Shaan-Gan in 1851 ** Paternal grandmother: Lady Gūwalgiya * Mother: Lady Zhao * Three brothers * Four elder sisters ** Fourth elder sister: Imperial Noble Consort Wenjing (1873–1924) Guangxu era The future Imperial Noble Consort Keshun was born on the third day of the second lunar month in the second year of the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, which translates to 27 February 1876 in the Gregorian calendar. On 26 February 1889, Lady Tatara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park (Beijing), Zhongshan Park, the sacrificial Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Beihai Park, and the Jingshan Park. It is officially administered by the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City was constructed from 1406 to 1420, and was the former Chinese imperial palace and winter residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming dynasty (since the Yongle Emperor) to the end of the Qing dynasty, between 1420 and 1924. The Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors and their households and was the ceremonial and political center of the Government of China, Chinese government for over 500 years. Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and arti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium BCE. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent domestics, for espionage or clandestine operations, castrato singers, concubines, or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants. Eunuchs would usually be servants or slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter, or even relaying messages—could, in theory, give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Tempest
''The Last Tempest'' (, translit. Ying tai qi xue) is a 1976 Hong Kong drama film directed by Li Han-hsiang. The film was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Cast * Ti Lung as Emperor Guangxu * Lisa Lu as Empress Dowager Cixi * Ivy Ling Po as Empress Xiaodingjing * Siu Yiu as Consort Zhen * Miao Tien as Li Lianying * Wong Yue as Zhang Jinxi * Lin Yun as Kang Youwei *Yueh Hua as Tan Sitong *Chen Ping as Consort Jin *Shum Lo as Eunuch Wang Shang *Ingrid Hu Yan Yan as Princess Der Ling *Wong Sun as Yuan Shikai *Yeung Chi-hing as Official Hsu Tung *Wang Hsieh as Official Kang Li *Chiang Nan as Official Tai Yi *Ching Miao as Ronglu *Lo Hol Pang as Yang Shenxiu *Kong Ngai as Lin Xu See also * List of submissions to the 49th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film * List of Hong Kong submissions for the Academ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Empress Dowager
''The Empress Dowager'' is a 1975 Hong Kong historical film directed by Li Han-hsiang and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio, starring Lisa Lu as Empress Dowager Cixi. Plot Although the Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Tzu-hsi of the Qing Dynasty, Ching Dynasty had promised her nephew, Guangxu Emperor, Emperor Kuang-hsu that he had complete autonomy, he found that this was not the case as he attempted to exert his authority over corrupt eunuchs and officials who undermined him with the backing of the Empress Dowager. Young, inexperienced and without a strong cadre of loyal officials to support him, he tries to juggle affairs both public and private. His loveless marriage to Empress Dowager Longyu, Empress Chin Feng and dislike of the Empress further leaves him all the more bereft of any power lever. His only bright spark in a cold gloomy palace was his love for Consort Zhen, Concubine Chen and a young eunuch who wholeheartedly supports him. Cast *Lisa Lu as Empress Dowag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sorrows Of The Forbidden City
''Sorrows of the Forbidden City'' () is a Mandarin Chinese film released in 1948. It was directed by Zhu Shilin and filmed in Hong Kong. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the film was criticized as "treasonous" for its positive depiction of the Emperor. However, its reputation has risen in recent years, and it was ranked as the 37th best Chinese film of all time in the Hong Kong Film Awards poll of 2013. Synopsis This film is a historical drama set in the imperial court in the closing years of the Qing dynasty (late 19th and early 20th century). The Empress Dowager Cixi wielded effective power during much of this period, having staged a coup in 1861 that made her regent over the infant Emperor X and then, after his death, the young Emperor Guangxu. Cixi went into retirement in 1889 and the Emperor Guangxu ruled in his own right for the first time. He instituted the famous Hundred Days' Reform, aimed at strengthening and modernizing China. However, Ci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan (; born Su Pu (); August 1, 1920 – September 22, 1957), also romanized as Chow Hsuan, was an iconic Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars. She was the best known of the seven, nicknamed the "Golden Voice", and had a concurrent movie career until 1954. She recorded more than 200 songs and appeared in over 40 films in her career. Early life Zhou was born Su Pu (), but was separated from her natural parents at a young age and raised by adoptive parents. She spent her entire life searching for her biological parents but her parentage was never established until after her death. According to later family research, a relative who was an opium addict took her at the age of 3 to another city and sold her to a family named Wang, who named her Wang Xiaohong. She was later adopted by a family named Zhou, changing her name to Zhou Xiaohong. At the age of 13, she took Zhou Xuan as her stage name, 'Xuan' () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republic Of China (1912–1949)
The Republic of China (ROC), between 1912 and 1949, was a sovereign state recognised as the official designation of China when it was based on Mainland China, prior to the Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan, relocation of Government of the Republic of China, its central government to Taiwan as a result of the Chinese Civil War. At a Population history of China, population of 541 million in 1949, it was the List of countries and dependencies by population, world's most populous country. Covering , it consisted of 35 provinces of China, provinces, 1 Special administrative regions of China#ROC special administrative regions, special administrative region, 2 regions, 12 special municipality (Republic of China), special municipalities, 14 leagues, and 4 special banners. The China, People's Republic of China (PRC), which rules mainland China today, considers ROC as a country that ceased to exist since 1949; thus, the history of ROC before 1949 is often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet
Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse, 2nd Baronet (20 October 1873 – 8 January 1944) was a British oriental scholar, Sinologist, and linguist whose books exerted a powerful influence on the Western view of the last decades of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Since his death, however, it has been established that the major source of his ''China Under the Empress Dowager'' is a forgery, most likely by Backhouse himself. His biographer, Hugh Trevor-Roper, unmasked Backhouse as "a confidence man with few equals," who had also duped the British government, Oxford University, the American Bank Note Company and John Brown & Company. Derek Sandhaus, the editor of Backhouse's memoirs ''Décadence Mandchoue'', argues that they are also an undoubted confabulation but contain plausible recollections of scenes and details. Early life Backhouse was born into a Quaker family in Darlington; his relatives included many churchmen and scholars. In 1918, he inherited the family baronetcy from his father, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sterling Seagrave
Sterling Seagrave (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2017) was an American historian. He was the author of numerous books which address unofficial and clandestine aspects of the 20th-century political history of countries in the Far East. Personal life Born in Columbus, Ohio on April 15, 1937, Seagrave grew up on the China-Myanmar border, the fifth generation of an American family living in the Orient for nearly two centuries (his father was Dr. Gordon Seagrave, author of ''Burma Surgeon''). He and his family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas and he attended W. B. Ray Highschool from 1953 to 1955. Seagrave's collaborator and wife of 35 years was Peggy Sawyer Seagrave, who died about a year before her husband.Staff writer (Jul. 31, 2017)"Sterling Seagrave, 1937–2017: Investigative journalist Sterling Seagrave has died at the age of 80."''Verso''. Archived frothe original./ref> Seagrave died on May 1, 2017 in France, where he had been living for more than 30 years with his wife. Seagrave's d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puyi
Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 12 February 1912 during the Xinhai Revolution. His era name as Qing emperor, Xuantong (Hsuan-tung, 宣統), means "proclamation of unity". He was later installed as the Emperor Kangde (康德) of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo during World War II. He was briefly restored to the throne as Qing emperor by the loyalist General Zhang Xun from 1 July to 12 July 1917. He was first wed to Empress Wanrong in 1922 in an arranged marriage. In 1924, he was expelled from the palace and found refuge in Tianjin, where he began to court both the warlords fighting for hegemony over China and the Japanese who had long desired control of China. In 1932, after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the puppet state of Manchukuo was established by Japan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reginald Johnston
Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, ( zh, s=庄士敦爵士, p=Zhuāngshìdūn juéshì, "Sir Johnston"; 13 October 1874 – 6 March 1938) was a British diplomat who served as the tutor and advisor to Puyi, the last Emperor of China. He was also the last British Commissioner of Weihaiwei. Johnston's book '' Twilight in the Forbidden City'' (1934) was used as a source for Bernardo Bertolucci's film dramatization of Puyi's life ''The Last Emperor''. Early life Johnston was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and later was awarded a scholarship to read modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford University. In 1898, he joined the Colonial Service and was initially posted to Hong Kong. In 1906, he was transferred to the British leased territory at Weihaiwei on the coast of the Shandong Peninsula as a District Officer, working with Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart. For his extreme industry, Johnston was noted from his superiors as a capable colonial ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beijing
} Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 million residents. It has an administrative area of , the third in the country after Guangzhou and Shanghai. It is located in Northern China, and is governed as a municipality under the direct administration of the State Council with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts.Figures based on 2006 statistics published in 2007 National Statistical Yearbook of China and available online at archive. Retrieved 21 April 2009. Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the Jingjinji megalopolis and the national capital region of China. Beijing is a global city and one of the world's leading centres for culture, diplomacy, politics, finance, busi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
