Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, rose from low-ranking imperial concubine of Emperor Xianfeng to become the undisputed ruler of the Qing Empire for nearly half a century. After orchestrating the Xinyou Coup in 1861 following Xianfeng's death, she ruled as co-regent for her young son, the Tongzhi Emperor, and subsequently for her nephew, the Guangxu Emperor.

Cixi guided the Qing dynasty through existential domestic rebellions such as the Taiping and Nian Rebellions and navigated complex modernization during the Self-Strengthening Movement. Although she curtailed the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898 and supported the anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion in 1900—leading to international occupation—she subsequently enacted sweeping late Qing reforms, abolishing the imperial examination system, restructuring the military, and initiating constitutional preparations before her death in 1908.