Wanrong, The Last Qing Empress of China

Wanrong, The Last Qing Empress of China



I was inspired to re-create a pictorial history of WanRong, the last Express of China who had a short and very tragic life. She had been educated in the US, spoke and wrote fluent English, and was very modern. She was chosen to marry Emperor PuYi at age just 16 and lived in the Forbidden City for only 3 years before the Japanese invaded China and forced PuYi and WanRong to leave. They were set up as Manchuko Emperors until the Chinese Communist guards invaded the province. PuYi fled but left his wife behind to be captured. WanRong died in prison at age 36 and her remains were never found.To get more news about last empress of china wanrong, you can visit shine news official website.

Lisa Powers is French-born of French/Italian/British lineage. She moved to New York with her family when she was 10 years old and has lived in Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Florence, Tokyo. Currently lives and works in New Zealand. Has work published in several international magazines and photography annuals. Worked with celebrities for movie posters and publicity; travelled extensively for Art&Antiques magazine editorials, and photographed fashion catalogues and ads, worked with musicians for CD covers and film directors for movie one-sheets and has won several prestigious awards.

Arguably the most powerful empress in Chinese history, Empress Dowager Cixi dominated the court and policies of China’s last imperial dynasty for nearly 50 years. She entered the court as a low-ranking consort, or wife, of the Xianfeng emperor and bore his heir, the Tongzhi emperor. When Tongzhi ascended the throne as a child, Cixi became an empress dowager and an unusually powerful joint ruler. After Tongzhi died without an heir, Cixi installed her 4-year-old nephew as the Guangxu emperor. This consolidated her power, and she served as the de facto leader of the vast Qing Empire from 1861 until her death in 1908.

This portrait of Cixi captures some of the complexities of her story. Her benign face contradicts Western newspaper reports that declared she had “the soul of a tiger in the body of a woman.” Cixi gained this reputation after supporting a violent uprising that took control of the foreign legations in Beijing in 1900 (the Boxer Rebellion). Two years later, she changed her agenda by embracing modernization and fraternizing with foreigners.

As a way to polish her image outside China, Cixi invited American artist Katharine A. Carl to create this commanding portrait for display at the 1904 World’s Fair held in St. Louis. In a strategic diplomatic move, Cixi had this portrait presented to President Theodore Roosevelt.