logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2024
44m 36s

Empress Dowager Cixi of China Part 1: Co...

Wondery
About this episode
Empress Dowager Cixi wasn’t born into power – she took it. After participating in a 19th century version of The Bachelor, Cixi was chosen as one of the Emperor’s concubines. In part one of this two-part series, Cixi uses her cunning, wit, and scrappy attitude to rise through the ranks, eventually becoming one of the most powerful Chinese empresses of all tim ... Show More
Up next
Oct 26
Listen Now— Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe
A Hollywood stuntwoman turned personal injury attorney. A handsome disbarred lawyer with a dark past. And an elaborate scheme that leads to murder. Vanessa Motta gives up a career of fake car crashes for real ones. But her law career in New Orleans gets off to a rocky start — unt ... Show More
6m 58s
Oct 12
Listen Now: My Mom’s Murder
Lauren Malloy was a baby when her mother, Lori, was murdered in East Providence, Rhode Island. For thirty years, no one told her. Everyone said Lori died of natural causes. Then a stranger sent Lauren a message — and the lie collapsed. Now Lauren is investigating her own mother’s ... Show More
5m 18s
Oct 1
Listen Now: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
For centuries, Dracula has evaded capture. Enter Mina Harker. Audible presents Dracula, a brand-new, full-cast adaptation of Bram Stoker's masterpiece starring Ella Purnell, Jonathan Bailey, Aimee Lou Wood, Louis Partridge, David Jonsson, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. When her fiancé va ... Show More
54m 41s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
A Concubine Rises to Rule China
April 27, 1856. In Beijing’s Forbidden City, one of the emperor’s consorts, a woman named Cixi, has given birth to a son – the emperor’s first heir. This landmark event is met with mass celebration. But in just five years time, the emperor will be dead and Cixi will be planning a ... Show More
35m 26s
Apr 2018
Dowager Empress Cixi of China
The story of a Chinese concubine who rose to power from behind a curtain of yellow silk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
1h 59m
Apr 2025
A Concubine Rises to Rule China
April 27, 1856. In Beijing’s Forbidden City, one of the emperor’s consorts, a woman named Cixi, has given birth to a son – the emperor’s first heir. This landmark event is met with mass celebration. But in just five years time, the emperor will be dead and Cixi will be planning a ... Show More
35m 10s
Jun 2024
Empress Dowager Cixi
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman who, for almost fifty years, was the most powerful figure in the Chinese court. Cixi (1835-1908) started out at court as one of the Emperor's many concubines, yet was the only one who gave him a son to succeed him and who also possessed g ... Show More
50m 2s
Feb 2020
The Ghosts that Haunted the Female Emperor
<p>In 7th-century China, Wu Zetian went from low-tiered concubine to Empress and then, finally, to Emperor in her own right. Her legacy is murky and strange, and her rise to power is trickled with blood. </p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.iheart ... Show More
21m 47s
Apr 2018
Chinese Characters
The history of China, as told through 20 lives. This time: The Female Emperor. 
16m 42s
Aug 2024
181. The Dragon Empress: China’s Game of Thrones
The inculcation of Buddhism from India as the state religion in China was enabled by the violent rise of China’s only ever woman Emperor. Raised by pious Buddhist parents, Wu Zetian left a trail of bodies in her wake as she charted a path to absolute power. From a lowly ranked co ... Show More
34m 14s
Aug 2020
Empress Sisi of Austria Part 1
Sisi was a shy young noblewoman who was plucked from obscurity and shoved onto the world stage with very little warning. She found the limelight a difficult place in which to live, but her beauty and her genuine concern for the common people earned her the status of a reluctant i ... Show More
1h 28m