A portrait of China’s Empress Dowager Cixi on display at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington. Photo: AFP
China’s Qing dynasty empresses, their lives and power they wielded, take centre stage at US show
- Exhibition at Washington’s Smithsonian examines the power of women in Qing dynasty China using items almost entirely from Beijing’s Palace Museum
- While it argues these women wielded significant influence, the show also acknowledges they were ‘inalienable possessions of the monarchy’
Topic |
Chinese history
A portrait of China’s Empress Dowager Cixi on display at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington. Photo: AFP