慈禧

choi

Orville Schell, 昏庸的慈禧也有开明进步的一面. 纽约时报中文网, Oct 29, 2013
cn.tmagazine.com/books/20131029/t29schell/

, which is translated from

Orville Schell, Her Dynasty. New York Times, Oct 27, 2013
(book review on Jung Chang, Empress Dowager Cixi, 2013)

the last two paragraphs:

"What makes reading this new biography so provocative are the similarities between the challenges faced by the Qing court a century ago and those confronting the Chinese Communist Party today. While foreign incursion is no longer a threat and China’s economic situation is far more advanced, the present government’s survival depends once again on its ability to implement major internal reforms. Like the Empress Dowager, President Xi Jinping finds himself confronting a daunting choice: Change too slowly and risk foundering. Change too rapidly and risk losing control.

"By the time Cixi finally embraced constitutional monarchy, China’s ancien regime was too weak to save. Since then, the Chinese have undergone a dramatic series of efforts at self-reinvention. What the next act will look like is still far from clear. Now that the once revolutionary Chinese Communist Party has become the ancien regime, its leaders find themselves confronting the challenge of defending rather than overthrowing the status quo. Whether they can initiate the kinds of reforms needed to reposition China and spare their latter-day dynasty from a fate similar to that of the Qing is anyone’s guess. It is, however, the question that again animates China’s epic historical drama, and there is much to learn here from the experiences of Empress Dowager Cixi.

My comment:
(a) The last two paragraphs are the only interesting part of the book review, no doubt reflecting the reviewer's personal view.
(b) 昏庸 in the title of Chinese translation is, again, translator's own view, not Jung Chang's or reviewer's.

(c) "For decades, she was condescendingly referred to in the West as 'the Old Buddha,' the 'She Dragon,' the usurper of a throne 'over whose disintegration she presided.'”
(i) Keith Laidler, The Last Empress: The she-dragon of China. Wiley, 2003.
(ii) Dragon Rider (novel)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Rider_(novel)
(original title: Drachenreiter; a 1997 German children's novel by Cornelia Funke; "There, they meet with a she-Dragon, Maia. She is the only living dragon there, as the other twenty-two [dragons] have since turned into stone through lack of moonlight")
(iii) Adomas Jazdauskas (Vilnius, Lithuania), She Dragon. Bēhance, March 2010.
www.behance.net/gallery/She-Dragon/441983
("personal illustration")
(iv) Liu Dao 六岛, "She Dragon" 龙女. 2009
www.island6.org/SheDragon.html
(LED display)

It seems to me the term "she dragon" is not derogatory, but means a female dragon.

(d) Cixi "was forced to flee Beijing in 1860 with the Xianfeng emperor as Western forces approached to loot and burn the magnificent Summer Palace. This desecration during the Second Opium War was designed, as the British commander, Lord Elgin, put it, to crush the 'emperor’s pride as well as his feelings.'”
(i) Second Opium War
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War
(1856-1860; The British army led by Lord Elgin)

Quote: "Lord Elgin ordered the [Old] Summer Palace[] 圓明園 destroyed starting on Oct 18[, 1860]. Beijing was not occupied; the Anglo-French army remained outside the city. [flash back:] The destruction of the Forbidden City was discussed, as proposed by Lord Elgin to discourage the Chinese from using kidnapping as a bargaining tool, and to exact revenge on the mistreatment of their prisoners. Elgin's decision was further motivated by the torture and murder of almost twenty Western prisoners, including two British envoys and a journalist for The Times. The Russian envoy Count Ignatiev and the French diplomat Baron Gros settled on the burning of the Summer Palaces instead, since it was 'least objectionable' and would not jeopardise the treaty signing.
(ii) For Lord Elgin, see James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bruce,_8th_Earl_of_Elgin
(James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elginen.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bruce,_8th_Earl_of_Elgin(UK High Commissioner to China 1857-1862)
(iii) earl
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl
(An earl has the title Earl of [X] when the title originates from a placename, or Earl [X] when the title comes from a surname. In either case, he is referred to as Lord [X], and his wife as Lady [X])
(iv) lord
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord
("Five ranks of peer exist in the United Kingdom, in descending order these are duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. The appellation 'Lord' is used most often by barons * * *The ranks of marquess, earl and viscounts are commonly also addressed as lord. Dukes use the style 'Duke of (X)', and are not correctly referred to as 'Lord (X)'")

(e) Cixi "issued a 'Decree of Self-Reproach' 罪己诏 blaming her own poor judgment for the catastrophe"