Famous Empress Dowager Cixi Quotes
Han Chinese).
The anti-Qing reformer Liang Qichao accused Gangyi of saying this after the failure of the 1898 Hundred Days Reform, not Cixi. This was never attributed to Cixi by any historian or person until anti-Qing Han nationalists started posting this on internet forums and attributing it to Cixi.
Source: [Edward J. M. Rhoads, Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928, http://books.google.com/books?id=tgq1miGno-4C&pg=PA70#v=onepage&q&f=false, 1 December 2011, University of Washington Press, 978-0-295-80412-5, 70–]
Misattributed
[The Last Empress: The She-Dragon of China, Keith Laidler, 2003, John Wiley & Sons, 221, http://books.google.com/books?id=QLPZ7294oSIC&pg=PA221&dq=have+started+the+aggression,+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=have%20started%20the%20aggression%2C%20and%20the%20extinction%20of%20our%20nation%20is%20imminent%20%20no%20face%20ancestors%20death&f=false, 1-9-2011, 0470864265, the courage and fighting spirit were at once evident: 'Now they have started the aggression,' she declared, 'and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death?'2]
[Massacre in Shansi, Nat Brandt, 1994, illustrated, Syracuse University Press, 181, http://books.google.com/books?id=R0GGv-Dio1MC&pg=PA181&dq=have+started+the+aggression,+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=have%20started%20the%20aggression%2C%20and%20the%20extinction%20of%20our%20nation%20is%20imminent%20%20no%20face%20ancestors%20death&f=false, 1-9-2011, 0815602820, Tz'u Hsi was enraged: "Now the Powers have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death."' The Peking Field Force — made up of five armies — was ordered to surround the legations supposedly to protect the diplomats but effectively sealing them off from the rest of the city.]
[The Boxer Rebellion, Richard O'Connor, 1973, illustrated, reprint, Hale, 85, http://books.google.com/books?ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&id=LYVxAAAAMAAJ&dq=have+started+the+aggression%2C+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&q=extinction+ancestors, 1-9-2011, 0709147805, 3. All military operations were to be controlled by the foreign ministers. . . As she listened, her majesty's face was congested with rage. . . .With firm and vehement emphasis she then told the Grand Council: "Now they have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death?]
[The spirit soldiers: a historical narrative of the Boxer Rebellion, Richard O'Connor, 1973, illustrated, Putnam, 85, http://books.google.com/books?ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&id=P4NxAAAAMAAJ&dq=have+started+the+aggression%2C+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&q=extinction+imminent, 1-9-2011, 3. All military operations were to be controlled by the foreign . . .Council: "Now they have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death? She then elaborated on the great benefits the Manchu dynasty had conferred upon China and predicted that the grateful Chinese]
[The Siege at Peking: The Boxer Rebellion, Peter Fleming, 1990, illustrated, Dorset Press, 97, http://books.google.com/books?id=pHrZAAAAMAAJ&q=have+started+the+aggression,+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&dq=have+started+the+aggression,+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA, 1-9-2011, 0880294620, 'Now,' she is reported to have exclaimed, 'the Powers have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death.]
[The Siege at Peking, Peter Fleming, 1959, NEW YORK 49 East 33rd Street, New York 16, N.Y, HARPER & BROTHERS, 97, 1-9-2011, The Empress Dowager reacted in the way that the authors of the document presumably hoped she would. 'Now,' she is reported to have exclaimed, 'the Powers have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death?' A Decree (which was widely ignored) went out to the provinces ordering them to send troops to Peking.]
[The Boxer catastrophe, Issue 583 of Columbia studies in the social sciences, Chester C. Tan, 1967, reprint, Octagon Books, 73, http://books.google.com/books?ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&id=_gcOAQAAMAAJ&dq=have+started+the+aggression%2C+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&q=extinction+nation, 1-9-2011, 0374977526, affairs to be committed to their hands. The fourth point was not mentioned. She then made the following statement: " Now they [the Powers] have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If]
[Columbia studies in the social sciences, Volume 583, Columbia University. Faculty of Political Science, 1955, Columbia University Press, 73, http://books.google.com/books?ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&id=ZfocAQAAMAAJ&dq=have+started+the+aggression%2C+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&q=extinction+nation, 1-9-2011, metnioned. She then made the following statement: " Now they [the Powers] have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death? " Finally Hsü Yung-i,]
[The rhetoric of empire: American China policy, 1895-1901, Volume 36 of Harvard East Asian series, Marilyn Blatt Young, 1969, Harvard University Press, 147, http://books.google.com/books?ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&id=tUlCAAAAIAAJ&dq=have+started+the+aggression%2C+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&q=extinction+imminent, 1-9-2011, a surrender of sovereignty: (1) a special place to be assigned to the emperor for residence; (2) all revenues to be collected by the foreign ministers; (3) all mmilitary affairs to be committed to their hands. . .After reading them out the empress dowager declare, "Now they [the powers] have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death?]
[The dragon empress: life and times of Tz'u-hsi, 1835-1908, Empress dowager of China, Marina Warner, 1974, illustrated, reprint, Cardinal, 227, http://books.google.com/books?ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&id=hTend7Ttp9UC&dq=have+started+the+aggression%2C+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&q=extinction+imminent, 1-9-2011, 0351186573, 'Now,' she cried, 'now they have started the aggression and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we must fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death.'18 Quoting]
[Symbolic war: the Chinese use of force, 1840-1980, Volume 43 of Institute of International Relations English monograph series, Jonathan R. Adelman, Zhiyu Shi, 1993, Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University, 132, http://books.google.com/books?ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&id=ZYm6AAAAIAAJ&dq=have+started+the+aggression%2C+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&q=aggression+extinction+imminent, 1-9-2011, 9579368236, Council issued a decree recruiting Boxers to the army, attacking the advance of Seymour, pacifying the Boxers and ordering local troops to march northward to protect the capital. The next day the Empress Dowager declared that, "Now they have started the aggression and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death."44 In the words of the imperial decree]
As attributed in The last empress: Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and the birth of modern China, Hannah Pakula, 2009, Simon and Schuster, 391, 1439148937, 2010-06-28 http://books.google.com/books?id=4ZpVntUTZfkC&pg=PA39,
This is redacted from the account of Princess Der Ling, Two Years in the Forbidden City (1911), p. 356 http://books.google.com/books?id=KdUMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA356
“Your tail, is becoming too heavy to wag.”
[The Siege at Peking, Peter Fleming, 1959, NEW YORK 49 East 33rd Street, New York 16, N.Y, HARPER & BROTHERS, 226, 1-9-2011, One account describes an audience which Tung had of the Empress Dowager on 23 June, the third day of the Siege, at which he complained that 'Jung Lu has the guns which my army needs; with their aid not a stone would be left standing in the whole of the Legation Quarter.' The Empress Dowager, who had been painting a design of bamboos on silk when the warrior was announced, dismissed him with contumely. 'Your tail,' she said elliptically, 'is becoming too heavy to wag.' Ching-Shan mentions Tung's grievance about guns a week later.]
The origins of the Boxer Uprising, Joseph Esherick, 1988, University of California Press, 289, 0520064593, 2010-6-28 http://books.google.com/books?id=jVESdBSMasMC&pg=PA289&dq=Perhaps+their+magic+is+not+to+be+relied+upon:+but+can+we+not+rely+on+the+hearts+and+minds+of+the+people%3F+Today+China+is+extremely+weak.+We+have+only+the+people's+hearts+and+minds+to+depend+upon.+If+we+cast+them+aside+and+lose+the+people's+hearts,+what+can+we&hl=en&ei=sRa2TOuXDsG88gaL9azjCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Perhaps%20their%20magic%20is%20not%20to%20be%20relied%20upon%3A%20but%20can%20we%20not%20rely%20on%20the%20hearts%20and%20minds%20of%20the%20people%3F%20Today%20China%20is%20extremely%20weak.%20We%20have%20only%20the%20people's%20hearts%20and%20minds%20to%20depend%20upon.%20If%20we%20cast%20them%20aside%20and%20lose%20the%20people's%20hearts%2C%20what%20can%20we&f=false,
[The Last Empress: The She-Dragon of China, Keith Laidler, 2003, John Wiley & Sons, 221, http://books.google.com/books?id=QLPZ7294oSIC&pg=PA221&dq=have+started+the+aggression,+and+the+extinction+of+our+nation+is+imminent++no+face+ancestors+death&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oGsLT5rpEqHu0gGY29nuBQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=rely%20on%20supernatural%20formulas%20heart%20people&f=false, 1-9-2011, 0470864265, Yehonala interrupted from her dominant position on the dais. 'If we cannot rely on the supternatural formulas, can we not rely upon the heart of the people? China is weak: the only thing we can depend upon is the heart of the people. If we lose that, how an we maintain our country?']
[Victor Purcell, The Boxer Uprising: A Background Study, https://books.google.com/books?id=2MeUoD9G9xAC&pg=PA250&dq=cannot+rely+charms+heart+people+lose&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjH5tD7vvjLAhVFGx4KHR_SDiYQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=cannot%20rely%20charms%20heart%20people%20lose&f=false, 3 June 2010, Cambridge University Press, 978-0-521-14812-2, 250–]
