“Cixis lack of formal education was more than made up for by her intuitive intelligence, which she liked to use from her earliest years. In 1843, when she was seven, the empire had just finished its...”

“Cixi was not at the coronation. The majestic main part of the Forbidden City was out of bounds to her because she was a woman. She still could not set foot in it, even though she was now the de fa...”

“For Cixi, the whole episode taught her that to survive at court she must hold her tongue about state affairs. This was difficult, as she could see that the dynasty was in trouble. The victorious Ta...”

“As events would show, Cixi was indeed opposed to the foreign policy of her husband and his inner circle but for very different reasons. Silently observing from close quarters, she in fact regarded...”

“The symbol of Goddess gives us permission. She teaches us to embrace the holiness of every natural, ordinary, sensual dying moment. Patriarchy may try to negate body and flee earth with its constan...”

“... the effort to discover an authentic self, to strip away layers of alienation and culturally imposed identity and find a soul in a clear, unimpeded communion with the sacred is consonant with sp...”

“I'm a queen with or without a king. Chasing anything is beneath me. Until you're ready to put away childish things and be my man, my king, someone I can trust to shepard my soul to the Almighty I h...”