For my daughter, Lauryann,
and all the adopted daughters from China
My intercourse with Tzu Hsi started in 1902 and continued until her death. I had kept an unusually close record of my secret association with the Empress and others, possessing notes and messages written to me by Her Majesty, but had the misfortune to lose all these manuscripts and papers.
– SIR EDMUND BACKHOUSE,
coauthor of China Under the Empress
Dowager (1910) and Annals and Memoirs
of the Court of Peking (1914)
In 1974, somewhat to Oxford’s embarrassment and to the private dismay of China scholars everywhere, Backhouse was revealed to be a counterfeiter… The con man had been exposed, but his counterfeit material was still bedrock scholarship.
– STERLING SEAGRAVE,
Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of
the Last Empress of China (1992)
One of the ancient sages of China foretold that “China will be destroyed by a woman.” The prophecy is approaching fulfillment.
– DR. GEORGE ERNEST MORRISON,
London Times China correspondent,
1892-1912
[Tzu Hsi] has shown herself to be benevolent and economical. Her private character has been spotless.
– CHARLES DENBY,
American envoy to China, 1898
She was a mastermind of pure evil and intrigue.
– Chinese textbook (in print 1949-1991)