Twenty years after her death, a warlord dynamited Empress Dowager Cixi's tomb, dragged out her corpse, and pried open her jaws for a legendary pearl, mirroring how her reputation would be looted for a century. This deep dive looks past the sensationalized "dragon lady" myths to examine the documented facts of a teenage concubine who ruled an empire for nearly half a century.

Rare literacy let Cixi read state memorials for the ailing Xianfeng Emperor, giving her an insider's view of statecraft. After his death she outmaneuvered eight regents in a swift coup, ruled "behind the curtain," and navigated the deadliest civil war in history, empowering Han Chinese generals in a calculated gamble to save the Qing dynasty.

• Building alliances with Empress Ci'an and Prince Gong to seize power in 1861
• Backing the Tongzhi Restoration's ...