One of the most popular and controversial Chinese history books ever written, this account explores the Forbidden City during the reign of Empress Dowager Cixi (1861–1908). Entertaining and enlightening, this record examines a world of power-thirsty eunuchs, concubines, and Mandarins. Filled with intrigue, bitter antagonism, and ruthless reprisals and predicting the fall of the Qing dynasty, this history is heavily based on Chinese source materials, some of which may have been fabricated.