A psychobiographical analysis of Empress Dowager Cixi: exploring the femininity castrated complex

Abstract

In Chinese culture, there is a widely circulated phrase, ‘A hen crows in the morning’. This phrase is used to humiliate women who steal power and engage in the political field. It demonstrates the complicated relationship between women and power in the context of Chinese culture. Women are not completely excluded from the politics, but women in power are often stigmatised. This study explores the life of Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), the last female dominator in Chinese history, takes psychobiography as the research method, and attempts to understand the complicated relationship between women and power in Chinese culture through analysing Cixi’s life from the perspective of complex and cultural complex theory which originated with C.G. Jung and analytical theory. The research findings show that humiliating and suppressing women with political talent can trigger their complexes, both personal and cultural. This study attempts to propose the femininity castrated complex to better describe the conscious and unconscious psychological dynamics impacting on women within patriarchal, political Chinese culture. This complex further relates to (1) denying her biological sex in order to avoid accusations of superego and, (2) the relationship with her son who is not only her son, but also her enemy regarding (political) power.

Keywords:

• Psychobiography
• feminism
• china
• narrative analysis
• women leadership
• politics

Conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This was a peasant uprising that swept through half of the Qing Dynasty (Sheng, 1998).

2 Although the United States did not invade China by force, the politicians demanded equal benefits and status like Britain, France, and Russia (Sheng, 1998).

3 The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-imperialist and patriotic movement driven by a secret society in China, the ‘boxers’, involving a wide range of peasant groups in the Qing Dynasty from 1899 to 1902. It was an uprise against foreigners in China and the spread of Western and Japanese political and economic influences (NAM, 2023).

4 Emperor Tongzhi’s father was Emperor Xianfeng, and his mother was Empress Dowager Cixi.

5 Non-WEIRD contexts are contexts which are non-Western, non-educated, non-industrialized, non-rich and non-democratic (see Mayer et al., 2013).

6 This is the name of the official. The management region is wealthy, therefore this official post has great importance and influence. The fact that Huizheng was given this position demonstrates that the Daoguang Emperor trusted him strongly (徐彻, 2012, p. 25).

7 Concubine Yi is an imperial concubine of the fourth rank.

8 Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty passed on his throne to the son of Lady Gouyi, but the son was young at that time. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was worried that Lady Gouyi would control the government, so he gave Lady Gouyi the death.

9 The rightful wife of Emperor Xianfeng.

10 The brothers of Emperor Xianfeng.

11 In China, there is a proverb that states that a man should expect his son to be a dragon and his daughter to be a phoenix. This proverb captures the many expectations parents have for their kids. Typically, they anticipate that their males will succeed in their occupations and that their daughters will be noble and dignified.