The Empress Dowager

Although the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty had promised her nephew, Guangxu Emperor that he had complete autonomy, he found that this was not the case as he attempted to exert his authority over corrupt eunuchs and officials who undermined him with the backing of the Empress Dowager. Young, inexperienced and without a strong cadre of loyal officials to support him, he tries to juggle affairs both public and private. His loveless marriage to Empress Dowager Longyu and dislike of the Empress further leaves him all the more bereft of any power lever. His only bright spark in a cold gloomy palace was his love for Consort Zhen and a young eunuch who wholeheartedly supports him.