Toward the end of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi arrogated all powers onto herself. This period, called the Guangxu Xuantong Reign, was China's darkest and most corrupt political period.

The photographs of the Empress Dowager Cixi taken by Xunling are more Western than Eastern in style. Freer and Sackler Galleries, SI Spin doctoring—the art of turning bad news into good and ...