Resumo de Imperial Woman- The Last Empress Of China

When the time was right, Yehonala went happily to the imperial palace. She didn''t need to live in poverty anymore, she could have whatever she wished. Because of her familial relationship with the emperor''s late wife (cousin), she was assured entry to the palace, but she would have to rely on her own strengths to distinguish herself.When the day of her audience arrived, she went to the palace with hundreds of other girls, where she was washed, dressed, and readied for those 2-3 seconds that she would spend before the sickly ruler and his mother.Yehonala looked him in the eyes, something inconceivable for a woman. When she was chosen along with many others, she started to map out her way to the emperor''s bedroom. It was true that many women had died virgins, forgotten behind these walls. She hadn''t abandoned the man she loved, the chief of the guard. She began to take drawing and music lessons to entertain the emperor, she paid eunuchs to bring her the news, and when the much-awaited evening came, she fearlessly entered the sanctum of a young man who was crippled by opium. She stayed there for over one night and emerged disgusted by her life.The emperor, crazy with lust, made advances but she refused to go near him, threatening that she would swallow her earrings and kill him.That night, cousin, eunuch and confidantes, made the chief of the guard go to her room and speak to her, as they were cousins.He had seen her cry before, out of rage or pain, but he had never seen such desperation in her eyes. He groaned and dared to hug her. :There is no going back anymore, from now on you will have to soar high enough so they can''t reach you, my love," he told her.Time passed, and Yehonala gave birth to a beautiful boy. Her cousin had a girl. This allowed them to share the throne after the deaths of the emperor an his mother.The chief of the guard took the position of confidante-adviser and prudently guided his hot-blooded wife while she secretly observed the lessons that were given to her son Morfonian.Her enthusiastic son was interested in all that the West brought, but she she felt that she had to keep to their traditions.The power that she held for her son was defeated and slowly her enemies disappeared: her cousin, her children, her eunuch.Her country was at war and she fled to summer palaces, but even then her people loved her.Years later, sole survivor of her family, she placed on the throne a sickly child, a representative of her own substantial power, mostly to be seen by the people.She lived until advanced old age and was the last Manchurian empress before the regime changed in China.

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