Demystifying the Empress Dowager

A woman in a man's world

One of the highlight pieces in the show is an attempt to capture the intricate power dynamics at work in the imperial harem when Cixi controlled the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In it, the Xianfeng Emperor is depicted as the "limping dragon". His wife, Empress Consort Ci'an — who was made co-regent together with Cixi after the emperor's death in 1861 but was for all practical purposes prevailed upon by the latter, who ruled in the name of her infant son, the Tongzhi Emperor — is the "fragile phoenix". And Cixi, an erstwhile concubine to the Xianfeng Emperor who maneuvered her way to the apex, is portrayed as the "she-dragon", towering over the phoenix-bodied Ci'an.

Interestingly, there is a shift from two-tone to multicolor in the painting, representing the difference in ethos during the reigns of the Xianfeng Emperor and Cixi. The tonal shift is Fung's homage to the traditional Chinese scroll — a format invented for storytelling through a series of images.

Fung's interest in Cixi is shaped both by her heritage and her reading of Chinese history. "Empress Dowager Cixi is a fascinating figure because she represents a contradiction — she wielded immense power in a world that sought to diminish women's authority," says the artist. "Cixi has been mythologized, demonized, and distorted, often seen through a Western colonial lens. I'm interested in how narratives around powerful women are constructed, particularly how they're framed as either manipulators or tragic figures. Cixi, in many ways, embodies this tension. Her story allows me to explore femininity and how women's roles are shaped by perception, legacy, and historical bias."