imperial woman is the fictionalized biography of the last empress in china cixi who began as a concubine of the xianfeng emperor and on his death became the de facto head of the qing dynasty until her death in 1908buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rulers during a time of intense turbulencetzu hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the imperial dynasty according to custom she moved to the forbidden city at the age of seventeen to become one of hundreds of concubines but her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of second consorttzu hsi was feared and hated by many in the court but adored by the people the empresss rise to power even during her husbands life parallels the story of chinas transition from the ancient to the modern way