Names of the Empress Dowager Cixi

Cixi had many different names at different period of her life, which can be quite confusing. Moreover, most of her Western biographers, who in general do not read Chinese, frequently confuse these names, and biographies on Cixi written in English are flawed with errors. Here is an accurate^{[citation needed]} account of all her names, as drawn from the most serious Chinese sources (i.e. the archives of the Forbidden City and several serious historical works in Chinese).

Birth name

The original name of Cixi at her birth is still an unresolved issue (see Youth section^{[broken citation]}). At her entrance in the Forbidden City, she was recorded as "the Lady Yehenara, daughter of Huizheng" (惠征). Thus, she was called by her clan's name, the Yehe-Nara clan, as was customary for Manchu girls. Cixi was quite a secretive person, and she seldom talked about her childhood. While she was on the throne, the subject of her life before entering the Forbidden City was taboo, and people avoided talking about it. So it is no surprise that the record of her original name as well as the history of her youth were lost.

Early life

When she entered the Forbidden City in September 1851 (or June 1852, depending on sources), Cixi was made a concubine of the fifth rank (贵人), and she was given the name Lan (兰 - meaning "Orchid"). Her name was thus "Orchid Noble Person" (兰贵人). At the end of December 1854 or the beginning of January 1855, she was promoted to concubine of the fourth rank (嫔). Her name was changed, and the new name given to her was Yi (懿 - meaning "good", "exemplary", "virtuous"), so that she would be referred to as "Yi Pin" (懿嫔)the word Pin indicating her rank. On April 27, 1856, she gave birth to a son, the only son of Emperor Xianfeng (the Empress Consort had been unsuccessful in producing an heir), and was immediately promoted to Fei rank and thus referred to as "Yi Fei" (懿妃)which we would render as Concubine Yi. Finally, in February 1857 she was again elevated and would be referred to as "Virtuous Noble Person Fei" (懿贵妃).

Dowager Empress

In the end of August 1861, following the death of Emperor Xianfeng, her 5-year-old son became the new emperor (known as Emperor Tongzhi starting in 1862). Cixi was officially made "Holy Mother Imperial Dowager Empress" (聖母皇太后), a high privilege considering that she had never been Empress consort while Emperor Xianfeng was alive. She was privileged to become Dowager Empress only because she was the biological mother of the new emperor. She was also given a honorific name which was Cixi (慈禧)， meaning "Motherly and Auspicious". As for the Empress Consort, she was made "Mother Empress Imperial Dowager Empress" (母后皇太后), a title giving her precedence over Cixi, and she was given the honorific name Ci'an (慈安)， meaning "Motherly and Calming".

On 7 occasions after 1861, Cixi was given additional honorific names (two Chinese characters at a time), as was customary for emperors and empresses, until by the end of her reign her name was a long string of 16 characters starting with Cixi (as empress dowager she had the right to nine additions, giving a total of 20 characters, had she lived long enough for it). At the end of her reign, her official name was:

大清國當今慈禧端佑康頤昭豫莊誠壽恭欽獻崇熙聖母皇太后

which reads: "The Current Holy Mother Imperial Dowager Empress Ci-Xi Duan-You Kang-Yi Zhao-Yu Zhuang-Cheng Shou-Gong Qin-Xian Chong-Xi of the Empire of the Great Qing".

The short form was:

"The Current Holy Mother Imperial Dowager Empress of the Empire of the Great Qing" (大清国当今圣母皇太后）

At the time, she was addressed as "Venerable Buddha" （老佛爷），literally "Master Old Buddha". This was not a term of address created or reserved for her, as is wrongly stated by her Western biographers. This was actually the official form of address used for all the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, who were devoted Buddhists. It reveals a lot about Cixi that she asked people to address her with a term of address reserved for men, and what is more for emperors. She liked to be treated like a man, and insisted on people using Chinese words reserved for men when addressing her. As the de facto power figure in China, having actual power over the Emperor himself, the phrase Long Live the Empress Dowager for ten thousand years (大清国当今圣母皇太后万岁万岁万万岁), which is by convention, only used by Emperors, was used at official and ceremonial occasions. The convention for Empress Dowagers of imperial China was usually Long live for a thousand years.

Posthumous name

At her death in 1908, she was given a posthumous name which combines the honorific names that she gained during her lifetime with new names added just after her death. This posthumous name is:

孝欽慈禧端佑康頤昭豫莊誠壽恭欽獻崇熙配天興聖顯皇后

which reads:

"Empress Xiao-Qin Ci-Xi Duan-You Kang-Yi Zhao-Yu Zhuang-Cheng Shou-Gong Qin-Xian Chong-Xi Pei-Tian Xing-Sheng-Xian".

This long name is still the one that can be seen on Cixi's tomb today. The short form of her posthumous name is:

"Empress Xiaoqin Xian" (孝钦显皇后).