Empress Dowager Cixi, as the authority of the late Qing government, once ruled the whole Qing Dynasty for nearly half a century. Cixi, as a short-sighted woman, not only missed the opportunity of political reform, but also missed the country and people. What's more, she was greedy for pleasure, extravagant and wasteful, wasting people's money.

Empress Dowager Cixi's short-sightedness and personal hedonism are very obvious. Let me give you a simple example to illustrate: On the eve of the Sino-Japanese naval battle in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing government at that time already felt that Japan coveted the wealth of the Korean Peninsula and China, and there was bound to be a war between China and Japan, so Beiyang Navy wanted to increase the cost of some military equipment and daily training.

However, Empress Dowager Cixi refused to allocate more silver to support the construction of Beiyang Navy, so as not to trigger the Ministry of Finance to approve the budget of the state treasury for preparing for the 60th birthday, and affect the upcoming birthday. In the end, in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894- 1895, the Beiyang Navy, which once made Qing proud, was almost completely annihilated.

Closer to home, Empress Dowager Cixi had numerous rare treasures in her life. Because empress dowager cixi controlled the highest decision-making power of the whole late Qing government. Therefore, local officials, civil and military officials in the DPRK and eunuchs in the harem are scrambling to please Empress Dowager Cixi. It is also willing to spend a lot of money to collect treasures from all over the world. The picture is nothing more than a smile and approval of Empress Dowager Cixi, thus paving the way for her official career promotion.

So we can see that Empress Dowager Cixi has many rare treasures in the world, such as the night pearl, jade watermelon, jade cabbage, coral tree, Yu Lian and so on. In addition, there is an extremely realistic fat jade lotus root.

According to legend, this peerless treasure was given by Rong Lu, the first lover of Empress Dowager Cixi in her early years, and Li, the favorite eunuch of Empress Dowager Cixi in her later years, to please Empress Dowager Cixi. No matter who got it, Empress Dowager Cixi liked this fat jade lotus root very much, and put it beside her phoenix couch, and played with it every day before going to bed.

Empress Dowager Cixi is very fond of this kind of lotus root carved by suet jade. On the one hand, it is due to exquisite carving and excellent workmanship. On the other hand, sheep fat jade is the top grade of jade, which can soothe the nerves and help sleep. And according to legend, it can also comfort the lonely and widowed life of Empress Dowager Cixi in her later years.

After the death of Empress Dowager Cixi, this rare treasure was buried in the coffin of Empress Dowager Cixi, just like other beloved things before her death. Later, Sun Dianying led the officers and men to rob and dig the Qing Dongling. All the funerary objects in Empress Dowager Cixi's coffin were stolen and sold for military pay. Fat jade lotus root disappeared from now on! This has become a great loss for our country.