Empress Dowager Cixi: How One Woman Consumed an Empire

Empress Dowager Cixi spent the equivalent of 100 million US dollars every single day. According to Qing imperial household records, this was not corruption or emergency spending—it was a fixed, system-approved daily expense built into the empire’s operations. This video breaks down how food, clothing, and leisure became institutionalized consumption, draining the Qing dynasty not through sudden collapse, but through everyday routine.