Archive: Empress Dowager Cixi
In Our Time

Archive: Empress Dowager Cixi

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 3, 202651 min

Misha Glenny delves in to the In Our Time archive to select ten episodes for listeners to revisit. His fifth choice, first released in May 2024, is the Empress Dowager Cixi, the woman who, for almost fifty years, was the most powerful figure in the Chinese court. Cixi (1835-1908) started out at court as one of the Emperor's many concubines, yet was the only one who gave him a son to succeed him and who also possessed great political skill and ambition. When their son became emperor he was still a young child and Cixi ruled first through him and...

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 30%A2 25%B1 18%B2 19%C1 8%
  • 73% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 180 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 275 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The light of the I'm not a fan of the movies, but I'm a fan of the movies. I'm a fan of the movies.

0:53

I'm a fan of the movies, but I'm a fan of the movies. Yes, but I'm a fan of the movies. I'm a fan of the movies. Yes, I am.

1:00

I'm a fan of the movies. I'm a fan of the movies. time archive. A reading list for this edition can be found in the episode description wherever you're listening. I hope you enjoy the programme.

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