Empress Dowager Ci'an

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Emperor Dowager Ci'an 慈安太后
Portrait of Empress Dowager Ci'an
Empress consort of the Qing dynasty
Tenure	November/December 1852 – 22 August 1861
Predecessor	Empress Xiaoquancheng
Successor	Empress Xiaozheyi
Empress dowager of the Qing dynasty
Tenure	22 August 1861 – 8 April 1881
Predecessor	Empress Dowager Kangci
Successor	Empress Dowager Cixi
Born	(1837-08-12)12 August 1837 (道光十七年 七月 十二日) Liuzhou, Qing China
Died	8 April 1881(1881-04-08) (aged 43) (光緒七年 三月 十日) Zhongcui Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing, Qing China
Burial	Ding Mausoleum, Eastern Qing tombs
Spouse	Xianfeng Emperor ​ ​ (m. 1852; died 1861)​
Posthumous name Empress Xiaozhenxian (孝貞顯皇后)
House	Niohuru (鈕祜祿) (by birth) Aisin Gioro (by marriage)
Father	Muyang'a
Mother	Lady Giyanggiya

Empress Xiaozhenxian (12 August 1837 – 8 April 1881), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Niohuru clan, was a posthumous name bestowed to the wife and empress consort of Yizhu, the Xianfeng Emperor. She was empress consort of Qing from 1852 until her husband's death in 1861, after which she was honored as Empress Dowager Ci'an.

As empress dowager and one of the most senior members of the imperial family, she and Empress Dowager Cixi became co-regents during the reign of two young emperors: Zaichun, the Tongzhi Emperor and later Zaitian, the Guangxu Emperor. Although in principle, she had precedence over Cixi, Ci'an was in fact a self-effacing person and seldom intervened in politics, but she was the decision-maker in most family affairs. Instead, Empress Dowager Cixi was the decision-maker in most state affairs.

A popular view of Empress Dowager Ci'an is that she was a highly respectable person, always quiet, never hot-tempered, and that she treated everybody very well and was highly respected by the Xianfeng Emperor. However, some historians have painted a very different reality, mainly that of a self-indulgent and idle Empress Dowager Ci'an, who did not care as much for government and hard work as she cared for the pleasures and sweet life inside the Forbidden City.