A Concubine Rises to Rule China

August 7, 1889. In Liverpool's St. George's Hall, an American woman named Florence Maybrick stands behind iron bars, dressed in mourning black… for the husband she's accused of murdering. The evidence against her is thin: James Maybrick was a longtime arsenic addict who bought th ...  Show more

Listen to all 20 episodes of World War II with Tom Hanks wherever you get your podcasts!The war is over, and the Allies are triumphant. The United States and the Soviet Union initially work together to establish a new world order, but over the course of the next four years these ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 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 g ...  Show more

The story of a Chinese concubine who rose to power from behind a curtain of yellow silk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

Empress Dowager Cixi wasn’t born into power – she took it. After participating in a 19th century version of The Bachelor, Cixi was chosen as one of the Emperor’s concubines. In part one of this two-part series, Cixi uses her cunning, wit, and scrappy attitude to rise through t ...

In Part One, Cixi went from concubine to all-powerful Regent, thanks to her bestie and a savvy political coup. But while she was wielding her new found power, Cixi’s enemies were plotting her demise. Now that they’ve executed the man she loved, Cixi wants to even the scor ...