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New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXII, Issue XVIII, 6 May 1899, Page 590

At the age of 64 that extraordinary woman, the Empress Dowager of China, after having successfully delivered three coups d’etat, subdued innumerable revolts, broken all her enemies, and, what is more, all her former friends; after experiencing all the dramatic ups and downs of the tragedy of power, finds herself at length the sole power in China. The fate of Asia is bound up in her lacquered chair and her ivory baton. If she raise her hand towards the north, Russia will triumph; if, on the contrary, she leans towards those who hold the sea, another era will commence. To whatever side her favour inclines she will not be able to avert a conflict.