Empress Dowager Cixi

Under Ci Xi's leadership China was never very powerful militarily. During her reign Burma, Vietnam, and Korea all broke away from Chinese influence. Then in 1895, China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War and forced to secede Taiwan to Japan. Ci Xi lost the war because she diverted enormous sums of money that was suppose to go towards the construction of a badly needed navy. Instead, she used the money to construct her new Summer Palace. Just three years later, China was forced to grant enormous land leases to Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France. At this time, many believed that China was falling apart. As a result, the Empress Dowager Ci Xi instituted 100 Days of Reform which lasted from June 11 to September 20, 1898. At this time she barely survived an attempted coup.