Now they [the Powers] have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death?

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Empress Dowager Cixi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.