The selfish, ignorant leader of China from 1861-1908 when she played 2 young emperors as puppets. She refused any attempts to modernize the nation, made no more clear during the 100 Days Reform when the 23-year-old emperor, Guangxu with the help of a group of would-be reformers led by Kang Youwei attempted to modernize the military, education system, commmerce, government, etc. After 3 months (Hence the 100 days), she locked up the emperor revoked all the edicts, and executed any reformers she could find. Other examples of sheer stupidity include, supporting modernization projects while encourage critics to attack them, spending money for a naval base on a garden, and her support of the Boxer Rebellion and yet providing no military support.
If anything her legacy is one of a sheer abuse of power for self-pleasure. More than anything, she is responsible for the rapid collapse of the Qing Dynasty. Strong leadership may have gotten the nation similar to Japan's strength, but China ended up with this worthless person.