{
  "id": 9245771,
  "title": "Artworks reveal Chinese rulers and Cixi loved role-playing long before modern cosplay",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/artworks-reveal-chinese-rulers-and-cixi-loved-role-playing-long",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-23T02:00:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3368391/artworks-reveal-chinese-rulers-and-cixi-loved-role-playing-long-modern-cosplay"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The Qing dynasty’s Empress Dowager Cixi is renowned as a cosplay enthusiast, leaving behind photographs and paintings of herself embodying the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin. However, she was not the first to engage in such role-playing while on the throne. Long before Cixi (1835–1908), the Qing dynasty’s emperors Yongzheng (1678–1735) and his son, Qianlong (1711–1799), indulged in…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}