Puyi

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For the Chinese ethnic group, see buyei.

Puyi (Chinese:溥儀;) (February 7, 1906–October 17, 1967) of the Manchu Aisin-Gioro ruling family was the last Emperor of China between 1908 and 1924 (ruling emperor between 1908 and 1912, and non-ruling emperor between 1912 and 1924), the tenth and last emperor of the Qing Dynasty to rule over China.

He was married to the Empress Gobulo Wan Rong under the suggestion of the Imperial Dowager Concubine Duan-Kang. Later between 1934 and 1945 he was the Kangde Emperor (康德皇帝) of Manchukuo. In the People's Republic of China he was a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1964 until his death in 1967 under the Chinese name Aixinjueluo Puyi. His abdication being a symbol of the end of a very long era in China, Xuantong is widely known as the Last Emperor (末代皇帝).

Name

Ancestry

Paternal side

Puyi's great-grandfather was the Daoguang Emperor (r.1820–1850), who was succeeded by his fourth son, who became Xianfeng Emperor (r.1850–1861).

Puyi's paternal grandfather was the 1st Prince Chun (1840–1891) who was himself a son of the Daoguang Emperor and a younger half-brother of Xianfeng Emperor, but not the next in line after Xianfeng (the 1st Prince Chun had older half-brothers that were closer in age to Xianfeng). Xianfeng was succeeded by his only son, who became the Tongzhi Emperor (r.1861-1875).

Tongzhi died without a son, and was succeeded by Guangxu Emperor (r.1875–1908), the son of the 1st Prince Chun and his wife, who was the younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi. Guangxu died without an heir.

Puyi, who succeeded Guangxu, was the eldest son of the 2nd Prince Chun (1883–1951), who was the son of the 1st Prince Chun and his second concubine, the Lady Lingiya (1866–1925). Lady Lingiya was a maid at the mansion of the 1st prince Chun whose original Chinese family name was Liu (劉); this was changed into the Manchu clan's name Lingyia when she was made a Manchu, a requirement before becoming the concubine of a Manchu prince. The 2nd Prince Chun was, therefore, a younger half-brother of the Guangxu Emperor and the first brother in line after Guangxu.

Puyi was in a branch of the imperial family with close ties to Cixi, who was herself from the (Manchu) Yehe-Nara clan (the imperial family were the Aisin-Gioro clan). Cixi married the daughter of her brother to her nephew Guangxu, who became, after Guangxu and Cixi's death, the Empress Dowager Longyu (1868–1913).

It is interesting to note that Puyi's lesser known brother, Pu Xuezhai 薄雪齋, is an important master of the guqin musical instrument tradition.

Maternal side

2nd Prince Chun with his eldest son Puyi on his left, and his second son Pujie on his lap. Photo taken in the end of 1907.

Puyi's mother, the 2nd Princess Chun (1884-1921), given name Youlan (幼蘭), was the 2nd Prince Chun's wife. She was the daughter of the Manchu general Ronglu (榮祿) (1836–1903) from the Guwalgiya clan. Ronglu was one of the leaders of the conservative faction at the court, and a staunch supporter of Empress Dowager Cixi; Cixi rewarded his support by marrying his daughter, Puyi's mother, into the imperial family.

Biography

Emperor of China (1908–1924)

Chosen by Empress Cixi while on her deathbed, Puyi ascended the throne at age 2 years 10 months in December 1908 following his uncle's death on November 14. His father, the 2nd Prince Chun, served as a regent until December 6, 1911 when Empress Dowager Longyu took over in the face of the Xinhai Revolution.

Empress Dowager Longyu signed the "Act of Abdication of the Emperor of the Great Qing" (《清帝退位詔書》) on February 12, 1912, following the Xinhai Revolution, under a deal brokered by Yuan Shikai with the imperial court in Beijing and the republicans in southern China: by the "Articles of Favourable Treatment of the Emperor of the Great Qing after his Abdication" (《清帝退位優待條件》) signed with the new Republic of China, Puyi was to retain his imperial title and be treated by the government of the Republic with the protocol attached to a foreign monarch. This was similar to Italy's Law of Guarantees (1870) which accorded the Pope certain honors and privileges similar to those enjoyed by the King of Italy. He and the imperial court were allowed to remain in the northern half of the Forbidden City (the Private Apartments) as well as in the Summer Palace. A hefty annual subsidy of 4 million silver dollars was granted by the Republic to the imperial household, although it was never fully paid and abolished after just a few years.

Brief restoration (1917)

In 1917, the warlord general Zhang Xun (張勛) restored Puyi to his throne for the twelve days from July 1 to July 12. The male residents of Beijing hastily bought some false queues (long plaits or "pigtails") to avoid punishment for cutting off their queues in 1912. During those 12 days, one small bomb was dropped over the Forbidden City by a republican plane, causing minor damage. This is considered the first aerial bombardment ever in Eastern Asia. The restoration failed due to extensive opposition across China, and the decisive intervention of another warlord general, Duan Qirui. In mid-July, the streets of Beijing were strewn with the thousands of false queues that had been discarded as hastily as they had been bought.

Ruler of Manchukuo (1932–1945)

"Emperor Henry Pu Yi," Time, Mar. 5, 1934

1935 Manchukuo postage stamp with image of Puyi

On March 1, 1932, Puyi was installed by the Japanese as the ruler of Manchukuo under the reign title Datong (大同). In 1934, he was officially crowned the emperor of Manchukuo under the reign title Kangde (康德). He was constantly at odds with the Japanese in private, though gushingly submissive in public. He resented being "Head of State" and then "Emperor of Manchukuo" rather than being fully restored as Qing Emperor. At his enthronement he clashed with Japan over dress; they wanted him to wear a Manchukuoan uniform whereas he considered it an insult to wear anything but traditional Qing robes. In a typical compromise, he wore a uniform to his enthronement and dragon robes to the announcement of his accession at the Altar of Heaven. His brother Pujie, who married Hiro Saga, a distant cousin to the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, was proclaimed heir apparent.

During Puyi's reign as Emperor of Manchukuo, his household was closely watched by the Japanese who increasingly took steps toward the full Japanization of Manchuria, just as they had done in Korea and elsewhere. When Puyi went on a state visit to Tokyo he was embarrassingly flattering to the Japanese imperial family. At a review, he even thanked Emperor Hirohito for "allowing" clear skies and sunshine for the event. During these empty years, he began taking a greater interest in Buddhism. However, Japan soon forced him to make Shintoism the national religion of Manchukuo. Slowly, his old supporters were eliminated and pro-Japanese ministers put in their place. During this period, his life consisted mostly of signing laws prepared by Japan, reciting prayers, consulting oracles, and making formal visits throughout his kingdom.

Later life (1945–1967)

At the end of World War II, Puyi was captured by the Soviet Red Army (1945). He testified at the Tokyo war crimes trial 1946 where he was scathing in his resentment of how he had been treated by the Japanese. When Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong had come to power in 1949, Puyi wrote letters to Joseph Stalin with requests not to send him back to China. He also wrote of his new life attitude, changed by the works of Karl Marx and Lenin which he had read while in prison. However, because Stalin wished to warm his relations with a new "political friend Mao", he repatriated the former emperor to China in 1950. Puyi spent ten years in a reeducation camp in Fushun, in Liaoning province until he was declared reformed. He voiced his support for the Communists and worked at the Beijing Botanical Gardens. He was made a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in which he served from 1964 until his death. He wrote an autobiography (我的前半生 — "The former half of my life", translated in English as From Emperor to Citizen) in the 1960s and died in Beijing of cancer in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution.

Family

Puyi had several brothers, two of whom are important for the history of China and the Qing Dynasty:

• Pujie (1907–1994), who had a minor role in the government of Manchuoko
• Puren (who later took the name Jin Youzhi), a younger half-brother, born after the imperial family had lost power

• Empress Gobulo Wan Rong(婉容); Empress of Manchukuo a.k.a. Elizabeth (1906–June 1946). Unofficial posthumous title in 2004 by the Qing Imperial House: Empress Xiao Kemin (孝恪愍皇后)
• Li Shuxian (李淑賢)(1925–1997). Unofficial posthumous title in 2004 by the Qing Imperial House: Empress Xiao Ruimin (孝睿愍皇后)

• Concubine of the 3rd rank; Shufei (淑妃) Wen Xiu (文绣) (1907–1950/51). Unofficial posthumous title in 2004 by the Qing Imperial House: No change; demoted to commoner following her divorce from Puyi in 1931
• Concubine of the 5th rank (貴人) Tan Yuling (谭玉龄)(1922–1944). Unofficial posthumous title in 2004 by the Qing Imperial House: Imperial Noble Concubine of the 1st rank (皇贵妃)(明賢皇貴妃)
• Unofficial concubine of the 5th rank (貴人) Li Yuqin (李玉琴)((1928–2001). Unofficial posthumous title in 2004 by the Qing Imperial House: Imperial Concubine of the 2nd rank (贵妃)

His third wife was a Manchu, Tan Yuling, whom he married around 1939. Although only a teenager at the time of marriage, she died mysteriously six years later while being treated for an illness by a Japanese-occupation doctor.

In 1943, Puyi married his fourth wife, a 15-year-old student named Li Yuqin (1928?–2001), a Han. She divorced him in 1958. She was diagnosed with cirrhosis in 1995 and died six years later at the age of 73.

In 1962, he married his fifth and last wife, a Han nurse, Li Shuxian (1925–1997), who was to die of lung cancer.

The emperor had no children.

One writer allegedly documented Puyi's numerous homosexual relationships, such as a boyhood romance with the "handsome eunuch" Wang Fengchi.Hinsch, Bret, Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China. Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California Press, 1990; Jia Yinghua, Unlocking the Secrets of the Emperor's Final Marriage, 2001. Puyi's homosexuality has been vehemently denied by surviving members of the imperial line. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Burial

In 1995, his widow was allowed to transfer his ashes to a commercial cemetery near the Western Qing Tombs (清西陵), 120 km (75 miles) southwest of Beijing, where four of the nine Qing emperors preceding him are interred, along with 3 empresses, and 69 princes, princesses, and imperial concubines. In accordance to the laws of the People's Republic of China at the time, Puyi's body was cremated, unlike the bodies of his ancestors, which were interred whole.

Film

Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 film The Last Emperor is a biopic of Puyi.

Notes

¹ Aisin-Gioro is the clan's name in Manchu, pronounced Àixīn Juéluó in Mandarin; Pǔyí is the Chinese given name as pronounced in Mandarin.

See also