Who Was The Last Emperor Of China?

Puyi: The Man Who Began as a God and Ended as a Gardener

1. A Child Emperor Chosen by a Dying Empress

Puyi was born on February 7, 1906, in Beijing, into the Aisin-Gioro clan, the ruling family of the Qing Dynasty. In November 1908, the dying Empress Dowager Cixi, the de facto ruler of China, chose the two-year-old Puyi to succeed her nephew, the Guangxu Emperor. Puyi was taken from his parents' home by a procession of palace officials and eunuchs and carried into the vast Forbidden City, where he would live for the next sixteen years. He was crowned the Xuantong Emperor, beginning a reign that would last only four years before revolution swept the empire.

2. The Abdication That Ended 2,000 Years of Imperial Rule

In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising sparked a wave of provincial declarations of independence across China. The revolutionary forces demanded the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. The imperial court, led by Empress Dowager Longyu, appointed General Yuan Shikai as prime minister to negotiate with the revolutionaries. Yuan, however, used his position to pressure the court to abdicate.

On February 12, 1912, Empress Dowager Longyu issued an abdication decree in the name of the six-year-old Emperor Puyi, ending 267 years of Qing rule and over 2,000 years of China's imperial system. Under the terms of the agreement, Puyi was allowed to retain his imperial title and continue living in the Forbidden City, treated by the new Republic of China as a foreign monarch.

3. The Brief Restoration and Expulsion from the Forbidden City

In July 1917, a loyalist general named Zhang Xun attempted to restore Puyi to the throne in a brief restoration effort. Puyi was "restored" as emperor for a mere 12 days before the coup was crushed, and he was forced to abdicate again. In 1922, at age sixteen, Puyi married his primary wife, Empress Gobulo Wanrong, and a concubine. The marriage was never consummated, and the relationship would later end in tragedy.

Puyi's life in the Forbidden City came to an abrupt end in November 1924 when the warlord Feng Yuxiang captured Beijing and ordered the former emperor to leave the palace. Fearing for his life, Puyi took refuge at the Japanese embassy and later moved to the Japanese concession in Tianjin, where he established a small exiled court in a residence known as the Garden of Serenity.

4. The Puppet Emperor of Manchukuo

In 1931, Imperial Japan invaded Manchuria and created the puppet state of Manchukuo. Seeking to restore his throne, Puyi agreed to become the nominal ruler. He was installed as the Chief Executive of Manchukuo in 1932 and crowned emperor under the reign name Kangde in 1934. However, Puyi was a figurehead with no real authority; the Japanese controlled every aspect of the state. He would remain emperor of Manchukuo until the Soviet Red Army conquered the territory in August 1945 at the end of World War II.

5. Complete Comparison Table: Key Events in Puyi's Life

6. Prison, Re-education, and Redemption

At the end of World War II, as the Soviets closed in on Changchun, Puyi attempted to flee to Japan but was captured by the Soviet Red Army in Shenyang. He was taken to Siberia and later testified at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, where he gave testimony against the Japanese.

In 1950, the Soviet Union repatriated Puyi to the People's Republic of China. He was imprisoned in the Fushun War Criminals Prison, where he underwent a decade of re-education. Initially, he was incapable of performing simple tasks like brushing his teeth or tying his shoelaces, as these had always been done for him. Over the years, he was forced to confront the crimes committed in his name and was gradually worn down until he emerged a believer in the communist system.

In 1959, Puyi was pardoned and released. He went to live with his sisters in a modest house in Beijing and was assigned a job as a street sweeper. On his first day, he famously stopped passersby to tell them he was the emperor of China, asking them for directions home. He later worked as a gardener at the Beijing Botanical Gardens, a job that he found deeply satisfying. In his later years, he also served as a researcher in the Institute of Literature and History under the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

7. The Last Emperor's Final Years and Legacy

Puyi's autobiography, From Emperor to Citizen, was published in English in 1964–65. His life story was later adapted into the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, which brought his story to a global audience.

Puyi died of kidney cancer in Beijing on October 17, 1967, at the age of 61. He had started life as a spoiled boy king whose every whim was catered to by an army of servants, and he died a humble gardener. His life, from the Forbidden City to a prison cell to the botanical gardens, embodies the tumultuous history of 20th-century China.