The last emperor of China - Pu Yi - a significant figure in the history of the Middle Kingdom. It was during his reign that the country began to gradually transform from a monarchist to a communist one, subsequently becoming a serious player in the international arena.
Meaning of the name
In China, it was impossible to pronounce the name of the emperor given to him at birth - this was a centuries-old tradition. The last emperor of China received a loud name corresponding to the monarch - "Xuantong" ("unifying").
A family
The last emperor of China was not really an ethnic Chinese. His clan Aisin Gioro ("The Golden Clan") belonged to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which ruled at that time for more than five hundred years.
Father Pu Yi Aisingerjou Zaifeng, Prince Chun, held a high dignity in power (Second Grand Prince), but he was never emperor. In general, Father Pu Yi neglected power and avoided any political affairs.
Mother Pu Yulan had a truly masculine character. Raised by her father-general, she controlled the entire imperial court and punished for the slightest fault. This concerned both the servants and the persons who were virtually equal in status to Yulan. She could execute eunuch servants for anyone who did not suit her look, and once she even beat her daughter-in-law.
The immediate ruler of China was Uncle Pu Yi, as well as Zaifeng's cousin Zaitian, later called "Guangxiu." It was his successor that became the last emperor of China.
Childhood
Pu And had to ascend the throne already at the age of two. After that, the last emperor of China (years of life: 1906-1967) was transported to the Forbidden City - the residence of the ruling persons of China.
Pu Yi was a rather sensitive and emotional child, so moving to a new place and coronation did not cause him anything but tears.
And there was a reason to cry. After his death in 1908, Zaitian turned out that a two-year-old child was left with an empire mired in debt, poverty and in danger of collapse. The reason for this was quite simple: the imperious Yulan was convinced that Zaitian was damaged by the mind, and made his son the cousin of the reigning emperor, who was Pu I., be appointed his heir.
As a result, the boy was assigned a regent father, not shining with foresight or political ingenuity, and then no different cousin Aunt Lun Yu from him. It is interesting that Pu Yi practically did not see his father either in childhood or in his youth.
It is worth noting that Pu Yi was, among other things, a healthy child (except for stomach problems), lively and cheerful. The young emperor spent most of his time in the Forbidden City in games with court eunuchs and also communicated with the nurse who surrounded him until he was eight years old.
Pu Yi had a special respect and awe in front of the so-called elder mother Duan Kang. It was this strict woman who taught little Pu And not to be a snotty and not to humiliate others.
Military coup and abdication
The last emperor of China, whose biography was extremely tragic, there were negligible rules - a little over three years (3 years and 2 months). After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, Long Yu signed the Act of Abdication (in 1912).
The new government left Pu And the imperial palace and other privileges that relied to such a tall lady. Probably, the respect for power that the Chinese have laid in DNA has affected. All the more striking is the difference between the Chinese revolution and the Soviet one, where the ruling family of Emperor Nicholas II was treated according to the laws of the dictatorship and without any hint of humanity.
Moreover, the new government left Pu Yi the right to education. The last emperor of China, from the age of fourteen, studied English, he also knew both Manchu and Chinese. By default, the commandments of Confucius were also attached. The English teacher Pu Yi, Rezhninald Johnston, made him a real Westerner and even gave him a European name - Henry. It is interesting that Pu Yi did not like his native languages, and he was extremely reluctant to learn (he could learn only about thirty words a year), while he taught English with great attention and diligence along with Johnston.
Pu Yi got married quite early, at the age of sixteen, to the daughter of a high-ranking official Wan Rong. Nevertheless, Pu Yi was not satisfied with his legitimate wife, so Wen Xiu took himself as a lover (or concubine).
The emperor, who was not disturbed by anything (and no one), lived this way until 1924, when the People’s Republic of China equated him with other citizens. Pu And with his wife had to leave the Forbidden City.
Manzhou guo
After being expelled from the heirloom, Pu Yi went to the north-east of China - a territory controlled by Japanese troops. In 1932, a quasi-state called Manzhou-Guo was created there. The last emperor of China became his ruler. The history, however, of this temporarily occupied section of Chinese territory turned out to be rather predictable. Pu Yi in Manzhou-Guo had no real power, as in communist China. He didn’t read any documents and signed them without looking, almost dictated by Japanese “advisers”. Like Nicholas II, Pu Yi was not created for real government, especially so huge and problematic. However, it was in Manzhou-Guo that the last emperor of China could again return to his usual life, which he led until the end of World War II.
The new residence of the "emperor" was the city of Changchun. The territory of this quasi-state was quite serious - more than a million square kilometers, and the population totaled 30 million people. By the way, due to the non-recognition by the League of Nations of Manzhou-Guo, Japan had to leave this organization, which later became the prototype of the UN. All the more interesting is the fact that for ten years, until the end of World War II, a number of European and Asian countries established diplomatic relations with Manzhou-Guo. They, for example, were Italy, Romania, France, Denmark, Croatia, Hong Kong.
Oddly enough, during the reign of Pu Yi, the economy of Manzhou-go went uphill. This happened thanks to the large financial investments of Japan in this region: the extraction of minerals (ore, coal) increased, agriculture and heavy industry developed faster.
Pu Yi was also very friendly with the Japanese emperor Hirohito. For the sake of meeting him, Pu Yi twice visited Japan.
Soviet captivity
In 1945, the Red Army drove Japanese troops from its eastern borders and entered Manzhou-Guo. It was planned that Pu Yi would be urgently sent to Tokyo. However, Soviet troops landed in Mukden, and Pu Yi was taken by plane to the USSR. He was tried for “war crimes” or, rather, for being a puppet of the Japanese government.
Initially, the last emperor of China was in Chita, where he was charged and taken into custody. From Chita, he was transported to Khabarovsk, where he was held in a prison camp for senior officers. There, Pu Yi had a small plot of land on which he could engage in gardening.
At the Tokyo trial, Pu Yi acted as a witness and testified against Japan. He did not want to go back to China under any circumstances, so he seriously considered the possibility of moving to the United States or Great Britain. The Chinese aristocrat was afraid of the new Chinese power, led by Mao Zedong. He had money to move, since all the jewels remained with him. In Chita, Pu Yi even tried to convey through the Soviet intelligence a letter that was addressed to US President Gary Truman, but this did not happen.
Return to China
In 1950, the Soviet authorities issued Pu Yi to China. There, the former emperor was tried under the article “for war crimes”. No concessions for him, of course, were not provided. Pu Yi became an ordinary prisoner without any privileges. Nevertheless, he very calmly accepted all the hardships of prison life.
While in custody, Pu Yi spent half his time working on making pencil boxes, and the second on studying communist ideology based on the works of K. Marx and V. Lenin. Together with other prisoners, Pu Yi participated in the construction of a prison stadium, factory, and also actively landscaped the territory.
In prison, Pu Yi also experienced a breakup with his third wife, Li Yuqin.
After nine years in prison, Pu Yi was amnestied for exemplary behavior and ideological reeducation.
last years of life
Freed, Pu Yi began to live in Beijing. He got a job in the Botanical Garden, where he was engaged in the cultivation of orchids. Here, interestingly, a stay in Soviet captivity helped, where Pu Yi was also close to the ground.
He no longer claimed anything and did not demand anything. He was polite, courteous, modest in communication.
The role of an ordinary Chinese citizen did not really upset Pu I. He was engaged in what was close to his heart, and worked on his biography entitled "From Emperor to Citizen."
In 1961, Pu Yi joined the CCP and became an employee of the State Archive. At 58 years old, in addition to his post in the archive, he became a member of the political advisory council of the PRC.
At sunset, Pu Yi met his fourth (and last) wife, with whom he lived until the end of his days. Her name was Li Shuasyan. She worked as a simple nurse and could not boast of a noble birth. Li was much younger than Pu Yi, in 1962 she was only 37 years old. But despite the serious age difference, the couple lived five happy years, until in 1967 Pu Yi died of liver cancer.
It is interesting that Li Shuasyan was the only Chinese wife Pu I. For a native of Manchuria, this, of course, is an unprecedented case.
The CCP took the costs of Pu Yi's funeral, thereby expressing respect for the last emperor of China. The body was cremated.
Pu Yi had no children from any of the four wives.
Li Shuasyan died in 1997, having outlived her husband for thirty years.
Pu Yi in the cinema
The story of Pu Yi turned out to be so exciting that the painting “The Last Emperor” was created based on its motives. The film about the last emperor of China was shot by the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987.
Film critics liked the story in which the last emperor of China was involved: the film received almost maximum ratings.
The film was a huge success: won the Oscar in nine nominations, the Golden Globe in four, as well as the Cesar, Felix and Grammy awards and an award from the Japanese Film Academy.
This is how the last emperor of China, whose film was so successful, turned out to be immortalized in world art.
Hobbies
From childhood, Pu Yi was passionate about the world around him. He was attracted by watching the animals that he truly loved. Little Pu Yi loved to play with camels, watch how ants live in an organized manner, planted earthworms. In the future, the passion for nature only became stronger when Pu Yi became a worker in the botanical garden.
The Meaning of Pu Yi Example
The example of Pu Yi is very characteristic of the historical process of the late XIX - early XX century. His empire, like a number of European ones, could not stand the test of the new time and could not answer his urgent challenges.
The last emperor of China, Pu Yi, whose biography was complex and tragic, turned out to be in some way a hostage to history.
If the economic condition of China were not so severe and the internal hostility between dignitaries was so strong, perhaps Pu Yi could eventually become the most European of the Asian monarchs. However, it turned out differently. Over time, Pu Yi entered the Communist Party quite well and began to defend its interests.