Puyi

Puyi (7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), was the final emperor of China, reigning as the eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty. He was later ruler of the puppet state of Manchukuo under the Empire of Japan from 1934 to 1945. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate at the age of six in 1912 during the Xinhai Revolution. During his first reign he was known as the Xuantong Emperor, with his era name meaning "proclamation of unity".

Puyi
溥儀
Portrait of Puyi by an unknown photographer, c.1930s–1940s
Emperor of the Qing dynasty
First reign2 December 1908 – 12 February 1912
PredecessorGuangxu Emperor
SuccessorMonarchy abolished
Yuan Shikai as President of the Republic of China
RegentsZaifeng, Prince Chun (1908–11)
Empress Dowager Longyu (1911–12)
Prime Ministers
Second reign1 July 1917 – 12 July 1917
Prime ministerZhang Xun
Emperor of Manchukuo
Reign1 March 1934 – 17 August 1945
PredecessorHimself as Chief Executive of Manchukuo
SuccessorPosition abolished
Prime Minister
Chief Executive of Manchukuo
In office18 February 1932 – 28 February 1934
PredecessorPosition established
SuccessorHimself as Emperor
Prime MinisterZheng Xiaoxu
Born(1906-02-07)7 February 1906
Prince Chun Mansion, Beijing, Qing dynasty
Died17 October 1967(1967-10-17) (aged 61)
Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Burial
Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, later reburied in the Hualong Imperial Cemetery, Yi County, Hebei
Consorts
Names
  • Aisin-Gioro Puyi (愛新覺羅·溥儀)
  • Manchu: Aisin-Gioro Pu I
Era dates
Qing Empire
  • Xuantong (宣統): 22 January 1909 – 12 February 1912, 1 July 1917 – 12 July 1917


Manchu: Gehungge Yoso
Mongolian: Хэвт ёс
Manchukuo

  • Datong (大同): 1 March 1932 – 28 February 1934
  • Kangde (康德): 1 March 1934 – 17 August 1945
HouseAisin Gioro
DynastyQing (1908–1912, 1917)
Manchukuo (1932–1945)
FatherZaifeng, Prince Chun of the First Rank
MotherGūwalgiya Youlan
Seal
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese溥儀
Simplified Chinese溥仪
Xuantong Emperor
Traditional Chinese宣統帝
Simplified Chinese宣统帝

Puyi was briefly restored to the throne as Qing emperor by the loyalist General Zhang Xun from 1 July to 12 July 1917. He was first wed to Empress Wanrong in 1922 in an arranged marriage. In 1924, he was expelled from the Forbidden City and found refuge in Tianjin, where he began to court both the warlords fighting for hegemony over China and the Japanese who had long desired control of China. In 1932, after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the puppet state of Manchukuo was established by Japan, and he was chosen to become the chief executive of the new state using the era name of "Datong".

In 1934, he was declared emperor of Manchukuo with the era name "Kangde" and reigned over his new empire until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945. This third stint as emperor saw him as a puppet of Japan; he signed most edicts the Japanese gave him. During this period, he largely resided in the Salt Tax Palace, where he regularly ordered his servants beaten. His first wife's opium addiction consumed her during these years, and they were generally distant. He took on numerous concubines, as well as male lovers. With the fall of Japan (and thus Manchukuo) in 1945, Puyi fled the capital and was eventually captured by the Soviets; he was extradited to the People's Republic of China in 1950. After his capture, he never saw his first wife again; she died of starvation in a Chinese prison in 1946.

Puyi was a defendant at the Tokyo Trials and was later imprisoned and reeducated as a war criminal for 10 years. After his release in 1959, he wrote his memoirs (with the help of a ghost writer) and became a titular member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. His time in prison greatly changed him, and he expressed deep regret for his actions while he was an emperor. He died in 1967 and was ultimately buried near the Western Qing tombs in a commercial cemetery.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.