Puyi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Puyi-Manchukuo.jpg
Puyi (also known as P'u-i in Wade-Giles Romanization, or Henry Puyi) was the last emperor of China.
Puyi was born on 7 February 1906, in Beijing, China. He succeeded to the Manchu throne in 1908 at the age of three, becoming emperor when his uncle, the former emperor, died on 14 November. However, three years later, at the age of six, his reign ended. On 12 February 1912, due to the Republican Revolution of the previous year, he was forced to abdicate, ending 267 years of the Qing dynasty and 2,000 years of imperial rule in China.
He was allowed to remain in the palace in Beijing. Puyi chose Henry as a given name, becoming known as Henry Puyi in the West. However, twelve years later, in 1924, he secretly left Beijing to reside in the Japanese colony at Tianjin. There, he "cavorted as an exiled and extravagant playboy, full of imperious airs but no imperial mandate."
That changed in 1932, when Japan invaded China and set up the puppet nation Manchukuo in northeast China. The Japanese promised a disgruntled Puyi a "kingdom to match his royal breeding", and in 1934, he became the figurehead ruler of Manchukuo, fueled by hopes of a revived Qing Dynasty. Still, in 1945, Japan surrendered and he was taken prisoner by advancing Russian troops, sent to the Russian Far East.
Puyi was returned to China for trial as a war criminal in 1950, and was assured by the Soviets that he would be executed. However, the Chinese communists, who had taken over from the corrupt Republican government, decided not to kill him, rather fashioning him into a Maoist role model, to show that even a former emperor could be reformed. He spent a decade in jail, going through "thought reform", admitting collusion with the Japanese, praising the communists, and learning how to do practical things such as brush his teeth.
In 1959, at 54, Puyi was granted a pardon and entered private life. In 1960, he was sent to the Beijing Botanical Gardens to begin work as a gardener and handyman. Later, he became a researcher in the institute of literature and history under the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He died, unmourned, of cancer at a Beijing hospital in 1967.
After his death, in 1987, Bernardo Bertolucci made adramatized biographical film, The Last Emperor, and the Chinese tourist bureau took advantage of the hype by offering tours of places in Puyi's life, such as his prison cell. In 1995, his widow was allowed to transfer his ashes to the Western Qing Tombs, where five of the ten Manchu rulers are interred.
Sources:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/0927/gardens.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/482238/Puyi
Puyi was born on 7 February 1906, in Beijing, China. He succeeded to the Manchu throne in 1908 at the age of three, becoming emperor when his uncle, the former emperor, died on 14 November. However, three years later, at the age of six, his reign ended. On 12 February 1912, due to the Republican Revolution of the previous year, he was forced to abdicate, ending 267 years of the Qing dynasty and 2,000 years of imperial rule in China.
He was allowed to remain in the palace in Beijing. Puyi chose Henry as a given name, becoming known as Henry Puyi in the West. However, twelve years later, in 1924, he secretly left Beijing to reside in the Japanese colony at Tianjin. There, he "cavorted as an exiled and extravagant playboy, full of imperious airs but no imperial mandate."
That changed in 1932, when Japan invaded China and set up the puppet nation Manchukuo in northeast China. The Japanese promised a disgruntled Puyi a "kingdom to match his royal breeding", and in 1934, he became the figurehead ruler of Manchukuo, fueled by hopes of a revived Qing Dynasty. Still, in 1945, Japan surrendered and he was taken prisoner by advancing Russian troops, sent to the Russian Far East.
Puyi was returned to China for trial as a war criminal in 1950, and was assured by the Soviets that he would be executed. However, the Chinese communists, who had taken over from the corrupt Republican government, decided not to kill him, rather fashioning him into a Maoist role model, to show that even a former emperor could be reformed. He spent a decade in jail, going through "thought reform", admitting collusion with the Japanese, praising the communists, and learning how to do practical things such as brush his teeth.
In 1959, at 54, Puyi was granted a pardon and entered private life. In 1960, he was sent to the Beijing Botanical Gardens to begin work as a gardener and handyman. Later, he became a researcher in the institute of literature and history under the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He died, unmourned, of cancer at a Beijing hospital in 1967.
After his death, in 1987, Bernardo Bertolucci made adramatized biographical film, The Last Emperor, and the Chinese tourist bureau took advantage of the hype by offering tours of places in Puyi's life, such as his prison cell. In 1995, his widow was allowed to transfer his ashes to the Western Qing Tombs, where five of the ten Manchu rulers are interred.
Sources:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/0927/gardens.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/482238/Puyi