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About Xuantong Emperor
Lifespan: 1906 – 1967 A.D
Reign Years: 1908 – 1912 A.D
Given Name: Puyi
Reign Name:
Xuantong Emperor
Xuantong Emperor – Qing Dynasty
Puyi, or the Xuantong Emperor, was the final emperor of China. He was the 11th and final Qing Dynasty leader as well.
The Xuantong Emperor became the final Qing ruler when he was 2-years-old. However, he had to involuntarily abdicate in February 1912 because of the Xinhai Revolution. Later, he functioned as the nominal leader of Japan’s puppet state, Manchukuo, during the Second World War.
The Succession of the Throne
Puyi was able to succeed the Manchu throne at just three-years-old. It was when Emperor Guangxu, his uncle, died in 1908.
The final Qing ruler reigned for three years under a regency. Then in 1912, in response to the Chinese Revolution, he was commanded to abdicate.
It ended the 267-year rule of the Qing Dynasty over China. Plus, it marked the end of the 2,000-year-old imperial structure.
The final Qing ruler was allowed to continue staying at the palace in Beijing. There, Puyi chose the name Henry and was thereafter called Henry Puyi in the West. In 1924 he furtively left the palace to live in the Japanese colony at Tianjin.
For the next seven years, the Xuantong Emperor wasn’t able to see his biological mother, Consort Chun. Because of it, he developed a special connection with Wang, eventually crediting her as the only individual who could control him.
However, Consort Wang was sent away when the final Qing ruler was eight-years-old.
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Buy Now!Abdication and the Xinhai Revolution
In October 1911, the Wuhan army garrison mutinied, thus sparking a widespread and rampant uprising. It happened in the Yangtze River Valley and beyond, where the demands to overthrow the Qing dynasty was great.
General Yuan Shikai, the so-called strongman of Late Imperial China, was sent by the court to end the revolution. However, he wasn’t able to do so.
By 1911, public opinions shifted decisively against the Qing Empire. The Chinese didn’t plan to fight for an empire that obviously lost the Mandate of Heaven.
Xuantong Emperor’s father, Prince Chun, served in the regency until December 1911. This was when Empress Dowager Longyu took over and managed the Xinhai Revolution.
The 1911 Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, or the Xinhai Revolution ended the country’s last imperial dynasty.
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This blue and white porcelain plate is finely painted in light cobalt tones, flower blossom is painted in the center surrounded by double enclosed ring with three gates. The plate show rust spots and it is marked at the bottom.
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Buy Now!Brief Restoration
In 1917, the warrior Zhang Xun restored the Xuantong Emperor to the throne. Zhang Xun commanded his troops to maintain their queues to show their loyalty to the emperor.
However, the premier of the Republic of China, Duan Qirui, commanded to have a Caudron-type D-plane. It was piloted by Pan Shizhong, who was assisted by the bombardier named Du Yuyuan.
They were instructed to drop three bombs over the country’s Forbidden City. This was a display of force against Zhang Xun, causing minor damage and a eunuch to die.
The incident was considered as the very first recorded aerial bombing by the Chinese Air Force. There, the restoration also failed because of the great opposition against the country.
Expulsion
In October 1924, a coup led by the warrior Feng Yuxiang took over Beijing. Feng, the latest of the warriors to assault Beijing, sought legitimacy. He decided that ridding of the unpopular Articles of Favorable Settlement was a way to win the people’s approval.
Feng revised the “Articles of Favourable Treatment” in November 1924, abolishing Puyi’s title, as well as his privileges. It even reduced him to a private citizen of the country. Puyi, or the last Qing emperor, was expelled from the Forbidden City that same day.
Moving to Tianjin
Puyi’s adviser, Lu Zongyu, suggested that he move to Tianjin, arguing that it was much better and safer than Beijing.
Zongyu secretly worked with the Japanese. So, this suggestion was to make it easier for them to control Puyi in Tianjin.
They won’t have the embarrassment of having him live in the Japanese Legation, which strained relations with China.
In 1925, the Xuantong Emperor Puyi left Beijing to reach Tianjin. He wore a simple Chinese gown plus a skullcap since he worried about getting robbed while on the train.
He then moved to the Zhang Garden in Tianjin, then into Lu Zongyu’s former residence in 1927. It was called the Garden of Serenity.
As the final Qing ruler, Puyi was allowed to join a couple of social clubs that only usually admitted whites. During this time, the Xuantong Emperor and his advisers discussed ways to restore him as emperor. These were Zheng Xiaoxu, Chen Baochen, and Luo Zhenyu.
In June 1925, the warlord Zhang Zuolin went to Tianjin to visit Puyi. The “Old Marshal” Zhang was previously a bandit who ruled Manchuria. It was a region just the size of France and Germany combined.
He then kowtowed to Puyi during their meeting. There, he promised to restore the House of Qing. That’s if the Xuantong Emperor made a huge financial donation to his troops and army.
Puppet Emperor
In March 1932, the final Qing ruler was installed as president or the Chief Executive of Manchukuo. He became emperor of the Japanese’s puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria from 1934 to 1945. He used the reign title Kangde during these times.
Puyi believed that Manchukuo was just the beginning, and within a few years, he would reign as China’s emperor again.
In 1934, the final Qing ruler was declared as the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo. He so-called “ruled” until the final moments of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
This third act as emperor displayed him as a puppet of Japan. He signed a couple of edicts the Japanese gave him, such as making slavery legal.
During this period, he mostly stayed in the Salt Tax Palace, where he often ordered his servants to be beaten. His first wife’s addiction to opium consumed her entirely. So they ended up becoming generally distant.
Imprisonment
He took numerous concubines and even male lovers. But with the fall of Japan, so did Manchukuo. So in 1945, Puyi escaped from the capital; however, he was captured by the USSR.
From there, he was extradited. Puyi was sent to the People’s Republic of China in 1949 after it was established.
After being captured, the final Qing ruler never saw his wife again. As for her, she eventually died of starvation in some Chinese prison in 1946.
Legacy and Death of Puyi
The final Qing ruler became a defendant at the Tokyo Trials. He eventually was imprisoned as a war criminal and was sentenced to 10 years.
He was able to escape execution since Mao Zedong realized that Puyi was somewhat valuable as a reformed commoner.
So after being “reeducated” in prison, he started creating memoirs with the assistance of a ghostwriter. He then turned into a titular part of the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference and National People’s Congress.
All the time he spent locked up in prison changed his attitude and mindset. Thus, the last Qing ruler became kinder and started expressing great regret for his actions as a past ruler.
In 1962, Puyi was remarried, yet to a commoner, he had deep affections for. Her name was Li Shuxian. In 1967, the previous Xuantong Emperor died and was buried close to the Western Qing tombs in some commercial cemetery.