Xuantong
Emperor of China
(1906–67)
Other names: Aisin Gioro Pu Yi,
Puyi,
Henry Puyi,
Kangde
Biographical
Xuantong , Emperor of China 1908–12 dep
Kangde, Emperor of Manchukuo 1934-45
President of Manchukuo 1932-34
The last emperor of China, Puyi, ascended the throne as a child in 1908
after the death of his uncle, the Guangxu Emperor. His rule, overseen
by a regency, lasted until 1912, when the Chinese Revolution forced
his abdication, bringing an end to the Qing dynasty and China’s
imperial system. Although he remained in Beijing’s Forbidden City
for a time, he later fled to the Japanese-controlled concession in Tianjin
in 1924. Japan installed him as head of its puppet state, Manchukuo,
in 1932, first as president and later as emperor under the title Kangde
from 1934 to 1945. Following Japan’s defeat in the Second World
War, he was captured by Soviet forces in 1945 and repatriated to China
in 1950, where he was tried as a war criminal. Pardoned in 1959, he
spent his later years in Beijing, working in a botanical garden’s
mechanical repair shop before taking a research post at the Institute
of Literature and History. His life, from child emperor to dethroned
ruler and reformed citizen, became the subject of his autobiography,
From Emperor to Citizen, published in English in the mid-1960s,
and his life was later depicted in the 1987 film The Last Emperor.
Place
of birth: Beijing
Place of death: Beijing
Son of Prince Zaifeng of China (Qing) and Youlan (Guwalgiya clan), he
was married firstly to Wanrong (†1945 or 1946) in 1922,
secondly to Wenxiu in 1922 (divorced 1931; †1953), thirdly to
Tan Yuling (†1942) in 1937,
fourthly to Li Yuqin (†2001) in 1943 (divorced 1957)
and fifthly to Li Shuxian (†1997) in 1962.
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