Puyi

Biography

Puyi was the last Emperor of China, born on February 7, 1906, in Xicheng District, Beijing. At two years old, he was chosen by Empress Dowager Cixi to succeed the Guangxu Emperor, becoming the Xuantong Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1908. His father, Zaifeng, Prince Chun, acted as regent while Puyi was still a child. His reign was short-lived; in 1912, the Xinhai Revolution forced him to abdicate at age six, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule in China and starting the Republic of China. Despite abdicating, Puyi kept his imperial title and continued living in the Forbidden City under the Articles of Favorable Treatment. In July 1917, he was briefly restored to the throne for twelve days when loyalist general Zhang Xun tried to bring back the Qing dynasty. This failed, and Puyi returned to his life in the Forbidden City until 1924, when warlord Feng Yuxiang expelled him from Beijing after a coup. Puyi sought refuge in Tianjin and began building connections with various warlords and Japanese officials who promised to help him regain power. In 1932, after Japan invaded Manchuria, they set up the puppet state of Manchukuo, making Puyi its chief executive. Two years later, in 1934, he was named Emperor of Manchukuo under the era name Kangde, ruling from the Manchukuo Imperial Palace in Changchun under tight Japanese control. His role as a puppet ruler ended in 1945 when Japan surrendered, and he was captured by Soviet forces while trying to flee. After spending over ten years imprisoned for war crimes, Puyi was released and spent his last years working as a gardener and later as an archivist at the Beijing Botanical Garden and Palace Museum. He died on October 17, 1967, in Dongcheng District, Beijing.