Pu Yi (1906-1967)

Henry Pu Yi, Manchu Aisin Gioro, last emperor (190812) of China , under the reign name Hsuan T'ung, born on February 7, 1906 .

Pu Yi was only three years old when he became the last emperor of China

China's Last Emperor, Puyi, on the right.

Jingshan Park, Beijing

Empress Dowager Cixi in 1903 she died in 1908 and was succeeded by the last Emperor of China Hsuan T'ung (Pu-Yi),

Pu Yi was only three years old when he became the last emperor of China . Pu Yi's father, Prince Ch'un, served as his regent. The prince disliked politics, and dissidents considered him weak. There was great resentment in China against foreigners and the Manchu government at the time, and in 1911 rebellion swept through the country, forcing Prince Ch'un to resign as regent. Yuan Shih-k'ai took over the government. He hoped to start his own ruling dynasty and suggested that Pu Yi should abdicate. Fearing the consequences if they refused, the Manchu Grand Council agreed, and on February 12, 1912, the five-year old emperor renounced his throne.After his abdication, the new republican government granted him a large government pension and permitted him to live in the Forbidden City of Beijing until 1924. After 1925, he lived in the Japanese concession in Tianjin , where the Japanese had a lot of power. Pu Yi rented a mansion called Chang Garden and set up his court there. He remained there for years, plotting to regain his throne.Tianjin was a cosmopolitan city, and Pu Yi and his wife Elizabeth had busy social lives.In 1934, reigning under the name K'ang Te, he became the emperor of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo , or Manchuria . He was captured by the Russians in 1945 and kept as their prisoner

Wen Xiu, a concubine of the emperor Pu Yi of the Qing Dynasty

The study room of the last emperor

After his abdication, the new republican government granted him a large government pension and permitted him to live in the Forbidden City of Beijing until 1924. After 1925, he lived in the Japanese concession in Tianjin , where the Japanese had a lot of power. Pu Yi rented a mansion called Chang Garden and set up his court there. He remained there for years, plotting to regain his throne.Tianjin was a cosmopolitan city, and Pu Yi and his wife Elizabeth had busy social lives.In 1934, reigning under the name K'ang Te, he became the emperor of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo , or Manchuria . He was captured by the Russians in 1945 and kept as their prisoner

This large ramp (used only by Emperor) was carved from a single stone, weighing over 200 tons and transported to the Forbidden City from a mountain over 70 kilometers away. They dragged it over sheets of ice to its current home

19351960

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square meters (7,800,000 square feet).

For centuries in China, the only men from outside the imperial family who were allowed into the Forbidden City's private quarters were castrated ones. They effectively swapped their reproductive organs for a hope of exclusive access to the emperor that made some into rich and influential politicians.

-Sun Yaoting -

His desperate father performed the castration on the bed of their mud-walled home, with no anesthetic and only oil-soaked paper as a bandage. He was unconscious for three days and could barely move for two months. When he finally rose from his bed, history played the first of a series of cruel tricks on him -- he discovered the emperor he hoped to serve had abdicated several weeks earlier.

"He never became rich, he never became powerful, but he became very rich in experience and secrets,"

17 Arch BridgeForbidden City

Emperors Gold Rickshaws

Mutti in China 1916

Dedicated to my mother who was born in China (Qingdao 1909 - Brasil 1982) and had her life involved with Emperor Pu Yi in Tianjin /Shanghai/Beijin. I grew up hearing these stories and now I have images as well as the desire to visit her beloved China.

Photos by Laurenda Rendiru Grudelsud Francisco Diez.

Research by Helga from web and personal facts