Aisin-Gioro Puyi 愛新覺羅·溥儀 Xuantong Emperor (Emperor of the Qing Dynasty) The last Emperor of China

• published: 19 Aug 2015
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DescriptionAisin-Gioro Puyi (Chinese: 愛新覺羅·溥儀; pinyin: Àixīnjuéluó Pǔyí; Wade–Giles: Ai4-hsin1-chüeh2-lo2 P'u3-i2; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, commonly known as Henry Pu Yi (Pu-yi; Chinese: 溥儀; pinyin: Pǔyí; Wade–Giles: P'u3-i2), was the last Emperor of China and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing dynasty. Still a child, he ruled as the Xuantong Emperor (Chinese: 宣統帝; pinyin: Xuāntǒng Dì; Wade–Giles: Hsuan1-t'ung3 Ti4) from 1908 until his abdication on 12 February 1912, after the successful Xinhai Revolution. From 1 to 12 July 1917, he was briefly restored to the throne as a nominal emperor by the warlord Zhang Xun. In 1934, he was declared the Kangde Emperor (Kang-te Emperor) of the puppet state of Manchukuo by the Empire of Japan, and he ruled until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945. After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, Puyi was imprisoned as a war criminal for ten years, wrote his memoirs, and became a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Puyi's name is romanised in English as either "Puyi" or "Pu-yi". This naming is in accordance with the Manchu tradition of avoiding the use of a person's clan name and given name together, but is in complete contravention of Chinese tradition, whereby the given name of a ruler was considered taboo and ineffable. Using a former emperor's personal name (or even using a Chinese character from the name) was a punishable offence under traditional Chinese law. However after Puyi lost his imperial title in 1924, he was officially styled "Mr. Puyi" (Mr. Pu-yi; Chinese: 溥儀先生; pinyin: Pǔyí Xiānshēng) in Chinese and "Mr. Fugi" (溥儀先生; Fugi Sensei) in Japanese. His clan name "Aisin Gioro" (Chinese: 愛新覺羅; pinyin: Àixīnjuéluó; Wade–Giles: Ai4-hsin1-chüeh2-lo2) was seldom used. Puyi also adopted other names — his zi (字; courtesy name) was "Yaozhi" (Chinese: 耀之; pinyin: Yàozhī), and his hao (號; pseudonym) was "Haoran" (Chinese: 浩然; pinyin: Hàorán). Puyi is also known to have used a Western given name, "Henry," which was chosen by his English-language teacher, a Scotsman named Reginald Johnston. When he ruled as Emperor of the Qing Dynasty from 1908 to 1912 and during his brief restoration in 1917, Puyi's era name was "Xuantong", so he was known as the "Xuantong Emperor" (Chinese: 宣統皇帝; pinyin: Xuāntǒng Huángdì; Wade–Giles: Hsuan1-t'ung3 Huang2-ti4) during those two periods of time. As Puyi was also the last ruling Emperor of China, he is widely known as "The Last Emperor" (Chinese: 末代皇帝; pinyin: Mòdài Huángdì; Wade–Giles: Mo4-tai4 Huang2-ti4) in China and throughout the rest of the world. Some refer to him as "The Last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty" (Chinese: 清末帝; pinyin: Qīng Mò Dì; Wade–Giles: Ch'ing1 Mo4-ti4). Due to his abdication, Puyi is also known as "Xun Di" (Chinese: 遜帝; pinyin: Xùn Dì; literally: "Yielded Emperor") or "Fei Di" (Chinese: 廢帝; pinyin: Fèi Dì; literally: "Abrogated Emperor"). Sometimes a "Qing" (Chinese: 清; pinyin: Qīng) is added in front of the two titles to indicate his affiliation with the Qing Dynasty. When Puyi ruled the puppet state of Manchukuo from 1934 to 1945, his era name was "Kangde" (Kang-te), so he was known as the "Kangde Emperor" (Chinese: 康德皇帝; pinyin: Kāngdé Huángdì, Japanese: Kōtoku Kōtei) during that period of time. Puyi's great-grandfather was the Daoguang Emperor (r. 1820–1850), who was succeeded by his fourth son, the Xianfeng Emperor (r. 1850–1861). Puyi's paternal grandfather was Yixuan, Prince Chun (1840–1891), the seventh son of the Daoguang Emperor and a younger half-brother of the Xianfeng Emperor. The Xianfeng Emperor was succeeded by his only son, who became the Tongzhi Emperor (r. 1861–1875). The Tongzhi Emperor died at the age of 18 without a son, and was succeeded by the Guangxu Emperor (r. 1875–1908), son of 1st Prince Chun and Lady Yehenara Wanzhen (younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi). The Guangxu Emperor died without an heir. Puyi, who succeeded the Guangxu Emperor, was the eldest son of Zaifeng, Prince Chun, who was born to Yixuan, Prince Chun and his second concubine Lady Lingiya (1866–1925). Lady Lingiya used to be a maid in the residence of Yixuan. Born to a Han Bannerman family, her original family name was Liu (劉), and this was changed to the Manchu clan name Lingiya when she became the concubine of Yixuan and was transferred to a Manchu banner. Zaifeng was therefore a younger half-brother of the Guangxu Emperor and the first in line to succession after Guangxu. Puyi was in a branch of the Aisin Gioro clan with close ties to Empress Dowager Cixi, who was from the Yehenara clan. Cixi's niece, who later became Empress Dowager Longyu (1868–1913), was married to the Guangxu Emperor.