Puyi 's life is full of legends. Some people think that his life was very unfortunate. Although he was an emperor, he became the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and he was unable to do anything about the bankruptcy of the Qing Dynasty. Others think that Puyi was very lucky. At least he was able to die well in his later years and live an ordinary life.
The moment Puyi appeared in the witness box of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East on August 16, 1946, it caused quite a stir among those present. As a witness, he had appeared in court for eight days and was unmatched among the witnesses at the time. During his testimony in court, what exactly did Pu Yi say that made the audience laugh?
1. Ups and downs of life experience
In 1908, Puyi, who was only 3 years old, was forced to succeed to the throne. At that time, he knew nothing and had no idea that he would become the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, what the world did not expect was that the person who left the deepest impression on everyone was not the emperor Puyi sitting on the dragon throne, but the witness Puyi who attended the Tokyo Trial Court.
So what did Puyi experience before Tokyo Trial ?
Three years after Puyi ascended the throne, Wuchang Uprising was heard, and the entire Qing Dynasty was suddenly in turmoil. On February 12, 1912, under the pressure of Yuan Shikai , the Qing government issued the "Abdication Edict", and overnight Puyi was no longer an emperor.
After that, the government of the Republic of China treated the royal family represented by Puyi well, allowing them to continue to live in the Forbidden City , and they also received 4 million taels of silver every year.
On July 1, 1917, with the support of Zhang Xun, Puyi returned to the throne and restored the reign title Xuantong. However, this restoration only lasted 11 days, and then Puyi abdicated for the second time in his life. At this time, Puyi was not yet 12 years old.
On November 5, 1924, Puyi and others were driven out of the Forbidden City by the warlord Feng Yuxiang. At that moment, the 18-year-old felt that he had no home and a feeling that he didn't know where to go in the vast world. On November 29 of the same year, Puyi fled into the Japanese Legation. This escape had an important impact on Puyi's life.
After that, Puyi began to appear frequently in social circles. Warlords and ambassadors from various countries were very polite to Puyi. However, Puyi understood that these people were only superficially polite to him. When it came to restoring the country, these people did not really want to help him at all.
2. The dream of the supreme emperor in 1995 was shattered
In this isolated and helpless situation, Puyi discovered a country that had a different attitude towards him, and that was Japan. Because when he was driven out of the Forbidden City, Japan continued to express sympathy for his tragic experience in major newspapers.
Puyi defected to Japan because this was the only government that gave him help. In 1932, Japan established the puppet government of Manchukuo in the three northeastern provinces , and Puyi became the puppet emperor.
The root of Puyi tragedy is that he has always been unwilling to admit that he has been abandoned by history, and has always retained unrealistic illusions. He wanted to be emperor, so he chose to side with the Japanese.
In 1934, Puyi ascended the throne for the third time in a place called Xinghua Village near Changchun. Although he was emperor for a long time this time, Japan's various restrictions on Puyi made his life extremely difficult. During this period, Puyi thought about escaping, but in the end he could not escape from the hands of the Japanese.
On August 15, 1945, Japan was defeated and surrendered. At the same time, Puyi also knew clearly that he, the puppet emperor, had no retreat. A few days later, the Soviet Red Army captured Puyi, who was about to flee to Japan, and brought him back to the Soviet Union. As a subjugated king and a political loser, Puyi was afraid of being extradited back to his country. He was especially afraid of being handed over to the hands of the Communist Party.
Because in Puyi's understanding, whenever there is a change of dynasty, the previous monarch will undoubtedly die.In order to survive, he wrote to Stalin , hoping that the Soviet Union would allow him to be detained for a long time, and even apply to join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After being rejected by the Soviet government, he refused to give up and said that he was willing to be the first member of the royal family to join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
3. Attending the Tokyo Trial as a Witness
On August 16, 1946, Puyi appeared in court wearing a black suit, white shirt, and tie. He looked very energetic, and it made people sigh that he was worthy of being the great man he once was.
Before the trial, Puyi was forcibly extradited from the Soviet Union to Japan. At first, he was unwilling to appear in court to testify. After many heart-to-heart talks with the prosecutors at that time, Puyi finally put aside his ideological burden and agreed to testify.
The Tokyo Trial at that time adopted an adversarial style, and the judge needed to make a ruling based on a neutral attitude. At that time, each of the Japanese Class A war criminals said they were not guilty. When Puyi came to the witness box, he stated more than once that he did not want to establish the Puppet Manchukuo, but he compromised because he was confused by the sugar-coated bullets of Itagaki Seishiro and others.
Moreover, he also exposed various evil deeds of the Japanese by presenting a series of evidences, saying that he, the puppet emperor, had been forced to do so for more than ten years. After hearing Puyi's words, the Japanese lawyer was so angry on the spot that he pointed at Puyi's nose and scolded him for being shameless.
As the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, how could Puyi be at a disadvantage? He repaid it with very direct words, scolding the emperor for being shameless. Puyi was very excited at the time and even said some swear words. This scene made everyone present laugh.
Conclusion
The judge finally chose to believe what Pu Yi said, and the relevant war criminals were also punished. In any case, as the last emperor of China, Pu Yi finally stood in court and testified for China, fulfilling the expectations of the 450 million Chinese people, commemorating the lives of millions of compatriots who died, and doing his part to punish this evil fascist.
