"I thought Chiang Kai-shek's presidential palace was so big. It turned out to be so small."
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty , Puyi no longer had the status of emperor. Ten years after the prison reform, Puyi began to work for the New China by Premier Zhou Enlai. As a Chinese citizen, Puyi was able to show his literary talent and knowledge.
During a visit and study of "Going to the South of the Yangtze River" arranged by Premier Zhou, when Puyi came to visit Nanjing Presidential Palace , he actually despised Chiang Kai-shek in public for being too small.
Chiang Kai-shek's presidential palace is quite large. It is recorded that it covers an area of about 90,000 square meters, but it takes more than half a day to view the scenery. So why did Puyi sigh? All this starts with Puyi’s origin.
The last emperor of the Qing Dynasty
1906, Puyi was born in Prince Chun's mansion. As the son of the prince, Puyi had countless glory, but his fate did not stop there.
1908, Emperor Guangxu died, Empress Dowager Cixi referred Puyi as the candidate for succession. In the same year, Cixi died of illness. The three-year-old Puyi was named regent by his father Prince Chun Zaifeng , supported him to throne, and became the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was already in a state of surviving, and Puyi's succession was also his father's conspiracy to control the government. It can be said that Puyi’s path to puppet was caused by his father’s selfishness.
It is not difficult for Puyi to be a puppet emperor. He only needs to eat and drink well in Forbidden City , study poetry, books, rituals and music seriously, and hand over all the decision-making power of state affairs to the Regent Aisin Gioro Zaifeng . Perhaps Puyi was smart, and all his performances met the image of a reign that Zaifeng needed, so Puyi did not become the abandoned son of Zaifeng's ambition.
But all Aisin Gioro Zaifeng's ambitions were broken in 1912. After the 1911 Revolution, the Republic of China, supported by the people, led by Mr. Sun Yat-sen, was officially established. The Beiyang government elected Yuan Shikai as the interim president to take office. Yuan Shikai showed his ambition: to be emperor, he forced Puyi to sign the abdication edict, and Qing died. After abdicating, Puyi still lived in the palace because the Nanjing government at that time signed a peace treaty with the Qing Dynasty royal family, and the food and clothing cost had not changed much from before. Therefore, Puyi, who was only 6 years old, did not realize the chaos of the current situation and lived his own emperor life.
1917, Zhang Xun led his troops into the capital. The president at that time was Li Yuanhong, who supported Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system. After Yuan Shikai's death, Li Yuanhong took over as the president. Zhang Xun drove Li Yuanhong out of the capital and restored Puyi's name to the emperor. This is the famous Xuantong Restoration Incident.
However, the demise of the Qing Dynasty was the general trend, and these conservative schools led by Zhang Zhao were ultimately unable to become a climate. Soon, Zhang Xun retreated step by step, and Puyi was expelled from the throne again. At this time, Puyi was already thirteen years old and understood the power that the emperor could possess. So later, the Beijing coup, Feng Yuxiang, drove him out of the Forbidden City, in order to restore his status, he decided to leave Beijing and seek help from the Japanese.
The Japanese have been eyeing China, and will they really be kind enough to send troops to help Puyi?
"Prison" career
Of course, Japan was worried that it could not find a reason to invade China at that time. Puyi's arrival made them suddenly enlightened. It would be just right to invade China under the name of this deposed emperor. So they deceived Puyi and were willing to help him regain his status and revitalize the Qing Dynasty. Both sides are using each other at the same time, which is very harmonious.
Japan began China's invasion internationally on the grounds of Puyi. Later, after September 18th Incident , Japan founded the "Manchurian Empire" and made Puyi become emperor.Puyi began his puppet life again. The Japanese wanted to use Puyi's hand to complete their political invasion of China.
In order to stabilize Puyi, Japan took care of Puyi in all aspects and took Puyi's previous imperial concubines over. Under the arrangement of the Japanese, Puyi was addicted to singing, dancing and drinking parties all day long, and was unaware of Japan's attempts. It was too late to find that he was restricted from his freedom, and his several escapes ended in failure.
1945, China achieved a comprehensive victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, Japan announced its surrender, and the Manchurian Empire was destroyed. Puyi, under the arrangement of the Japanese Yoshioka Yasunaga , planned to escape to Japan with his servants. But he was captured by the Soviet Red Army at Shenyang Airport and brought back to the Soviet Union, where he spent five years in prison.
Since Puyi was once the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, even in prison, the Soviet side gave him certain preferential treatment and arranged for a dedicated person to manage his daily life. Therefore, Puyi's life in the prison in the Soviet Union was very leisurely and he did not need to participate in labor. He recited scriptures and sent Buddhas and told fortunes every day. Puyi was very worried that the Soviet Union would send him back to China. Puyi believed that once he returned to China, he would definitely die.
In order to stay in the Soviet Union, he even made a request to join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but the Soviet side did not respond.
1946 "East China Military Court" under the arrangement of the Soviet Union, Puyi attended as a witness, exposing the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese in China and the purpose of their attempt to launch a world war based on Northeast China. These are all from Puyi's memoirs, the book "My First Half of Life".
In 1950, Puyi was extradited back to China and detained in the Fushun prisoner-of-war management office, where he received ideological and labor reform. In the Chinese prisoner-of-war management office, Puyi lost his preferential treatment and no one would take care of his daily life anymore. This was a huge difficulty for Puyi, who had always been out of business.
But the prison will not adapt to him, he can only adapt to prison life. He ate and sleep with other war criminals, and had to study and work every day, which Puyi had never experienced before. After nearly ten years of transformation in prison, Puyi completely parted ways with his emperor status. He learned to cook his own life, washing clothes, cooking, watering flowers, and farming.
1959, the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao decided to pardon a group of criminals who had reformed themselves, and Puyi was on the list. Puyi, who received the pardon, burst into tears. In the five years of the Soviet Union and ten years of returning to China, Puyi finally ended his nearly fifteen years of prison life.
Regularly speaking, after being released from prison, Puyi will live the life of an ordinary citizen, but he entered the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Literature and History Materials Committee. Why is this?
"Emperor"'s Lei Yu
After ten years of ideological transformation, he deeply understood the truth of Marxism. Puyi supported the new China very much, and the government was very tolerant of him. He gave him a letter of introduction, which allowed him to get his first job at Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences after he was released from prison. At the beginning, Puyi was assigned to be responsible for the hygiene in the hospital. Because of his serious and careful work attitude, he was transferred to a breeding greenhouse to work.
After working in the Botanical Garden for two years, under the arrangement of Premier Zhou, he became a commissioner of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's Literature and History Materials Committee. As the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi's understanding of the history of the Qing Dynasty may be more detailed than that of experts. When visiting the Forbidden City, Puyi discovered that the later repair of the Forbidden City would make many mistakes. The most ridiculous thing is that the Palace Museum hangs the portrait of Guangxu incorrectly, and the portrait hanging on it is his father, Prince Chun Aisin Gioro Zaifeng. Whether it is Puyi's own literary talent or his understanding of the history of the Qing Dynasty, there is no doubt that he is suitable for this job.
1964, at the invitation of Premier Zhou Enlai, the organs to which Puyi held a visit to the south. In ancient times, emperors went to Jiangnan, and Puyi also went back to Jiangnan.Their group arrived in Nanjing first. As the base of the Republic of China government, Puyi felt a desire to compare himself. He wanted to see what the ruling institutions after the Qing Dynasty looked like.
So a group of people came to Nanjing Presidential Palace . The scale of the Presidential Palace is very grand, and the buildings include modern Chinese and Western styles. The entire Presidential Palace is divided into several districts, with all the building facilities available. Everyone transferred the entire Nanjing Presidential Palace and finally came to Chiang Kai-shek's office.
Puyi faced the presidential office that could see the whole thing at a glance and sighed: "The Presidential Palace is so small!"
What Puyi wanted to say should be the presidential office. His speech made his peers laugh and cry. "Natural, natural, how can the president compare to your emperor, haha"
Early emperor life gave Puyi a very high level of knowledge. He had seen the towering Forbidden City and was worshipped by court officials on the main hall. But Puyi lacked the pattern and thinking of a reign, which is why he sought help from Japan after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. After
, they came to Jinggangshan . Under the afterglow, this scattered mountain city shocked Puyi a lot. He sighed again: "It turns out that there are so many houses on Jinggangshan. No wonder Chairman Mao would establish a revolutionary base here!"
His ignorant words once again caused laughter. Under the instructions of accompanying the visitors, Puyi realized that he had made a mistake again. Jinggangshan was indeed a mountain valley in the early stage of the revolution, with only a few native houses of villagers in the mountain. Later, Chairman Mao used this as a revolutionary base, and it was slowly built after New China was founded by .
The trip to the south made several jokes. After Puyi returned to Beijing, he worked harder to understand the deeds of the Chinese revolution.
Conclusion:
There were wise kings, foolish kings, and mediocre kings in ancient times. Later generations usually evaluated their political situation during their reign. China's imperial power system has been around for thousands of years, and has experienced several updates of the dynasty, and finally ended in the late Qing Dynasty.
As the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi had many roles in his life. He was a lofty emperor, a criminal transformed by thoughts, and a historical specialist who contributed to New China. He had no choice but to do so in the first half of his life and supported himself in the second half of his life.
He did some wrong things, but he also made contributions to the trial of Japan. China's revolutionary war and Anti-Japanese War are inevitable for historical development. Puyi is just a small link and should not be responsible for everything. The tolerant policy given to him by the Chinese government also hopes that Puyi will take the lead in tearing off the feudal label.
The unemployed emperor eventually passed away as a Chinese citizen at the age of 61.
