October 1908, Guangxu and Cixi were seriously ill one after another. Before Cixi died, she suddenly decided to make Puyi the son of Zaifeng Puyi the heir, and issued an "edict" on October 20 to summon Puyi to the palace. As a result, a farce in Puyi's crying hall was performed. On the third day of Puyi's rebellion, Cixi died. After Cixi's death, a formal national mourning was held.
On December 2, Puyi, who was only three years old, held the throne ceremony.
That day, the weather was extremely cold, and Puyi was placed on the tall throne and trembled all over. The ceremony of the great ceremony was long and cumbersome, integrating religion and secularity: musicians, eunuchs and pastors gathered in Hall of Supreme Harmony , guards, ministers and civil and military officials lined up to him one by one to swore allegiance.
The wet nurse Wang Ma is the only person who can control Xiao Puyi. Only by being with her can he feel at ease. However, as a wet nurse, she is not qualified to participate in the throne ceremony. The edict had to ask Prince Chun Zaipan, who was both his father and the regent, to accompany Puyi. Prince Chun knelt under the throne and held Puyi with both hands to prevent him from moving.
But what does a child care about? Puyi burst into tears while accepting the congratulations of civil and military officials kneeling three times and nine times. He cried and shouted, "I won't be here! I want to go home!" Puyi later recalled this way in " My First Half of Life ".
Seeing Puyi crying, Zaifeng was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, and hurriedly asked his entourage to take a thing and put it in Puyi's hand. In order to coax Puyi not to cry, he said in a panic, "Don't cry, don't cry, it's almost over!" When the ministers saw it, they were shocked. Although the little emperor had stopped crying, it was very ominous. Apart from the saying "It's almost over", it is very unlucky. The thing that coaxes Puyi is called "Tiger Little Brother", which is not auspicious, because the common people are also called "puppet tiger". Everyone understands this when they hear it.
This incident spread from the palace and soon caused a storm. People at that time were superstitious, "It's almost over", which is an ominous sign!
However, in his later memories, Yunhe (Puyi's sister) had another statement, "My father said that he clearly said 'It's almost done', and this statement was misrepresented, so from princes and ministers to ordinary people, everyone attributed the reason for the demise of the Qing Dynasty to what he said. He couldn't argue and couldn't swallow this breath until his death."
