Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Last Emperor of China

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

In 1908, a two-year-old boy named Puyi was installed as the 11th Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in China. His life would prove to be radically different from that of any other Chinese emperor who came before him. He would see the end of Imperial China, become a puppet ruler for those who wished legitimacy, wind up in prison, and finally live out his final days as a commoner.  His personal story can be seen as a microcosm of the history of China during the 20th century.  Learn more about Puyi, the last Emperor of China, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.  Sponsors Sign up at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to get chicken breast, salmon or ground beef FREE in every order for a year plus $20 off your first order! Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1908, a two-year-old boy named Poo-Yi was installed as the 11th emperor of the Qing dynasty in China. His life would prove to be radically different from that of any other Chinese emperor who came before him. He would see the end of imperial China, become a puppet ruler for those who wished legitimacy, wind up in prison, and finally live out his days as a commoner. His personal story can be seen as a microcosm of the history of China during the 20th century. Learn more about Poo-Yi, the last emperor of China, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. To understand Poo-Y story, and I'll explain why I'm choosing. to call him that in a bit, you have to start about a half century earlier in 1861. It starts with the woman that history knows as the Emperor Dowager, C. Chi. She was unquestionably the most important and powerful person in China in the 19th century. She began as a low-level concubine of the

Sienfeng Emperor, the 8th Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. She became Empress in 1852, and then gave birth to the Emperor's only son in 1856. When the Emperor died in 1861, her son, now known as the Tongzi Emperor, was elevated to the throne at the age of five. His mother, now the Empress Dowager, became the regent, along with the other Empress Dowager, who was not the mother of the emperor. She orchestrated a palace coup, known as the Shidyu coup, where she became the primary regent and consolidated power around herself. Her son died at the age of 18 and 1875, and she appointed her three-year-old nephew,

now the Guangzhou Emperor to the throne. Not surprisingly, with another child on the throne, she remained the regent and consolidated more power. The Guangzhou Emperor reached the age of majority, but he was never able to escape his aunt's shadow. In 1898, he tried to institute a series of reforms, but the Empress Dowager conducted another coup and put the emperor under house arrest, once again making herself the de facto power behind the throne. The Guangzhou emperor died on November 14, 1908 without an heir. So the Empress Dowager appointed another child to the throne, the two-year-old Poo-Yee. Poo-Yee was a member of the royal house, but not a direct relative to the Empress Dowager. At the same time, she also elevated herself to the newly created title of Grand Empress Dowager

of the Qing Dynasty. However, she didn't get to enjoy her new position very long because she died the very next day on November 15th. This left the infant Puyi as emperor, with his father and some court officials serving as regents. Puyi's imperial name was the Shon Tong Emperor, but he has seldom referred to as such because his reign was so short, and he never reached the age of maturity as emperor. The royal household of the Qing Dynasty, and Puyi's technical family name, was Aysin Gioro, which originally came from Manchuria. Most Chinese consider, the Qing rulers to be Manchurian, even though they had been ruling China for over 400 years. As Pui was just a child, he had no clue what was happening around him. Imperial China had been weakened

through decades of incompetent leadership, corruption, being taken advantage of by Western powers, and of movement to eliminate the monarchy and replace it with a Republican form of government. In 1911, when Puyi was only five, the Shinhai revolution began, which was to end the Qing dynasty. On February 12th, 1912, under the leadership of the revolutionary figure Sun Yat-sen, on whom I've done a previous episode, the Qing dynasty officially fell, marking the end of more than 2,000 years of imperial rule in China. Poo-Yi was forced to abdicate, although he was allowed to retain his imperial title and live in the northern half of the forbidden city as part of a negotiated settlement. Technically, Poo-Yee did not personally abdicate because he was still a child. His regents did so on his behalf. half. In fact, when this all took place, no one actually informed him that he was no longer emperor, and he had no clue because he was still very young and his day-to-day routine never

changed. The imperial court eventually signed an agreement with the new Republic of China that was dubbed the Articles of Favorable Treatment of the Great Qing Emperor after his abdication. The terms included the following. Pugyi would retain the title of the Great Qing Emperor, even though he would have no power. He and the imperial court could continue to live at the imperial city, and his entourage could continue to perform the imperial rituals. The Republic of China agreed to provide a substantial annual allowance to support the imperial household and maintain the Qing family's way of life. The Republic also agreed to protect the royal family's property, the ability to use imperial seals, and the Qing dynasty tombs. The emperor was also given

extra-territoriality within the walls of the forbidden city, which made him exempt from the laws of the republic. In exchange, the emperor agreed to stay out of politics. By signing the agreement, it also took any remaining pressure off the republic by pro-imperial subjects. While this may sound like a great deal for Poo-Yee in the royal court, certainly better than exile or execution, which was the fate of other monarchs during a revolution, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He was effectually a prisoner, albeit in a very gilded prison. The only place he was allowed to be was in the Forbidden City. Poo-Y remained stuck in the Forbidden City for 12 years. Basically, his entire formative years growing up took place within its walls. All of China was undergoing

a radical transformation, and he was completely isolated from all of it. One of the most important decisions that was made was the hiring of a Western tutor for him when he was 13 years old. A Scotsman by the name of Reginald Johnson became Poo-Yee's tutor, and he had a profound influence on his outlook on life. Johnson taught him how the modern world worked, of which he had no experience, and he also served as the type of father figure. He arranged for Poo-Yee to get a telephone, a bicycle, and even glasses to improve his eyesight. Poo-Yee's confinement to the Forbidden City came to an abrupt end on November 5, 1924.

A warlord by the name of Fong Yu Shuang sees Beijing and in an attempt to curry favor with the public canceled the articles of favorable treatment, stripping Pui of his titles and expelled him from the forbidden city on just three hours' notice. In almost an instant, Puyi went from being the titular emperor of the Qing dynasty and prisoner of the forbidden city to being homeless in an exile. Pui's initial inclination was to get the help of the British and to live in exile in Britain. He had a desire to attend university at Cambridge. However, Johnson encouraged Poo-Yi to seek the help of the Japanese. The theory behind this move was that the Japanese had an emperor who was revered as a god and that he would get much better treatment there than in the UK,

which had a constitutional monarchy. This was still years before Japan was to invade Manchuria and begin their expansionist foreign policy. Rather than taking up residence at the Japanese embassy, which would anger the Chinese government, the Japanese sponsored him in the Chinese city of Tianjin, southeast of Beijing. Pui lived in Tianjin for six years with his two wives, because the emperor was allowed multiple wives when he was married. There he hosted and attended parties and hobnobbed with Westerners

and joined Western clubs that were normally closed to Chinese. He also went on shopping sprees as he was still nominally wealthy and plotted his return to the imperial throne. Everything changed for him in 1931. Japan invaded Manchuria, the ancestral home of the Qing Dynasty. In occupied Manchuria, they created a puppet state that was known as Manchu Co. Poo Yi sailed there in November 1931 in the hope of having his titles restored. He basically ended up being a prisoner of the Japanese and earned the ire of the Chinese

who considered him a traitor. In 1934, Japan installed Poo-Yee as emperor of Manchrist. Manchu Coe. Pouye accepted the position as he thought it would be a means for him to re-establish imperial rule in China. In reality, it was a horrible decision. Poo-Yi had no real power. He was nothing more than a puppet of the Japanese who retained all real control in Manchuko. The Japanese simply used him to give some legitimacy to the state that they had created. Poo-Yee was under constant Japanese surveillance until the end of the war in 1945. In August 1945, as Soviet forces entered Manchuria, Poo-Yi attempted to flee to Japan,

but he was captured by the Soviet Red Army and taken to the Soviet Union where he was held as a prisoner of war. Once again, Poo-Yi was a prisoner, and once again, his imprisonment wasn't that bad. He was allowed some servants, and he still lorded over his servants and often slapped them. He was kept in a sanitarium in Siberia during his confinement. While he was confined by the Soviets, a civil war took place in China, which was won by the communists. Puyi was not on good terms with either side of the civil war, but the communists were probably the worst outcome for him. In 1950, he was returned to China, where he was once again imprisoned, this time for collaboration with the Japanese during the war. Unlike his previous

confinement, this time he was not given any special privileges. Pouye spent almost a decade in a communist re-education camp where he underwent ideological rehabilitation. To be fair, he did collaborate with the Japanese, that is undeniable. However, there's no evidence that Poo-Yi had any knowledge of the horrific crimes committed by the Japanese in Manchuria. Given that he was only a figurehead, the Japanese had no incentive to ever share anything with him. In 1959, Poo-Yi was pardoned by the Chinese government as part of a broader policy of national reconciliation. He was released from prison and began a new chapter of his life as an ordinary citizen. In the years following his release, Puyi lived in Beijing and worked as a gardener at the

Beijing Botanical Garden. Later, he became an editor at the Chinese People's Political Consultive Conference, a political advisory body. By all accounts from those who knew him during this period of his life, he was very awkward and clumsy and lacked many basic social skills. For so much of his life, everything had been done for him by servants, and he lacked the basic skills that most people have of daily living. He would often forget to flush the toilet, closed doors, or turn off the water, and he was horrible with directions. He often gave press conferences where he praised the communists, which kept him in their favor. He worked for years in prison on a book which was published in 1960, titled From Emperor to Citizen, in it he recounted

his experiences as China's last emperor, his collaboration with. with the Japanese and his life during and after imprisonment. Supposedly, when he first moved back to Beijing after being in prison, one of the first things he did was visit the Forbidden City as a tourist. While on a tour, he shocked everyone by disclosing that he used to be the emperor and showed everyone where he used to play when he lived there. Puyi lived the last years of his life quietly away from the public eye. He died on October 17, 1967, from complications related to kidney cancer,

and heart disease during the chaotic period of the cultural revolution. His life was portrayed in the 1987 film The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertilucci, which won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it brought Poo-Yee's story to an international audience. Pouye's life symbolizes the dramatic transformation of China in the 20th century, from imperial rule to revolution, Japanese occupation, and the establishment of a communist state. His personal story, moving from absolute monarch to common citizen, illustrates the profound changes that China underwent during his lifetime.

The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Kiever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers. Your support helps me put out a show every single day. And also, Patreon is currently the only place where Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise is available to the top tier of supporters. If you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show

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