From Emperor to Citizen

From Emperor to Citien is the autobiography of Pu Yi, the man who was the last emperor of China. A unique memoir of the first half of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of one born to be an absolute monarch, the book begins with the author's vivid account of the last, decadent days of the Ching Dynasty, and closes with an introspective self-portrait of the last Ching emperor transformed into a retiring scholar and citizen of the People's Republic of China. In detailing the events of the fifty years between his ascension to the throne and the final period of his life as a quiet-living resident of Beijing, Pu Yi reveals himself to be first and foremost a survivor, caught up in the torrent of global power struggles and world conflict that played itself out on the Asian continent through many decades of violence and upheaval. This firsthand description of the dramatic events of Pu Yi's life was the basis for the intemationally acclaimed 1987 Bemardo Bertolucci film The Last Emperor which was named Best Picture of the Year by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. From Emperor to Citizen readily lends itself to cinematic adaptation as a personal narrative of continuously significant and revea- ling episodes. Becoming emperor and then forced to abdicate with the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911, all before he is seven years old, Pu Yi continues to live in the Forbidden City for another decade, still treated as the Son of Heaven by the moribund Ching court, but in reality a virtual prisoner, with little genuine human contact apart from his beloved nurse Mrs. Wang, his teacher Chen Pao-shen and his English tutor Reginald Johnston. When at the age of nineteen Pu Yi is finally forced to vacate his isolated existence within the Forbidden City, he begins his long odyssey as the dependent of the occupying imperial Japanese regime, first in Tientsin, and eventually installed as "emperor" of the Japanese puppet state styled Manchukuo in China's northeast provinces. With the defeat of Japan and the end of the Second World War, Pu Yi faces a very uncertain future as he is shunted off to Russia for five years before retuming to a new China transformed by revolution, where he is confined in the Fushun War Criminal Prison. Here he undergoes several years of rehabilitation, "learning how to become a human being," as he calls it, before receiving an official pardon and being allowed to finally live as an ordinary citizen of Beijing. This autobiography is the culmi- nation of a unique and remarkable life, told simply, directly and frankly by a man whose circumstances and experiences were like no other.

Contents CHAPTER ONE MY FAMILY My Grandfather Prince Chun My Maternal Grandfather Jung Lu Tzu Hsi's Decision My Father's Regency A Prince's Household CHAPTER TWO CHILDHOOD Accession and Abdication Living as an Emperor Mothers and Son Studying in the Yu Ching Palace Eunuchs My Nurse CHAPTER THREE FROM THE FORBIDDEN CITY TO THEJAPANESE LEGATION The Yuan Shih-kai Period The Restoration of 1917 The Chiettains of the Peiyang Clique Undying Hope Reginald Johnston My Wedding Internal Clashes The Dispersal of the Eunuchs Reorganizing the Household Department The Last Days in the Forbidden City In the Northern Mansion Decision at the Crossroads CHAPTERFOUR TIENTSIN The Efforts of Lo Chen-yu My Relations with the Commanders of the Fengtien Clique Semionov and the "Second Chukeh Liang" The Affair of the Eastern Mausolea Consulate, Garrison and Black Dragon Society Life in the Temporary Palace CHAPTERFIVE TO THE NORTHEAST The Unquiet Qyiet Garden Differences Among the Japanese Meeting Doihara The Secret Crossing of the Pai River Isolated Disappointment Meeting Itagaki CHAPTER SIX FOURTEEN YEARS OF "MANCHUKUO" The Puppet Play Begins Majesty Without Power The Signing of the Secret Treaty and After The Report of the League of Nations Commission of Enquiry "Emperor" for the Third Time The End of Illusion Yoshioka Yasunori "Imperial Rescripts' Home Life The Collapse CHAPTER SEVEN IN THE SOVIET UNION Fear and Illusion Still Giving Myself Airs 1 Refuse to Admit My Guilt CHAPTER EIGHT FROM FEAR TO RECOGNIZING MY GUILT I Expect to Die Arriving in Fushun Separated from My Family Move to Harbin Writing My Autobiography and Presenting My Seals Changes in My Household Contession and Leniency Making Boxes The Investigators Arrive The Suffermgs and Hatred of the People of the Northeast "You Can Never Escape the Consequences of Your Sins" CHAPTER NINE 1 ACCEPT REMOULDING How Shall 1 Be a Man? It Is Up to Me Why So Magnanimous? The Changes Explain Everything Meeting Relations The Japanese War Criminals "The World's Glory" Another Visit Labour and Optimism The Test Special Pardon A New Chapter INDEX