The Last Emperor

[Randy W]

Most of us know (or at least have heard of) the story of the Last Emperor

 

His Wikipedia page - Puyi

 

Some tidbits today from the Shanghaiist on Facebook (no link)

 

47 years ago today on 17 Oct 1967, Aisin-Gioro Puyi (), China's last emperor and the Qing Dynasty's 12th and final ruler died of complications from heart disease and kidney cancer at the age of 61.

 

Puyi became emperor in 1908 at the age of 2 years and 10 months, and abdicated on 12 February 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution. Between 1934 and 1945, he served as emperor of Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Japanese empire.

 

When the communists came to power and the People's Republic of China established, Puyi was put behind bars as a war criminal for 10 years.

 

 

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Puyi-Manchukuo.jpg

 

[Randy W]

Another Facebook post from the Shanghaiist today

 

152 years ago today on 17 October 1862, the government of the Qing Dynasty adopted a triangular flag featuring a blue dragon on a plain yellow field with a red pearl in the upper left corner. It became China's first national flag and is usually referred to as the "Yellow Dragon Flag" (黄龙旗).

A rectangular version of this flag was later adopted in 1889.

 

 

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/c/cn_1872.gif

[Catherineli]

Puyi's palace is in Changchun where I'm living. One of his women, I've forgotten who, was living in the same quarter as my aunty. She didn't like to talk about her life or her history with Puyi. The Japanese made him a puppet and he needed Japanese force as well. Everyone is ambitious, so was he. His biggest dream was to regain the power of his Qing Kingdom. He wanted to rebuild his Qing Dynasty. He didn't realize that he was only a victim of the modern time. No one can stop human history moving on.

His fate as an emperor was better than other emperors in history. He died peacefully of disease instead of being executed in the political way.