In the Forbidden City Pu Yi received an uneven education. He studied classics, history and poetry, but learned no math, geography or science. His lessons were in Chinese and Manchu. At age 13 he started studying English.
A senior official Reginald Johnston of the British Colonial Officewas Pu Yi's English tutor.
Puyi ruled as the Xuantong Emperor from 1908 until his abdication on 12 February 1912. From 1 to 12 July 1917 he was briefly restored to the throne as a nominal emperor by the warlord Zhang Xun. In 1934 he was declared the Kangde Emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo by the Empire of Japan, and he ruled until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945. After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, Puyi was a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1964 until his death in 1967.
Puyi's abdication in 1912 marked the end of millennia of dynastic rule in China and thus he is known throughout the world by the sobriquet "The Last Emperor".
In imperial China, Confucianism was the state religion, Confucianism basically teaches that everything has it's correct place within the fabric of reality. It also teaches that one must govern their subjects by example, not by force of law. It teaches that if one sets a good example, others will follow.
He was a supporter of the monarchy. But when the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong came to power in 1949,he voiced his support for the Communists.
Quotations:
My father had two wives, and they bore him four sons and seven daughters.
I now feel very ashamed of my testimony, as I withheld some of what I knew to protect myself from being punished by my country. I said nothing about my secret collaboration with the Japanese imperialists over a long period, an association to which my open capitulation after September 18, 1931 was but the conclusion. Instead, I spoke only of the way the Japanese had put pressure on me and forced me to do their will.
I maintained that I had not betrayed my country but had been kidnapped; denied all my collaboration with the Japanese; and even claimed that the letter I had written to Jirō Minami was a fake.[28] I covered up my crimes in order to protect myself.
The first wife was Wenxiu. Puyi's second choice for his wife was Wanrong, a Daur. She married Puyi in 1922 and became his Empress. Puyi's third wife, Tan Yuling, was a Manchu of the Tatara (他他拉) clan. She married Puyi in 1937 at the age of 16 on the recommendation of the daughter of Yulang (毓朗), a beile. In 1943 Puyi married his fourth wife, a 15-year-old student named Li Yuqin, who was a Han Chinese from Changchun, Jilin. In 1962 under an arrangement with premier Zhou Enlai, Puyi married his fifth and last wife, Li Shuxian, a nurse of Han Chinese ethnicity. They had no children. She died of lung cancer in 1997.
Pujie (1907–1994), Puyi's only full brother, courtesy name Junzhi He had a minor role in the government of Manchukuo..
Puqi (1915–1918), died before he turned three years old.
Puren (b. 1918), changed his name to Jin Youzhi. He married Jin Yuting and had three sons and two daughters.
Yunying (1909–1925), married Empress Wanrong's older brother Runliang, had no children.
Yunhe (1911–2001), changed her name to Jin Xinru . She married Zheng Guangyuan and had a son and three daughters.
Yunying (1913–1992), changed her name to Jin Ruixiu , English name Lily. She married Empress Wanrong's younger brother Runqi and had two sons and a daughter.
Yunxian (1914–2003), changed her name to Jin Yunxian . She married Zhao Qifan and had a son and a daughter.
Yunxing (1917–1998), changed her name to Jin Ruijie . She married Wan Jiaxi and had three sons and a daughter.
Yunyu (1919–1982), changed her name to Pu Yunyu, courtesy name Ruile. She married Wanyan Ailan and had a son and four daughters.
Yunhuan (1921–2004), infant name Ji, changed her name to Jin Zhijian, courtesy name Ruihan, pseudonym Biyue. She married Qiao Hongzhi and had two sons and a daughter.
Lady Gobulo, Empress Xiaokemin (1906 – 1946), was the empress of Puyi. She became empress of the puppet state of Manchukuo when Puyi was installed as its nominal ruler during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Wenxiu (1909 - 1953), also known as Consort Shu, was a concubine of Puyi. She was from the Mongol Erdet clan and her family was under the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Eight Banners.
Tan Yuling (1920 - 1942), born Tatara Yuling, was a concubine of China's last emperor Puyi. She married Puyi when the latter was the nominal emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Li Yuqin (1928 - 2001), sometimes referred to as the "Last Imperial Concubine", was the fourth wife of China's last emperor Puyi. She married Puyi when the latter was the nominal ruler of Manchukuo.
Li Shuxian (1925 – 1997) was the fifth and last wife of Puyi. She was a Han Chinese and a former hospital worker.
