Puyi Facts & Worksheets

The Xuantong Emperor, also known as Puyi, courtesy name Yaozhi, was the last Emperor of China and the eleventh and final ruler of the Qing dynasty.

See the fact file below for more information about Puyi, or you can download our 27-page Puyi worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

• In December 1908, Puyi became an Emperor when he was two years and ten months old. He was chosen by Empress Dowager Cixi after his half-uncle, the Guangxu Emperor, died on November 14, 1908, without an heir. 
• Puyi’s life as an emperor began when he was taken from his family mansion by palace officials.
• Puyi’s father, Prince Chun, was unaware that his son would become the new Emperor. He became aware of it when he saw a procession of enslaved people or eunuchs and guardsmen led by the palace chamberlain left the Forbidden City for the Northern Mansion to notify him.
• Wang Lianshou, Puyi’s nurse, was the sole person from the Northern Mansion permitted to accompany him.
• Puyi was carried onto the Dragon Throne by his father during his coronation in the Hall of Supreme Harmony on December 2, 1908.
• Puyi began crying as he was terrified by the scene before him and the booming sounds of ceremonial drums and music.
• For the next seven years, Puyi did not see his biological mother, Princess Consort Chun.
• He formed a particular bond with his nurse Wang and regarded her as the only person capable of controlling him. He was eight years old when she was sent away.
• Puyi was spoiled and could only be controlled by Wang; once, Puyi decided to reward an enslaved person for a well-done puppet show by having a cake cooked for him with iron filings in it.
• Puyi had to report his progress to five former imperial concubines known as his “mothers” daily. He despised his “mothers,” not least because they kept him from meeting his biological mother until he was 13 years old.
• The despotic Empress Dowager Longyu was their leader, and she successfully managed to have Puyi’s nurse Wang leave the Forbidden City (a palace complex at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing) when Puyi was eight years old.

LIFE INSIDE THE FORBIDDEN CITY

• A widespread revolt in the Yangtze River valley and beyond marked the end of the 276-year rule of the Qing dynasty, leading to the establishment of the Republic of China..
• Puyi was to keep his imperial title and be treated by the Republic of China’s administration with the protocol connected to a foreign monarch, according to the Articles of Favourable Treatment of the Great Qing Emperor after His Abdication signed with the fledgling Republic of China. 
• Puyi and the imperial court were permitted to remain in the Forbidden City’s northern portion and the Summer Palace.
• Puyi was not notified in February 1912 that his reign had ended and China had become a republic, and he continued to believe for a long time that he was still Emperor.
• When Empress Dowager Longyu died in 1913, President Yuan came to the Forbidden City to pay his condolences, which Puyi’s tutors told him signaled that significant changes were in the works. 
• Puyi soon discovered that the true purpose of the Articles of Favourable Settlement was that President Yuan Shikai intended to restore the monarchy with himself as the Emperor of a new dynasty, and he wanted Puyi to act as a sort of custodian of the Forbidden City until he could move in.
• Yuan declared himself Emperor in 1915, intending to marry his daughter to Puyi, but was forced to surrender due to widespread resistance.
• The Dowager Consorts determined in March 1922 that Puyi should marry and provided him with various images of aristocratic adolescent girls to pick from. Puyi first selected Erdet Wenxiu as his bride, but she was only fit as a concubine, so he had to rethink his decision.
• Puyi subsequently chose Gobulo Wanrong, the daughter of one of Manchuria’s wealthiest lords taught in English by American missionaries in Tianjin, as an acceptable empress by the Dowager Consorts. 
• Puyi had never met Wanrong before their wedding. 
• Puyi attempted to flee the Forbidden City on June 4, 1922, intending to publish an open letter to the people of China relinquishing the title of Emperor before departing for Oxford.
• The escape plan was thwarted when Sir Reginald Johnston, Puyi’s tutor, vetoed it and refused to summon a taxi, and Puyi was too terrified to live on the streets of Peking alone. 
• Puyi married Princess Wanrong on October 21, 1922, with betrothal presents of 18 lambs, 40 pieces of satin, two horses, and 80 rolls of linen marched from the Forbidden City to Wanrong’s residence, accompanied by court musicians and troops. 
• A vast procession of palace guardsmen, enslaved people, and musicians escorted Princess Wanrong in a scarlet sedan chair dubbed the Phoenix Chair inside the Forbidden City, where Puyi sat upon the Dragon Throne, following Manchu traditions where marriages were held under moonlight for good luck.

EXPULSION FROM THE FORBIDDEN CITY

• A coup led by warlord Feng Yuxiang gained control of Peking on October 23, 1924. Feng, the most recent warlord to conquer Peking, was looking for legitimacy and felt that repealing the unpopular Articles of Favourable Settlement would be an easy way to gain popular support.
• On November 5, 1924, Feng unilaterally altered the Articles of Favourable Treatment, removing Puyi’s imperial title and privileges and lowering him to the status of a private citizen of the Republic of China. The same day, Puyi was ejected from the Forbidden City.
• He spent a few days at his father’s mansion, Prince Chun’s, before briefly relocating to the Japanese embassy in Peking. Puyi crept out of his father’s house with Johnston and Puyi’s chief servant, Big Li, without informing Prince Chun’s servants and made his way to the Japanese legation.
• Puyi had wished to go to the British Legation, but Johnston, a Japanophile, was convinced that he would be safer with the Japanese. For Johnston, the Japanese system of worshiping their Emperor as a living god was far more ideal than the British constitutional monarchy, and he consistently led Puyi in a pro-Japanese path. 
• However, Johnston attempted to persuade the British diplomatic legation in Peking to host Puyi, and while the British authorities were not eager to welcome the former Emperor, the British ambassador eventually agreed.
• Lu Zongyu, Puyi’s adviser,  who was secretly working for the Japanese, suggested that Puyi relocate to Tianjin, claiming it was safer than Peking. On the other hand, the Japanese felt Puyi would be easier to control if he stayed in Tianjin.

PUYI IN TIANJIN

• Puyi went to Tianjin’s Japanese Concession in February 1925, first to the Chang Garden and then, in 1929, to the Garden of Serenity, the old mansion of Lu Zongyu. Tianjin was the most cosmopolitan Chinese city after Shanghai, with sizable British, French, German, Russian, and Japanese communities. 
• Puyi was allowed to attend social clubs that traditionally only admitted whites as an emperor. Puyi and his aides Chen Baochen, Zheng Xiaoxu, and Luo Zhenyu discussed strategies to reinstall Puyi as Emperor. 
• Zheng and Luo supported enlisting outside help, although Chen opposed the concept.
• Puyi’s court was prone to factionalism, and his counselors persuaded him to back numerous warlords, gaining him a reputation for deception as he negotiated with several warlords, worsening his relations with Marshal Zhang. 
• Puyi was plagued by visitors begging for money during his tenure in Tianjin, including various members of the vast Qing family, elderly Manchu bannermen, and writers eager to write articles calling for a Qing restoration of the rights.
• During this time, Puyi’s first wife, Wanrong, continued to consume opium recreationally. Their marriage began to deteriorate as they spent more and more time apart, only meeting for meals.

PUPPET RULER OF MANCHUKUO

• Puyi accepted the Japanese offer and was appointed the Chief Executive of Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Imperial Japanese Empire, on March 1, 1932, under the reign title Datong. Wen Yuan-ning, a contemporary critic, remarked that Puyi had now earned the unpleasant distinction of being made Emperor three times without knowing why and apparently without relishing it.
• Puyi felt that Manchukuo was only the beginning and that he would reign as Emperor of China again within a few years, having the yellow imperial dragon robes used to crown Qing emperors brought from Peking to Changchun.
• At the time, Japanese propaganda portrayed the founding of Manchukuo as a Pan-Asian success, with the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Manchus, and Mongols uniting to form what was billed as the birth of a new civilization and a watershed moment in human history.
• The Emperor of Japan wanted to see if Puyi was trustworthy before bestowing an imperial title on him, and it was in October 1933 that General Doihara informed him that he would be an emperor once more. Puyi was portrayed as having freed the people from the chaos of the Zhang family’s control.
• Manchukuo was later declared a constitutional monarchy in 1934, though very little changed in the functioning of the government. 

LATER LIFE

• Puyi testified at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo in 1946, detailing his dissatisfaction with how the Japanese treated him. 
• During the proceedings in Tokyo, Puyi had a lengthy exchange of debate with defense counsel Major Ben Bruce Blakeney about whether he had been kidnapped in 1931 or not. Later on, Puyi stated that what Johnston wrote in his book Twilight in the Forbidden City was all lies. 
• When the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong took power in 1949, Puyi was repatriated to China following negotiations between the Soviet Union and China. 
• Puyi served ten years in the Fushun War Criminals Prison in Liaoning province, save for a brief stint during the Korean War when he was transferred to Harbin before being declared reformed. Senior Japanese, Manchukuo, and Kuomintang leaders and officers were among those imprisoned at Fushun.
• Puyi arrived in Peking on December 9, 1959, with special authorization from Mao. He resided in a regular Peking apartment with his sister for six months until he was transferred to a government-sponsored hotel. 
• At 56, Puyi married Li Shuxian, a hospital nurse, in a ceremony performed at the Consultative Conference’s Banquet Hall on April 30, 1962. He worked as an editor for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’s literary department from 1964 until his death, earning roughly 100 yuan monthly.

Puyi Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Puyi across 25 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Puyi. The Xuantong Emperor, also known as Puyi, courtesy name Yaozhi, was the last Emperor of China and the eleventh and final ruler of the Qing dynasty.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Puyi Facts
2. Short Bio
3. Yes or No?
4. Puyi in your Eyes
5. Puyi’s Journey
6. What is Your Emoji?
7. About Puyi 
8. Behind a Picture
9. Media Star
10. You Think So?
11. Significance

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Puyi?

Puyi, born on February 7, 1906, was the last Emperor of China. He ascended the throne at the age of two in 1908 after the abdication of his uncle, Guangxu, but his reign was short-lived due to the revolution that led to the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912.

What happened to Puyi after the abdication of the Qing Dynasty?

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi continued to live in the Forbidden City in Beijing for a brief period. However, in 1924, he was expelled by warlord Feng Yuxiang, leading to the end of his royal lifestyle. Puyi then lived in Tianjin, and later, he became a puppet emperor under the Japanese during their occupation of Manchuria.

What was Puyi’s role during the Japanese occupation?

Puyi was installed as the puppet emperor of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, in 1934. He reigned under Japanese control until the end of World War II in 1945. After Japan’s defeat, Puyi was captured by the Soviet Union and later handed over to the Chinese Communists.

What happened to Puyi after the Chinese Communists came to power?

Puyi was imprisoned by the Chinese Communists for several years. In 1959, the Chinese government declared him rehabilitated, and he was released. Puyi worked as a gardener in Beijing and later as a librarian. He was eventually fully pardoned by the Chinese government.

Is Puyi featured in any famous films or books?

Yes, Puyi’s life was depicted in the autobiography “From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi” which was later adapted into the film “The Last Emperor” directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film won nine Academy Awards in 1988, including Best Picture and Best Director, and brought international attention to Puyi’s intriguing life story.

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