Puyi
Aisin Gioro Puyi was the last emperor of China's feudal dynasty.
Born in 1906, Puyi was the nephew of the Emperor Guangxu. Following his uncle and the Empress Dowager Cixi's death, he ascended the throne in December 1908 at no more than three years of age. He was then given the title of Emperor Xuantong in the following year.
In October 1911, the Wuchang Uprising took place and spread throughout the country, culminating in the Qing government's announcement of Puyi's abdication on December 12, 1912. This marked the end of theQing Dynasty, which had governed China for more than 260 years, as well as the end of China's 2,000-year-old feudal system.
Puyi tried to get back to his throne several times in the following years without much success. After the 9/18 Incident in 1931, Puyi went to northeast China and was installed by the Japanese in the following March as the ruler of Manchukuo, considered by most historians as a puppet state of imperial Japan. He was later officially named as emperor of Manchukuo in March 1934. However, after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, Puyi was arrested by the Russian Army when trying to escape to Japan on August 17 of the same year. He was transferred to the government of China in August 1950 and released on December 4, 1959, by the Supreme People's Court according to a special pardon. In 1964, Puyi was elected to be a member of the fourth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the political advisory body in the country, and the commissioner of the CPPCC's Cultural and Historical Data Research Committee.
Puyi published his autobiography "From Emperor to Citizen" and then married Li Shuxian on April 30, 1962. Puyi was later afflicted with cancer and died on October 17, 1967, at the age of 60.
