My Half Life - [Full Text]

Author: Aisin Gioro Puyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This is the memoir of China's last emperor, Aisin Gioro Puyi. The book narrates in chronological order, starting with an introduction to his family background, then sequentially covering major life segments such as childhood, reign, exile, and reform. The language is accessible, the storyline compelling, and it is suitable for readers interested in the life of the last emperor. In the annals of Chinese and world history, he is the only example of a former "Son of Heaven" who was transformed into an ordinary citizen. He has a tumultuous and and a. As a result, his works have attracted worldwide attention and remain bestsellers. On the 14th day of the first lunar month in the 32nd year of the Guangxu reign (1906), I was born in the of the Qing Dynasty. My grandfather Yixuan was the seventh son of Emperor Daoguang's Wenning and the Qing Dynasty's successor as Prince Chun. After his death, he was posthumously honored as "Wise," hence later known as Prince Chun Xian. My father Zaifeng was the fifth son of my grandfather. Due to the early deaths of the second and third and fourth sons, Zaohuo was taken to the palace by his aunt, Empress Dowager Cixi, to become emperor (reigning as Guangxu). Therefore, after my grandfather's death, my father inherited the title of Prince Chun, becoming the second and last Prince Chun. I was the eldest son of the second Prince Chun. On the 20th day of the tenth lunar month of my third year, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fell seriously ill, and she suddenly decided to appoint me as the heir to Emperor Guangxu, succeeding him and also inheriting the throne of Emperor Tongzhi (Zaijun, Cixi's biological son, and Zaohuo's cousin). Two days after I entered the palace, Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi. On the second day of the twelfth lunar month, I ascended the throne—becoming the tenth and last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, with the reign title Xuantong. In the third year of the Xuantong reign, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, and I abdicated. My memories begin only after my abdication. However, to narrate the first half of my life, it is clearer to start with my grandfather and the, my ancestral home. The once occupied three locations in Beijing. In the 10th year of the Xianfeng reign, the 19-year-old Prince Chun Yixuan was ordered to marry the younger sister of the Imperial Concubine Yihe Nala and, according to custom, was required to move out of the palace first. The mansion he was granted was located on the eastern shore of Taihu Lake within the Xuanwu Gate, now the site of the Central Conservatory of Music. This was the first Prince Chun Mansion. Later, when Zaohuo became emperor, following the precedent of the Yongzheng era, the "birthplace of the emperor" () was either elevated to a palace, left vacant, or converted into a temple like the Yonghe Palace (which was originally the residence of Emperor Yongzheng before his accession) to house Buddhist statues. To this "," Empress Dowager Cixi granted a Beizi Mansion in Shichahai to Prince Chun and allocated 1.6 million taels of silver to renovate it. This was the second Prince Chun Mansion, also known as the "North Mansion" by locals. After I became emperor, my father became the Regent, providing an additional reason for moving. Thus, Empress Longyu (the empress consort of Emperor Guangxu, the niece of Empress Dowager Cixi and my grandmother) decided to build a new mansion for my father. This third mansion was located in the Jilin Garden area of the Three Seas (Nanshan) in Xiyuan. However, while the construction was underway, the Wuchang Uprising erupted, bringing an end to the third Prince Chun Mansion, the twice "" status, and the once-reign of the Regent, all alongside the history of the Qing Dynasty. In the darkest years of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi brought prosperity to the, and the Prince Chun family served her as loyal subjects for half a century. My grandfather devoted his life to her loyalty. My grandfather's biological mother was the Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangshun of Daoguang, born in the 22nd year of the Daoguang reign and died in the 16th year of the Guangxu reign. Turning to the imperial genealogy "Yuelu," Prince Chun Xian Yixuan, during the 11 years of his brother the Xianfeng Emperor's reign, apart from being enfeoffed as Prince Chun at the age of 10 when the Xianfeng Emperor ascended the throne, he did not receive any notable "merits" from the emperor. However, in the six months after the Xianfeng Emperor's death, when the title of Empress Dowager Cixi first appeared,