Editing Puyi (section)

== Childhood and reign (1908–1912) ==
[[File:Chinese child, Emperor PU-YI LCCN2014686335 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Puyi in 1908|upright=0.8]]
Puyi was born on 7 February 1906 in Beijing, then called [[Names of Beijing|Beiping]]. His father was [[Zaifeng, Prince Chun|Zaifeng]], the [[Prince Chun (created 1872)|Prince Chun]].<ref>{{Cite dictionary |last=Song |first=Yuwu |entry=Aisin Ghiorroh Pu Yi |dictionary=Biographical Dictionary of the People's Republic of China |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4766-0298-1 |pages=7–8}}</ref> Zaifeng was a [[Manchu people|Manchu]] prince<ref>{{cite book |last=Wang |first=Wensheng |chapter=Diplomatic Encounters Between Qing China and the West|title=Unconquered States: Non-European Powers in the Imperial Age |editor-last1=Chehabi |editor-first1=H. E.|editor-last2=Motadel |editor-first2=David |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9780198863298 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pj8zEQAAQBAJ |page=241}}</ref> His great-grandfather was the [[Daoguang Emperor]], his great-uncle was the [[Xianfeng Emperor]], and his grandfather was [[Yixuan, Prince Chun|Yixuan]], the first person to hold the title of Prince Chun. Puyi's uncle, the [[Guangxu Emperor]], was Puyi's immediate predecessor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tan|first=Koon San|title=Dynastic China: An Elementary History|location=Kuala Lumpur|publisher=The Other Press|date=2014|isbn=9789839541885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnCMBAAAQBAJ|page=453, n. 235}}</ref>

Puyi's mother was [[Youlan (Gūwalgiya)|Youlan]], of the Manchu [[Eight Banners|Plain White Banner]] [[Gūwalgiya|Gūwalgiya clan]]. Her father was [[Ronglu]], who held the minor rank of ''[[Non-European royal and noble ranks#Non-imperial family|Qiduyu]]'' in the nobility.<ref name=changyihuan>{{cite dictionary|last=Chang|first=Chao-ying|title=Eminent Chinese of the Qing Period: 1644-1911/2 |chapter=Ronglu|dictionary=Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644-1912|editor-last=Hummel|editor-first=Arthur W.|publisher=Ch'eng Wen |date=1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ge9DwAAQBAJ|pages=509–510, 513|isbn=978-1-61472-849-8 }}</ref> He held a number of important positions in the government, including [[Ministry of War (imperial China)|Minister of War]] and [[Grand Council (Qing dynasty)|Chief Grand Councillor]] (1895–1898).<ref name=changyihuan /> He was also commandant of the [[Peking Field Force]] (1870–1879) and Beiping Police (1877–1879), a lieutenant-general of the Plain White Banner (1887), and chamberlain of the Imperial Bodyguard (1888). In 1895, he founded the [[New Army|Army of North China]], the dominant military force in China until 1927.<ref name=changyihuan /> Zaifeng married Youlan in 1902.{{sfn|Chang|1970|p=766}}

Chosen by [[Empress Dowager Cixi]],<ref name="Politics in China: An Introduction">{{cite book |last=Joseph |first=William A. |title=Politics in China: An Introduction |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533531-6 |page=45}}</ref> Puyi became emperor at the age of 2&nbsp;years and 10&nbsp;months in December&nbsp;1908 after the [[Guangxu Emperor]], Puyi's half-uncle, died childless on 14&nbsp;November. Titled the Xuantong Emperor, Puyi's introduction to the life of an emperor began when palace officials arrived at his family residence to take him. On the evening of 13&nbsp;November, without any advance notice, a procession of [[Eunuchs in China#Qing dynasty|eunuchs]] and guardsmen led by the palace chamberlain left the Forbidden City for the [[Prince Chun Mansion|Northern Mansion]] to inform [[Zaifeng, Prince Chun|Prince Chun]] that they were taking away his two-year-old son Puyi to be the new emperor. The toddler Puyi screamed and resisted as the officials ordered the eunuch attendants to pick him up. Puyi's parents said nothing when they learned that they were losing their son. As Puyi wept, screaming that he did not want to leave his parents, he was forced into a [[palanquin]] that took him to the Forbidden City.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=63, 80}} [[Wang Lianshou]], Puyi's [[wet nurse]], was the only person from the Northern Mansion allowed to go with him.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=62–65}} Upon arriving at the Forbidden City, Puyi was taken to see Cixi.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=65}} Puyi later wrote:

{{blockquote|I still have a dim recollection of this meeting, the shock of which left a deep impression on my memory. I remember suddenly finding myself surrounded by strangers, while before me was hung a drab curtain through which I could see an emaciated and terrifying hideous face. This was Cixi. It is said that I burst out into loud howls at the sight and started to tremble uncontrollably. Cixi told someone to give me some sweets, but I threw them on the floor and yelled "I want nanny, I want nanny", to her great displeasure. "What a naughty child", she said. "Take him away to play."{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=65}}}}

Cixi died on 15&nbsp;November, less than two days after the meeting. Puyi's father, Prince Chun, became Prince Regent. During Puyi's coronation in the [[Hall of Supreme Harmony]] on 2&nbsp;December 1908, the young emperor was carried onto the [[Dragon Throne]] by his father. Puyi was frightened by the scene before him and the deafening sounds of ceremonial drums and music, and started crying. His father could do nothing except quietly comfort him: "Don't cry, it'll be over soon."{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=65–66}} Puyi wrote in his autobiography:

{{blockquote|Two days after I entered the palace [Cixi] died, and on December 2, the “Great Ceremony of Enthronement” took place, a ceremony that I ruined with my crying.{{sfnp|Puyi|Jenner|1999|p=32}}}}

Puyi did not see his biological mother, [[Gūwalgiya Youlan|Princess Consort Chun]], for the next seven years. He developed a special bond with Wang and credited her as the only person who could control him. She was sent away when he was eight years old. After Puyi married, he would occasionally bring her to the Forbidden City, and later [[Manchukuo]], to visit him.{{sfnp|Puyi|Kramer|Tsai|1987|pp=70–76}}

Growing up with scarcely any memory of a time when he was not indulged and revered, Puyi quickly became spoiled. The adults in his life, except for Wang, were all strangers, remote, distant, and unable to discipline him. Wherever he went, grown men would kneel down in a ritual [[kowtow]], averting their eyes until he passed. Soon he discovered the absolute power he wielded over the eunuchs, and he frequently had them beaten for small transgressions. As an emperor, Puyi's every whim was catered to while no one ever said no to him, making him into a sadistic boy who loved to have his eunuchs flogged or forced to eat dirt.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=74–75}} The Anglo-French journalist [[Edward Behr (journalist)|Edward Behr]] wrote about Puyi's power as emperor of China, which allowed him to fire his air-gun at anyone he liked:

{{blockquote|The Emperor was Divine. He could not be remonstrated with, or punished. He could only be deferentially advised against ill-treating innocent eunuchs, and if he chose to fire air-gun pellets at them, that was his prerogative.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=74–75}}}}

Puyi later said, "Flogging eunuchs was part of my daily routine. My cruelty and love of wielding power were already too firmly set for persuasion to have any effect on me."{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=74}}

Wang was the only person capable of controlling Puyi; once, Puyi decided to "reward" a eunuch for a well-done puppet show by having a cake baked for him with iron filings in it, saying, "I want to see what he looks like when he eats it". With much difficulty, Wang talked Puyi out of this plan.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=74}}

Every day, Puyi had to visit five former imperial concubines, called his "mothers", to report on his progress. He hated his "mothers", not least because they prevented him from seeing his real mother until he was 13. Their leader was the autocratic [[Empress Dowager Longyu]], who successfully conspired to have Puyi's beloved wet nurse Wang expelled from the Forbidden City when he was 8 on the grounds that Puyi was too old to be breast-fed. Puyi especially hated Longyu for that. Puyi later wrote, "Although I had many mothers, I never knew any motherly love."{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=76}} Empress dowager Longyu ruled with paramount authority over the Qing imperial court, and though she was not the de jure "regent", she was the de facto ruler of the Qing empire.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=75–76}}

[[File:1 dragon dollar Qing dynasty - 1911.png|thumb|upright=1|Silver 1 yuan coin from the third year of Puyi's reign]]
Puyi had a standard [[Confucian]] education, being taught the various [[Chinese classics]] and nothing else.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=78}} He later wrote: "I learnt nothing of mathematics, let alone science, and for a long time I had no idea where Peking was situated".{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=78}} When Puyi was 13, he met his parents and siblings, all of whom had to kowtow before him as he sat upon the Dragon Throne. By this time, he had forgotten what his mother looked like. Such was the awe in which the emperor was held that his younger brother [[Pujie]] never heard his parents refer to Puyi as "your elder brother" but only as "The Emperor".{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=79}} Pujie told Behr his image of Puyi prior to meeting him was that of "a venerable old man with a beard. I couldn't believe it when I saw this boy in yellow robes sitting solemnly on the throne".{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=79}} Although Puyi could see his family, this happened rarely, and always under the stifling rules of imperial etiquette. The consequence was that the relationship of the emperor with his parents was distant and he found himself more attached to his nurse, Miss Wang (who had accompanied him to the Forbidden City). Later, Puyi began to receive visits from his brothers and cousins, who provided a certain air of normality to his unique childhood.{{sfnp|Puyi|Jenner|1999|p=32}}

=== Eunuchs and the Household Department ===
[[File:China Under Empress Dowager (1914, p 039).jpg|left|thumb|[[Prince Chun (醇)|Prince Chun]] with his two sons, Puyi (standing) and Pujie]]
Separated from his family, Puyi lived his childhood in a regime of virtual seclusion in the Forbidden City, surrounded by guards, eunuchs and other servants who treated him like a god. The emperor's upbringing was a mixture of pampering and mistreatment, as he was required to follow all the rules of rigid Chinese imperial protocol and was unable to behave like a normal child.{{sfnp|Puyi|Jenner|1999|pp=29–74}}

The eunuchs were virtual slaves who did all the work in the Forbidden City, such as cooking, gardening, cleaning, entertaining guests, and the bureaucratic work needed to govern a vast empire. They also served as the emperor's advisers. The Forbidden City was full of treasures that the eunuchs constantly stole and sold on the black market. The business of government and of providing for the emperor created further opportunities for corruption, in which virtually all the eunuchs engaged.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=72–73}}

Puyi never had any privacy and had all his needs attended to at all times, having eunuchs open doors for him, dress him, wash him, and even blow air into his soup to cool it. At his meals, Puyi was always presented with a huge buffet containing every conceivable dish, the vast majority of which he did not eat, and every day he wore new clothing, as Chinese emperors never reused their clothing.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|pp=77–78}}

After his wedding, Puyi began to take control of the palace. He described "an orgy of looting" taking place that involved "everyone from the highest to the lowest". According to Puyi, by the end of his wedding ceremony, the pearls and jade in the empress's crown had been stolen.{{sfnp|Puyi|Kramer|Tsai|1987|p=132}} Locks were broken, areas ransacked. Puyi's next plan of action was to reform the Household Department. In this period, he brought in more outsiders to replace the traditional aristocratic officers to improve accountability. He appointed [[Zheng Xiaoxu]] as minister of Household Department, and Zheng Xiaoxu hired [[Tong Jixu]], a former Air Force officer from the [[Beiyang Army]], as his chief of staff to help with the reforms. But on 27&nbsp;June 1923, a fire destroyed the area around the Palace of Established Happiness, just at the moment when the emperor had ordered to carry out the inventory of one of the imperial warehouses. Puyi suspected it was arson to cover theft. The emperor overheard conversations among the eunuchs that made him fear for his life. In response, a month after the fire, he evicted the eunuchs from the palace with the support of the Beiyang Army. The reform efforts did not last long before Puyi was forced out of the Forbidden City by [[Feng Yuxiang]].{{sfnp|Puyi|Kramer|Tsai|1987|pp=137–142}}

=== Abdication ===
{{See also|Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor}}
On 10 October 1911, [[Wuchang Uprising|the army garrison in Wuhan mutinied]], sparking a widespread revolt in the Yangtze river valley and beyond, demanding the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, which had ruled China since 1644. The strongman general [[Yuan Shikai]] was dispatched by the court to crush the revolution, but was unable to, as by 1911 public opinion had turned decisively against the Qing, and many Chinese had no wish to fight for a dynasty that was seen as having lost the [[mandate of heaven]].{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=68}} Puyi's father, [[Zaifeng, Prince Chun|Prince Chun]], served as a regent until 6 December, when [[Empress Dowager Longyu]] took over following the [[Xinhai Revolution]].<ref name="The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions">{{cite book |last=Rawski |first=Evelyn S. |title=The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions |year=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22837-5 |pages=136, 287}}</ref>

Empress Dowager Longyu endorsed the "[[Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor]]" on 12 February 1912, under a deal brokered by Yuan, now [[Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet|Prime Minister]], with the imperial court in Beijing and the Republicans in southern China.<ref name="Manchus & Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928">{{cite book |last=Rhoads |first=Edward J. M. |title=Manchus & Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928 |year=2001 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-98040-9 |pages=226–227}}</ref> Puyi recalled in his autobiography the meeting between Longyu and Yuan:

{{blockquote|The Dowager Empress was sitting on a kang [platform] in a side room of the Mind Nature Palace, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief as a fat old man [Yuan] knelt before her on a red cushion, tears streaming down his face. I was sitting to the right of the widow and wondering why both adults were crying. There was no one in the room other than the three of us and everything was very quiet; the fat man snorted as he spoke and I couldn't understand what he was saying... This was the time when Yuan directly raised the question of abdication.{{sfnp|Behr|1987|p=69}}}}