Pu Yi

Pu-Yi

Pu-Yi (1906–67),puppet ruler of the Japanese-dominated state of Manchukuo from 1932 to 1945. Widely known as Henry, a nickname given to him by his English tutor, he had been enthroned, aged three, as Hsüan T'ung, the last emperor of China, but was deposed by the 1911 Chinese revolution. After the Japanese annexed Manchuria, and renamed it Manchukuo, he eagerly accepted an invitation to become the new state's chief executive, and then its puppet emperor. When the USSR invaded Manchukuo in August 1945 (see Japanese–Soviet campaigns) he was captured and imprisoned in Siberia. As a witness, he gave perjured evidence at the Far East war crimes trials before being returned to China in 1950 where he was again imprisoned. Satisfactorily converted to communism, he was released in 1959 and worked as a gardener in Peking's botanical gardens, and then in the department of historical archives.

Bibliography

Pu-Yi, H. , From Emperor to Citizen, The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu-Yi (Oxford, 1987).

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Pu-Yi." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Pu-Yi." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-PuYi.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Pu-Yi." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-PuYi.html

Learn more about citation styles

Pu Yi

Pu Yi or Henry Pu-yi, Manchu Aisin Gioro, 1906–67, last emperor (1908–12) of China, under the reign name Hsuan T'ung. After his abdication, the new republican government granted him a large government pension and permitted him to live in the Forbidden City of Beijing until 1924. After 1925, he lived in the Japanese concession in Tianjin. In 1934, reigning under the name K'ang Te, he became the emperor of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo , or Manchuria. He was captured by the Russians in 1945 and kept as their prisoner. In 1946, Pu Yi testified at the Tokyo war crimes trial that he had been the unwilling tool of the Japanese militarists and not, as they claimed, the instrument of Manchurian self-determination. In 1950 he was handed over to the Chinese Communists, and he was imprisoned at Shenyang until 1959, when Mao Zedong granted him amnesty.

Bibliography: See his autobiography, From Emperor to Citizen (tr. by W. J. F. Jenner, 1964–65); study by H. McAleary (1963).

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Pu Yi." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Pu Yi." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-PuYi.html

"Pu Yi." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-PuYi.html

Learn more about citation styles

Pu Yi

Pu Yi ( P'u-I) (b. 1906, d. 17 Oct. 1967). Emperor of China 1908–12 Proclaimed Emperor Hsuan T'ung at the age of 2 by his great-aunt the Dowager Empress Cixi, he was the last Emperor of China, and the last ruler of the Qing dynasty. He was forced to abdicate in 1912, though he was allowed to remain resident in the Forbidden City by the new Chinese Republic. Briefly restored by a warlord in 1917, he was forced to leave Beijing in 1924. In 1934, he accepted the Japanese offer to become Emperor of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. He was himself little more than a Japanese pawn, but served to give the state some legitimacy. He was captured by the Soviet Red Army and handed over to the People's Republic of China, where he was re-educated until 1959. He spent the remaining years of his life as a common citizen, publishing his memoirs, From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi (2 vols., 1964–5).

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

JAN PALMOWSKI. "Pu Yi." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JAN PALMOWSKI. "Pu Yi." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-PuYi.html

JAN PALMOWSKI. "Pu Yi." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-PuYi.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

CHINA: GO-AHEAD DECISION REGARDING JOINT VENTURE CONSTRUCTION OF PROPOSED...
Newspaper article from: WWP-Report on Engineering Construct &amp; Plant Operations in the Developing World; 11/1/1999
Restoring the 'Epic of Hou Yi.
Magazine article from: Asian Folklore Studies; 10/1/1995
My journey in mystic China; Old Pu's travel diary. (reprint, 1990).(Brief...
Magazine article from: Reference &amp; Research Book News; 8/1/2008

Facts and information from other sites

Pu Yi images
Pu Yi. Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)