Pu Yi: the boy who sat on the Dragon Throne

When Pu Yi was almost three, palace officials came to his home to take him from his bed. The Empress Dowager Cixi had chosen him on her deathbed to succeed her. That night in 1908, Pu Yi stopped being a boy and became Xuantong, the last Emperor of China.

What must it have been like for him? To be taken from everything that was familiar to him and be swept off into the Forbidden City, where he was, for all intents and purposes, treated like a god. To see adults falling all over themselves, kowtowing and averting their eyes every time he passed them in the hallways.

At the time of Pu Yi’s birth, the Qing Dynasty was already in decline, with the country starting to fall under the sway of foreign powers. China was ruled by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who had sent the Emperor Guangxu to prison on charges of conspiracy.

After Pu Yi ascended the Dragon Throne, his father, the Second Prince Chun, ruled as regent. By 1911, though, rebellion had swept through the country, forcing the regent to resign. On February 12, 1912, Pu Yi abdicated. At the age of five, he had already lost a kingdom.

Living in the Forbidden City

Although Pu Yi was no longer Emperor, he continued to live in the northern half of the Forbidden City, with eunuchs and his imperial court. Surrounded by adults who catered to his needs, he wouldn’t meet another child until he was seven, when his own siblings visited him. Even then, the effects of his extraordinary upbringing could be seen.

Pu Yi stayed in the Forbidden City after his abdication. (Image: Radio86)

According to an article on Royalty.nu, while the children were playing, Pu Yi suddenly became distressed at seeing what he thought was the yellow lining on his brother’s shirt. Yellow was a color reserved for the Emperor and no one else was allowed to use it. His brother had to very formally explain to the child-king that the color was apricot and not yellow.

Pu Yi’s status imposed some very rigid standards on his life. He was taken from his mother at the age of three, and he wouldn’t see her again until six years later. He was raised by four consorts of previous emperors, leading Pu Yi to observe that while he had known many mothers, he had never known motherly love.

His mother, Youlan, had little to do with bringing him up. Her role was limited to arguing with the consorts about how to properly raise Pu Yi, and after one such argument, she swallowed opium and died. Pu Yi was only 13. Pu Yi’s father saw him only rarely, visiting him every two months and staying for no more than a few minutes.

The one constant adult in his life was his wet nurse, who accompanied him to the Forbidden City when he was first taken there. She was the only familiar face among the courtiers and palace officials that littered Pu Yi’s childhood.

Pu Yi lived a life of privilege within the walls of the Forbidden City. Everywhere he went, he was followed by an entourage ready to cater to his every wish and anticipating his every need. The cooks of the household were preparing food constantly, as Pu Yi did not have any set meal times, and food had to be ready anytime he wanted to eat.

Still, his life could not compare with the earlier emperors. Where they had more than a hundred dishes to choose from every meal, Pu Yi had to content himself with just 25 dishes set on six tables – two tables for main courses, a table for vegetables and three tables for rice and cakes.

A brief return to power

When Pu Yi was 9 years old, he was restored to the Dragon Throne for all of twelve days. The warlord Zhang Xun surrounded the capital city of Peking and Pu Yi released an edict announcing he was emperor once again. On the sixth day of the restoration, three small bombs were dropped in the Forbidden City, the first ever aerial bombardment in East Asia.

Wikipedia says that the restoration did not succeed beyond July 12 because of widespread opposition in the country and the intervention of another warlord named Duan Qirui.

Pu Yi again lost the Dragon Throne, but he remained in the Forbidden City where life, as he knew it, went on.