Aisin Gioro Puyi, or more properly Qing Emperor Xuantong, was not only the last Qing emperor out of twelve; he was also the last emperor in China's entire history (ignoring an ill-fated, three-month attempt by Yuan Shikai in 1916). He abdicated on 10 October 1911 ('Double-Tenth' day) to enable the announcement of China as a republic under her first president, Dr. Sun Zhongshan -in the West better known as Sun Yatsen.
Puyi stayed in The Forbidden City with his wife, Wan Rong, and concubine until he was finally expelled by republican troops in 1924. He fled to Tianjin from where he made innumerous attempts to reinstate the Qing dynasty. In Puyi's mind he remained emperor of China and he harbored a strong sense of obligation towards his ancestors to bring back the Qing empire, which he felt he had shamefully "lost".
The Japanese took advantage of Puyi's ambitions in the period 1934-1945 by making him emperor of the puppet empire, Manchukuo, covering mostly the area of Manchuria. He reigned from a hastily built modern palace in Changchun, but was in reality merely fronting for Japan.
In
1945 he was captured by the Russians and spent five years in detention
in Chia and Khabarovsk until he was returned to China on August 1,
1950. After nine years in a reeducation camp in Fushun he was pardoned
on December 4, 1959, finally a free man and no longer emperor. He
spent the rest of his life as a gardener at Beijing Botannical Garden
and later as a literary and historical worker for the Historical
Material Commission. Puyi died from cancer on October 16, 1967.
To avoid any possibility of rekindling imperial sentiments the leaders of the republic denied Puyi an imperial funeral. Instead he was cremated and his ashes were unceremoniously placed in the revolutionary cemetery at Babaoshan in Beijing, where they would remain till 1995.
Enter the tale of Hong Kong entrepreneur Zhang Shiyi, who came up with the innovative idea of opening a common cemetery next to the Western Qing Tombs. To entice customers into buying a plot of land in this fengshui perfect location he convinced Puyi's last wife, Li Shuxian, to relocate Puyi's ashes to the new cemetery.
Li Shuxian recalls how Puyi on his dead bed begged her to bury him at the side of his adoptive father, Qing emperor Guang Xu, along with Li and Tan Yuling, his true love from 1939. The location part of this wish was now finally granted in 1995 as Guang Xu's mausoleum is only some 300 meters away.
Puyi's tomb totally lacks any of the splendor of imperial Qing tombs. It sits on a relatively modest plot of land marked by a marble tablet inscribed with his name. Lion topped columns flank the tomb on both sides. Inexplicably, however, the inscription reads that Puyi was born 1906 whereas in the public domain he is always listed as having been born 1905 ??
A small mausoleum has been erected just east of his tomb. It is a three-sided yard area with a circular entrance to the south, a memorial hall at the north end and a covered walkway to the west. The structures are single eaved with dark blue tiled roofs and kept in white color, the Chinese color for sorrow and mourning.
The cemetery lies in a quiet and secluded area and no particular markings lead you to Puyi's tomb. You have to find it yourself between the pine trees at the higher end of the site. From his tomb you can enjoy an unhindered view of the valley and surrounding hills.