Imperial Family of China

[ladybelline]

I just discover this thread, and first of all: thank you so much for the pictures of the Chinese Imperial family!!!!I've read many years ago the autobiography of HM Emperor Pu-Yi, called "I was the Emperor of China"...I was quite young at that time, and it's one of the things that gave me interest for Royalty!

I watched Bertolucci's"The Last Emperor" and the filmmaker definitely took some inspiration from the book, especially on the Emperor's childhood in the Forbidden city. At last with the pics if this thread, I could see what all this people (the Emperor and his wives, his family, Empress Yehonala...) looked like!!

[romuluz]

Are a any of Pu Yi's descendants still living in China now ?

[Sean.~]

Originally Posted by romuluz

Are a any of Pu Yi's descendants still living in China now ?

He had no (known) children and thus no descendants. He has siblings, who are still around in China (last I read they weren't doing too well financially), and they have descendants.

Sean

[LaPlusBelle]

Supposedly the heir is a hairdresser in Beijing, and his father (a nephew of Puyi, I think) worked as a street sweeper.

[kallgan]

Mr. Guobuluo Runqi, young brother of the last empress Wanrong.

He was husband of Emperor Pu Yi's third young sister, graduated in Japan, could speak Japanese, English and German. Now he runs a small clinic.

Pu Yi's little brother Pu Ren lives in Beijing too, one of his granddaughter works in NOKIA. Some relatives live in the US or Japan.

Most Aisin Gioro family members (I mean the close ones) are unconspicuous and keep away from media & reporters. There are some fake or distant "Aisin Gioro" in China who use this great imperial name to make money.

[kallgan]

Pu Yi's tomb, outside Xiling (Western Tombs)

I visited there with a friend from US in August. She is fan of Pu Yi and Qing Dynasty. After visited both there and Dowager Ci Xi's tomb in Dongling (Eastern Tombs), she told me she's glad to see Pu Yi rests in a small but beautiful place, with the old dowager who made his life a tragedy lying lonely in her huge, mirthless and leaking water underground palace.

[kallgan]

Originally Posted by LaPlusBelle

Supposedly the heir is a hairdresser in Beijing, and his father (a nephew of Puyi, I think) worked as a street sweeper.

No. Pu Yi's eldest nephew Jin Yu Zhang 金毓嶂 is a commie cadre, the other two are intelligentsia, one works in a college, the other is a Chinese literary teacher in high school. Maybe some of them swept streets three decades ago, but not now.

Most close members to he throne suffered a lot during the Culture Revolution, especially descents of Prince Gong the regent prince, and children of Prince Su, siblings of Yoshiko Kawashima.

[BeatrixFan]

A picture of Empress Dowager Ci-Xi from Wikipedia.



A portrait of the Empress.



These shoes are actually only 6 inches long. Ci-Xi had her feet bound at a very young age. In her later years, she took the bindings off and her feet grew a little to 7 and a half inches but 6 inches remained her "normal" size. Amazing.

[Vanesa]

Maybe am I wrong, but I read in Bernard nehr's book "The Last Emperor" that Manchou ladies had a clear advantage over Chinese ones: they wouldn't bound their feet at all. So...where is the truth? Was Cixi Chinese or Manchou? I think she was Manchou...

Vanesa.

[Royalist0007]

The last Chinese imperial dynasty were not strictly ethnic Chinese.They were from Manchuria in north-eastern China.Manchuria's native people were originally the Manchus.There is a Manchu language,but it is in danger of dying out.

Here's a link to some information about the Manchu language; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchu_language .

Aidan.

[Vanesa]

Thank you, Aidan! I knew that Chinese last dynasty was not Chinese (we should said "Han" ...this is the correct way, I think...) but Manchu, and it's just for that, that I mentioned the issue of the women feet. Since Cixi was Manchu, and not "Han" her feet must have not being bounded as Han would do. Feet boundage was a "Han" tradition, and Behr claims that Manchu ladies never adopted it. He even said that Cixi feet were naturally little and that other women were jealous of her for that.

We must add that only high society Han ladies would bound ther feet. Country and worker women wouldn't do that, for they need to go out to work and feet boundage doesn't allow people to walk properly, but balancing, as if you were handicaped or drunk...

Thank you for the link, Aidan. I didn't know very much about Manchurian language, but since 'm very interested in languages, I'm very grateful to you.

Xie xie! (Thank you in Mandarin language...I'm sorry for not being able to said it in Manchu!

Vanesa.

[Vanesa]

I wanted to add that Pu-Yi, the last Emperor of China, NEVER managed to know Manchu language. He learned it when he was little, but he always would become bored in Manchu classes and never payed attention to the teacher.

He does a very hilarious account of this issue in his interesting book "From Emperor to Citizen".

Vanesa.

[Madame Royale]

I studied the Chinese Imperial Family in the later years of my secondary education and did a dissertation on the removal of Pu Yi's power.

I find the Qing dynasty to be so interesting.

Thanks to all those who have provided the photos and information .

[BeatrixFan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9sgjr5_AJ4

Apparantly, this is a descendant of the last Emperor.

[Royalist0007]

Did any of you ever see the film 'The Last Emperor'? I saw it many years ago as a child.The Ch'ing (as it is correctly spelt in the Wade-Giles translation) Dynasty were a very fascinating dynasty.Does anyone know what became of Pu Yi's father,Prince Chun,who was the Regent from 1908 until 1912?

Aidan.

[BeatrixFan]

I love the Last Emperor film. Queen Elizabeth II was in China when they filmed the Coronation Scene and was said to be very moved by it. Prince Chun became a bit of a slave to Dowager Empress Ci-Xi who he believed was murdering those in the Imperial Palace who disagreed with her. He became a bit of a sycophant and it was whilst he was trying to please her by building her a new Palace that he died at the age of 51.

[Enrique]

How is the "Emperor" of China now??

[BeatrixFan]

Dead. He died without heir in 1967.

[Vanesa]

Yes. But when these things happens, they designs another Emperor from the Imperial Family, even if he is not the son of the former Emperor. For example, Russian Tzar was dead in 1918, but nowadays, Grand Duchess María Vladimirovna claims to be the Empress of Russia in exile. Of course, not all people agrees with it and not even the Imperial Russian Family, but this is the fact.

Chinese imperial family could have do the same, since the succesory laws there were not so rigid...

Vanesa.

[BeatrixFan]

It's possible but it really would be a case of a distant relative and even then there'd be arguments based on parentage. Remember that the Emperors had alot of concubines and there was such a complex protocol of birth that it'd be hard to prove who had the right to call themselves the Emperor or Empress in-exile. It is perhaps, a little too complex, considering that the position will never be restored.