Imperial Family of China


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The Emperor of China

Who is the current pretender to the throne of China ?
 
Who is the current pretender to the throne of China ?

The current pretender to the throne of China is Heng Zhen (a son of Yu Yan, a nephew of Pu Yi and his designated heir) who is a descendent of the 5th son of Emperor Dao Guang, Yi Cong, Prince Dun (Pu Yi's uncle)
 
Film of Pu Yi's State Visit to Japan

At the 1997 Yamagata Japanese film festival they screened a rather rare black and white silent film documenting the State Visit of Pu Yi (Emperor of Manchukuo) to Japan in 1935.

Here's the link:-
YIDFF: Past Festivals: '97: Screening List

I e-mailed them inquiring whether it was possible to get a copy of this on DVD (for private use), and they were very accommodating, my copy arrived just a couple of weeks later (cost was 5000 Yen). Anyway, it's a pretty amazing document. You get to see Pu Yi being greeted by Emperor Hirohito upon his arrival in Japan, and attending various official functions.

This must have been one of very few occasions when Pu Yi was captured on film whilst still an Emperor. Highly recommended!
PuYi8.jpg
 
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You can watch the beginning of the Chinese movie "The Last Emperor - Pu Yi's Latter Life" (1986) on youtube:-

YouTube - The Last Emperor (Pu Yi's Latter Life) - rare Chinese film

Please note that this is NOT the famous "Last Emperor" movie by Bernardo Bertolucci, but rather a Chinese production directed by Lee Han Hsiang. It has been out-of-print for some time, fortunately I was able to acquire a used copy with a little effort.
 
Perhaps Visitors to this site would like to visit the Polish royalty site. I just posted an artical covering some of these facts. "How did tiny Lithuania become such a powerful country"? Please, check my facts I am writing from memory and any criticism you might give would be welcomed. Thank you Chaz
 
Do you know what happened with the last empress of China, Wanrong? I have heard that she dead in 1946!

Regards!
 
Who is the current pretender to the throne of China ?

The current pretender to the throne of China is Heng Zhen (a son of Yu Yan, a nephew of Pu Yi and his designated heir) who is a descendent of the 5th son of Emperor Dao Guang, Yi Cong, Prince Dun (Pu Yi's uncle)

Fascinating history!!!I will try and retrieve as much Imperial sites-history as possible during my visit to Beijing end of next month.
I very much look forward to that.I will stroll to every corner of the Forbidden City,for days,as it is so huge:)....

Meanwhile,China is celebrating it's 60th anniversary of communist rule.I am anti,I was at least for the way they practised it during Mao,now I think they are clever people,our Chinese friends,by introducing all we here take for granted slowly,little by little and it has become one of the most prosperous,Beijing's and Hong Kong's shopping areas make Fifth Avenue look like cinderella village,and Shanghai is of a different order all together.Must say,one might not agree on this that or another thing,but how does one handle 1.6 BILLION people?I honestly wouldn't know,so it is easy to critisize,and not giving an alternative.I'm very happy that there is colour back in the streets,clotheswise,it used to be all different shades of dark blue during Mao,awfull.

Tian'anmen Square:

http://www.royalimages.nl/search.pp?mailingid=15369&flush=1

courtesy royalimages
 
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Wanrong

Do you know what happened with the last empress of China, Wanrong? I have heard that she dead in 1946!

Regards!
From 28-year-old be labeled a "Lenggong" until the age of 40 died, and Wanrong had that day were not as good as a ghost.Her real cause of death was not a "death", but the depletion of physical consumption, popular or even a little can be said to be "starved to death.
 
Yes, she died in 延吉监狱/Yanji Prison, I believe from malnutrition and probably opium withdrawal.
 
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It is even more impressive and humbling in real then one would have expected,the Forbidden City,from Wumen and the Hall of Supreme Harmony to the utmost corner with the Well of the concubine Zhen who was drowned there by the eunuch Cui under the personal supervision of the Dowager-Empress Cixi as they insist there....,the Palace of Mental Cultivation to the three story opera Pavillion.I wandered through every courtyard,hall and path in the Imperial Garden...the Imperial Tea pavillion and the Imperial Palace Museum shop(s) ......

Moving,very moving,you do feel the history of this palace,you live it,you can almost touch it.Imagine,less then just 100 hundred years ago,this was the very heart of the Empire of the Dragon.Allthough,after the Boxer uprising a lot of the previous power that was wielded
from within its walls was lost as Cixi had to give in to change,to foreigners.

These foreigners build up Legation Street again,Dongxiaminxiang,at the south-east end almost of Tien'amen Square.
International Territory until the 1960's and most embassies were there,but also the Ministry of Rites,The Ministry of War etc etc.The street still oozes history,just a wonderfull mile-long stroll.
 
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Interestingly, the Forbidden City itself has least impressive collection of imperial treasures. It was pillaged by the European powers during the Opium wars and the Boxer Rebellion. The best artifacts were transported to Taiwan by the Kuomintang during the last civil war and are now housed in Taipei's National Palace Museum. A lot of what's leftover is furniture and larger objects that couldn't be moved. That might have been a blessing because those objects might not have survived Cultural Revolution had they stayed in Beijing. Luckily, they are doing extensive restoration and the city are impressive, as is the Summer Palace.
 
Chinese archeologists have restored a dainty headgear unearthed from the tomb of a princess who lived about 1,200 years ago in today's northwestern Shaanxi Province. The headgear consists of nearly 400 tiny pieces of turquoise, amber, carnelian, pearl, ruby, gold, silver and several other types of precious metal.
The epitaph unearthed from the tomb where the headgear was found suggested it belonged to a princess named Li Chui, a fifth-generation offspring of Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). The princess died of illness at 25.
Xinhua full article
 
Chinese Ming Dynasty Heir is a Communist

Zhu Rongji, born October 1, 1928, is a descendant of prince Zhu Quan, the 14th son of Zhu Yuanzhang (reign name is Hongwu), first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is a communist party official, and was premeir of China from 1998-2003

"According to a series of articles published last week in Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper, Zhu's family traces its ancestry to Zhu Quan, the 14th son of Zhu Yuanzhang, first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Ming Pao reported that several years ago, while on a visit to Anhui province, Zhu paid a private visit to the emperor's tomb near Fengyang."

[URL="http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/05/news/mn-25685?pg=3"]http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/05/news/mn-25685?pg=3[/URL]


Descended from Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming-dynasty Emperor (1368-98), the Zhu clan was a big landowner around Changsha in Hunan province, where Zhu was born in 1928. "The Zhu family was very rich," says Zhu Yunzhong, 66, a retired doctor and Zhu Rongji's cousin. "That caused many of them problems after the revolution--even myself."
[URL="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990691-2,00.html"]http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990691-2,00.html[/URL]
 
Seanbenner,
Thanks for reminding about this interesting person. I'd like to add that Zhu Rongji was well known for his activities against corruption in China.
Zhu Rongji - Wikipedia article
"The common people said that as long as he was suppressing corruption, they weren’t afraid of death. Only he dared to reform the system, because of him they weren’t afraid of causing offence".
Full article - China Smack
 
20,000 Chinese worship ancient Emperor's birth in central China

A grand ceremony is held June 8, 2010 in Suizhou City in central China's Hubei Province to worship the Emperor Yandi, an ancestor who is widely believed to be an initiator of crop planting and herbal medicine in ancient China.
Chinese from home and abroad participated in the ceremony held at Suizhou City, the birth place of Emperor Yandi on Tuesday. Emperor Yandi and Emperor Huangdi are believed to be ancestors of the Chinese people. - Xinhuanet
Photos from
Xinhua/Hao Tongqian
 
Summer Palace displays records of palace history

Coinciding with China's Cultural Heritage Day on June 12th, Summer Palace has 470 valuable historical materials on display, all of which are related to the palace. This new exhibit is the largest one every displayed at the palace.
The 160 Chinese and foreign post cards depict palaces, temples, historical features and attractions at Summer Palace dating from the late Qing Dynasty to the founding of the Republic of China in 1911. The exhibit also contains six items depicting Empress Cixi, the empress of China near the end of the Qing Dynasty. - China.org.cn
 
Zhu Rongji, born October 1, 1928, is a descendant of prince Zhu Quan, the 14th son of Zhu Yuanzhang (reign name is Hongwu), first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is a communist party official, and was premeir of China from 1998-2003
Hello:
what is his lineage?

thank-you
 
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Hello!

A friend of mine, who is a young french aristocrat claims that his grand mother is a descendant of the imperial family of China. She was given to a french aristocrat family as she was still a baby. As prooth, there is mostly a toy that appears on a lot of photographs of the imperial family, and that she now has. I can't remember the details, but does someone has already heard of such a story?
 
Photos with the nowadays Head of the Imperial Family?
 
Ancient Emperors' game revived

People dressed in the Qing Dynasty (1644 -1911) royal costumes play "Bingxi," or ice game, on a frozen lake in the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, Jan 26, 2011.
The game, dating back 1,000 years, became a regular sports activity in the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was regularly performed for emperors.- Xinhua
 
Photos with the nowadays Head of the Imperial Family?
Which one Imperial family do you mean?
There are the descendants of Ming, Qing and Aisin-Gioro Emperors' alive (male and female). No one of them claims the Imperial throne of China.
 
Emperor's private collection gets public viewing in New York

Currently showing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City showcases about 90 works of art created for the emperor Qianlong (1736-95), a man whose desire to unify "all under heaven" is clearly noted in the extravagance of this loan exhibition organized by the Peabody Essex Museum. - China Daily
 
I think every Chinese is descendant of an emperor. I am the descendant of Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han (aka Liu Bei), who in turn is descendant of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, through my mother. Her family has a family shrine with a list of all their ancestors over 3000 years of history. I could also say I was the descendant of a shoemaker and a bandit since Liu Bei was a shoemaker and his ancestor Liu Bang was a bandit.:lol:
 
Protect ancient tomb - GlobalTimes
The family tomb of an ancient princess during Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) will come under the protection of the local government, according to the cultural relics bureau in North China's Hebei Province, where the ruins are located.
The tomb of Princess Yuelie, the daughter of Yuan founder Kublai Khan, is located in Guyuan county and is believed to be the only royal tomb from the Yuan Dynasty ever discovered in China, a bureau spokesman said.

Isn't it Princess Yuelie who is the ancestor of HM The Queen of UK and of HRH the Princess Michael?:)
 
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