Puyi (February 7, 1906–October 17, 1967) of the Manchu Aisin-Gioro ruling family was the last Emperor of China between 1908 and 1924 (ruling as the Xuantong Emperor between 1908 and 1911, and non-ruling emperor between 1911 and 1924), the twelfth emperor of the Qing Dynasty to rule over China.
He was married to the Empress Gobulo Wan Rong under the suggestion of the Imperial Dowager Concubine Duan-Kang. Later, between 1934 and 1945, he was the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo.
 |
 |
 |
In the People's Republic of China, he was a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1964 until his death in 1967 under the Chinese name Aixinjueluo Puyi[citation needed]. His abdication being a symbol of the end of a long era in China, he is widely known as the Last Emperor .
Name
In English, he is known more simply as Puyi (Pu-i in Wade-Giles romanization), which is in accordance with the Manchu tradition of never using an individual's clan name and given name together, but is in complete contravention of the traditional Chinese and Manchu custom whereby the private given name of an emperor was considered taboo and ineffable. It may be that the use of the given name Puyi after the overthrow of the empire was thus a political technique, an attempt to express desecration of the old order. Indeed, after Puyi lost his imperial title in 1924 he was officially styled "Mr. Puyi" in China. His clan name Aisin-Gioro was seldom used. He is also known to have used the name "Henry"¹, a name allegedly chosen with his English language teacher, Scotsman Reginald Johnston, in reference to King Henry VIII of England. However, the name Henry was merely used in communication with Westerners between 1920 and 1932, and was never used in China.