What Happened to the Last Emperor of China?

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Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series continues with a video on the last emperor of China - Puyi. We will talk about the dynasty he belonged to - the Qing, his period as the emperor in 1908-1912, Chinese Revolution, how he became the puppet ruler of Manchukuo under the Japanese during World War II, how he ended up as Mao's prisoner and his life afterwards.
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The video was made by Lito Areta, while the script was developed by Leo Stone. This video was narrated by Officially Devin ( / @offydgg & / @gameworldnarratives )
Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1F...
#Documentary #Puyi #China

[@KingsandGenerals]

Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video & for the free product! Head to keeps.com/kingsandgenerals to get a special offer. Individual results may vary.

[@user-kj7ld8xh2p]

wow deberian hacer una pelicula de su vida, que gran video

[@shinsenshogun900]

I dread looking at the Big Nepal in the entire Plateau

[@shzarmai]

Cool video, please make a video on Nader Shah.

[@shzarmai]

please make a video on the life of Nader Shah - "Persian Napoleon" I the future, please

[@HarryFreeHugs_GayInsta]

OMG Moree pls Empress dowager CiXi

[@kyisin7457]

He didn't die as a gardener. He was an editor of the literary department under CPPCC, which can be considered a quite comfortable life in Mao's era. He also wrote his own autobiography, widely travelled across China, and made amend with many of his former enemies before he died.

[@Ferrum_Intra]

"From Emperor, to Citizen"

[@rp-hr1qs]

There's a cool photo out there of puyi habging out with senior officers involved in the wuchang uprising.

[@tekinfomedi]

In simple terms, both were correct. The literary position did not have that much work to do as the CPPCC was a consultative body. So part of his daily working life, as far as I knew, included being a gardener.

[@tekinfomedi]

@@rp-hr1qs That sounds interesting. By that time,, about 50 years would have passed since the uprising. From known history, Puyi held no grudge against the Blues. Compared to what happened to the earlier dynasties, the Qing court was relatively lucky.

[@shinybreloom4027]

​@@tekinfomediactually the last hier of the emperors who ran the Ming Dynasty got a title "Marquis of Supreme Grace" but he disappeared in Shanghai somewhere in the 20s-30s... We still dont know what happened to him iirc

[@chaosXP3RT]

Everyone wants to be Emperor. Nobody wants to be the Last Emperor.

[@curranlakhani]

If I were to be a last Emperor I would rather go out like a Constantine XI Palaelogos, than end up like a Yazdegerd of the Sassanids. Though the best thing to do would be to pull an Abd Al-Rahman and go create another empire.

[@iDeathMaximuMII]

@@curranlakhani I would definitely want to live the life of Abd al-Rahman. Heir to a powerful Empire, only to be deposed & hunted down like a dog. Then I end up in Hispania & create my own Kingdom. If I was the last monarch, then I agree, I'll go down fighting like Constantine XI

[@austinguthrie5528]

How about first and last emperor?? That's some bragging rights right there 😅

[@barbiquearea]

King Louis XVI and Tsar Nicholas II have joined the chat.

[@Michel411]

@@barbiqueareaGood men who loved their countries and died as martyrs.

[@theicepickthatkilledtrotsk658]

From the emperor of all of China to a humble street sweeper. What an interesting life.

[@ilovemesomme]

Makes you wonder too what happened to his whipping boys.

[@Naikomi95]

He became a gardener

[@gradipadia9800]

Rather similar fate to the Korean Monarchy.... the current Korean Pretender is a Janitor, I beleive...

[@sanneoi6323]

And Wanrong's life was just tragic

[@Godzilla00X]

Nearly identically to the lyrics of Viva La Vida

[@rtweugene1]

@5:16, when Puyi cried that “he wanted to go home” during his coronation, one of the officials (edit: his father) told him “Don’t worry, don’t cry, it will be over soon.” While he was probably talking about the duration of the coronation, some (including the court officials at the coronation) have wondered whether he was ominously implying, and aware, that the empire was about to end soon, which it was, and did.

[@atNguyen-gm9xi]

That was his father, Zaifeng, who said that, not any other officials

[@rtweugene1]

@@atNguyen-gm9xiright, I forgot, will make the edit

[@shinybreloom4027]

Zaifeng knew.

[@MrGksarathy]

His dad was definitely one of the smarter people left in the imperial government by this time, so he definitely knew. I mean, he also survived into Mao's China and remained well-respected in Beijing.

[@tekinfomedi]

@@MrGksarathy An additional point was that when it became clear it was over for Qing, the ROC provisional gov suggested the court could shift back to the Northeastern Manchu ancestral land in Jilin (Kirin) Province. The Regent refused. In a wider sense, the Qing court and its descendants maintained a Beijing-1st policy. When Puyi was made puppet Emperor in Changchun, one of his interests was when he could reign again in Beijing. The Japanese tried to downplay the topic. It was partly due to this situation that led Puyi to conclude that siding with the Japs was a big mistake.

[@user-hc5fq6zo7x]

Fun fact: After being released from prison, Puyi was invited by the famous Chinese historian Guo Moruo to be his translator and to translate the language of his ancestors, Manchu, but he could no longer speak the language and rejected Guo Moruo's invitation.

[@reis1185]

He speaks English because of his obsession with western culture.

[@tekinfomedi]

Good point that you made. Integrating into the Yellow River mainstream was the norm for North Asian nomadic steppe tribes for 2000+ years. Geographically, within the historic Chinese mainland, only 3 groups retained a high amount of social-cultural distinctiveness due to geographical distances and barriers -)The Pamir Mountains -)North of the Gobi -)The Tsangpo River Valley

[@Xinnmg]

His Manchu is not bad as many people believe, he just want to avoid problem.

[@richmondlandersenfells2238]

That's kinda disappointing.

[@willl237]

@@reis1185 he speaks english because he's the emperor and he had private tutors

[@LOLquendoTV]

Say what you will about Mao, not executing Pu Yi and reeducating him instead/showing him the consequences of his colaborationism was a very savvy political move, for reasons described in the video but also because it avoided the situation of the soviets killing the entire romanov house in cold blood, which obviously got them pretty bad PR with other countries

[@MrGksarathy]

Exactly. This was one of his smartest decisions among a cavalcade of stupid ones, and the way his rehabilitation was approached was also intelligent on the part of the party functionaries.

[@Ferrum_Intra]

Yeah that was a brilliant chess move by the reds. They essentially turned the biggest offender in class struggle into their utopic "New Man" of communism. The perfect propaganda.

[@sakurapablo671]

True. At least there still family members of Puyi that is still alive in this day and age that could rule as the next line of Emperor, but need to make sure that people in China is on common ground as ruling state with communist in certain agreements. I know that won’t happen, but if there is some weird agreement in some ways, then it ‘might’ happen. Time will tell.

[@sidp5381]

What are the many reasons China today exists and is now the second biggest superpower in the world following the United States the only differences that China not only has a 10 times higher literacy rate than America does. It’s rising continuously while the US is on the decline.

[@gameragodzilla]

@@sidp5381As a Chinese person: lmao China’s demographic issues alone due to the One Child Policy will eventually cause an economic collapse that’d make Japan’s in the Lost Decade seem puny by comparison.

[@JunkPhuJP]

I’m not a 100% sure if this really happened, but my dad claims he met Puyi as a when Dad was a kid/teen. He came over to the house for dinner, and seemed like a normal person. My dad asked him “What was your biggest regret?” “When I was a kid in the Forbidden Palace, I got my first bicycle. I ordered all the red door stoppers for the different gates within the Palace to be removed so I could ride around freely.” I got no evidence this meeting took place, nor do I know if this really happened in the Palace. Just wanted to share a possible anecdote.

[@shinybreloom4027]

this is something so mundane and so simply stupid its probably real.

[@sakura613]

My dad told us that he played basketball with the Jackson 5 when they came to Jamaica in the 1970's. I have no reason to doubt him or think it's not true. Your dad was probably telling the truth. Tell your family story with confidence. Who cares what people think.

[@ananthapadmanabhan6340]

This is amazing

[@OPVSNOVVM]

If that is a true story then it might offer some deeper insight into his psyche. He didn't receive any real parenting, any sort of order or discipline, so he just wanted to ride around freely. He had no boundaries, he accepted none, too. And that seems to be his biggest regret, if this story is true. It's quite meaningful actually, not just a trivia.

[@tekinfomedi]

Your dad was a Beijinger and your family was active in CCP in the early 1960s? 😊😊

[@rodm8113]

He undoubtedly was complicit in horrendous acts, but there is legitimate reason to believe that he truly regretted everything he did. He was a product of how he was brought up and raised. To outright call him "evil" would ignore the broader context of his life story.

[@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901]

On the one hand, he was deliberately raised with no real relationships or proper education (thus why he was such an awful and clearly resentful child) so he was never able to develop properly to know what to do or how to do things without others taking control of his life and decisions, and on the other hand he was clearly aware (and afraid) about the crimes and horrors of japanese occupation and went along with them anyway. It's hard to blame him but he also clearly was wrong. And you're right, it does seem like he regretted his involvement after his communist indoctrination, which again, he was powerless to resist considering his upbringing

[@barbiquearea]

@@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901 I personally view Emperor Puyi as a very tragic figure of history. A victim of circumstances beyond his age and ability to confront, for the crime of being born into a position he had no say in or control over.

[@anonisnoone6125]

@@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901 So was the way he ruled the reason for the Chinese revolution?

[@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901]

@@anonisnoone6125 he abdicated when he was 5 years old during his mother's regency. Later on he was also never exposed to the horrors of the japanese occupation of manchukuo (although he was vaguely aware of their reputation and he was afraid of their fanaticism) and as the video says, nothing he decreed actually mattered as he wasn't actually in control even then.

[@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901]

@@barbiquearea He definitely had a say and control, the issue is he never learned how to politic or understand what was happening very well. I agree though

[@franciscojorgesousaandrade]

Wow, this is a story to be remembered and written, Puyi's biography is a life lesson for all of us on how power, influences, social barriers and twists and turns in life drastically change a person, from emperor to gardener.

[@BHuang92]

Despite his ignominious end, I think he was personally happier to be with himself rather than being burdened with a title and responsibility.

[@pheralanpathfinder4897]

Would be cool to tell the story of his fall intermixed with a story about a nobody rising to power. Not easy but if done right it would be a must read for decades if not centuries.

[@tyshawnbryant3468]

​@pheralanpathfinder4897 just in case you didn't know but I was the last Chinese emperor😎

[@garbonomics]

I wonder if the British are ever going to wake up?

[@tyshawnbryant3468]

@garbonomics nah they can stay sleep after all I'm the last emperor😎

[@muazzamshaikh2049]

Sun Yaoting was the last surviving imperial eunuch of Chinese history. The emperor he had hoped to serve, Puyi, was deposed months later. He died in 1996.

[@user-yw6sp7ld1b]

he was a little clown,nobody cared him

[@solomonhill8773]

His life was recreated in an award winning film, The last Emperor.

[@samkulik8701]

Great movie

[@Alex_FRD]

"I used to rule the world... now I sweep the streets I used to own"

[@EnclaveEmily]

Hello there

[@Alex_FRD]

@@EnclaveEmily Hi, Emily. How ya doing? Welcome to club "We see Alex everywhere".

[@fiornato6393]

Coldplay make song for puyi after all

[@LordCoeCoe]

Lmao

[@user-dp2rs5pv8u]

满族人的统治本来就是一种错误，汉族人治理中国才是应该的

[@moderatecanuck]

Dowager Cixi role in the decline of Qing Dynasty should be a subject for another video

[@barbiquearea]

I disagree. In a lot of ways, Cixi's actions allowed the Qing dynasty to stay in power longer than it really should have been able to maintain. Maybe that wasn't good for China as a whole, but its questionable whether the dynasty would have even made it into the 20th century were it not for her. It was her network of spies and political shrewdness that prevented the state from collapsing up until her death. Just look at Yuan Shi Kai. He was like a trained kitten under Cixi.

[@HarryFreeHugs_GayInsta]

up

[@lyhthegreat]

Qing's downfall was already in motion after qianlong used up most of the treasury for his conquests, he also turned a blind eye towards the corruption by his subordinates like he shen.

[@ShubhamKumar-hx4he]

Do u where to watch Chinese history in KZbin?​@@lyhthegreat

[@vitorpereira9515]

I felt sorry for Puyi because I had the vision given by the film The Last Emperor from Bernardo Bertolucci. But I searched deaper, i and was shocked by the things he did like beating human beings for his amusement and how indifferent he was to the suffering of the people of Manchukuo. In the end he did better than many of his victims. Was it fair?

[@jasonjimerson7046]

I remember seeing that movie. It has been a long time since I last saw it. It's probably one of my favorite movies, Besides Ghandi, that was based on a real political leader.

[@damascus21]

I think some small measure of redemption can be said to have been achieved when he embraced humility and recognizance during his imprisonment and afterward.

[@deafwatch7334]

I think many see his life story as a tragedy. A young boy molded into an apathetic saidist, doing many horible deeds, but after being forced to llive a humble life he tried his best to atone for his past deeds. This shows that he wasnt evil by nature and most likely would have lived a normal life if he wasnt forced on the throne. But it is also important to remember that this would have mattered for all those who had to suffer under him.

[@Gen.berseker25]

More Qing and Manchu history, please! Especially the Jurchens (the ancestors of the Manchu) and the Qing invasion of Joseon!

[@donaldlee8249]

The map marked Nepal where Tibet is, what a sloppy mistake

[@barbiquearea]

In a way, Pu Yi epitomizes the lyrics from Cold Play's song, Viva La Vida. Makes me wonder if the band had his life story in mind when they wrote the song.

[@andrewsuryali8540]

This is the mythicized version of Puyi's life, though. It's mostly based on his autobiography. The problem is that this book completely sanitizes the real history of his attempts to reform the imperial palace by ejecting his (loyal) eunuchs, his actually SUCCESSFUL collaboration with several Chinese warlords before the Manchukuo era that may have held back Chinese reunification for a few years, his life in Manchukuo (which reads like Game of Thrones), his betrayal of his Japanese allies through his testimony in the war crimes tribunals, and the fact that he was an important member of the Chinese Communist Party who helped them write official histories of the late Qing Dynasty and restore the Forbidden City. He didn't die as a gardener. He was an official working for the CPPCC who wrote a lot of essays for the CPPCC's propaganda department and lived in relative luxury in a big house provided to him by the government. As he was actually a close friend of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong during his stay in Beijing from 1959 onwards and was a famous public figure who often appeared on TV., when Mao launched the GPCR in 1966, Puyi was accosted by Red Guards who recognized him on the street. This led Puyi to seek refuge with the Party. Zhou Enlai himself had Puyi evacuated to a safe house where he passed away in 1967.

[@makkanan]

Thank you for adding this to a video that wasn’t much more than a rehash of The Last Emperor and PY’s autobiographer…

[@tekinfomedi]

Considering the nature of Japanese militarism, Puyi's version of history was probably reasonably correct. The Japanese would never had given Puyi any real power. His Japanese "allies"? With so-called friends like these, who needs enemies? No known Japanese history claiming Puyi and the non-Japanese portion of the nominal decision-making structure had any meaningful political role.

[@andrewsuryali8540]

@@tekinfomedi That isn't the point. The Japanese gave him a palace where he could resume his opulent imperial life and when things went sour he turned on them instantly and gave testimony that got many of them killed. The fact that the Japanese were never going to give him any share in power is irrelevant. He doesn't deserve any. It actually betrays a certain amount of Confucianist traditionalism that there are people in modern China who think he was wronged by them keeping him from power. Why? What right did he have to power? All he ever did was pop out of a fortuitous womb. The simple fact is that the Japanese gave him every luxury he didn't deserve, spoiled him rotten without demanding any work out of him, and he sent them to their deaths. Edit: Also, Li Wenda is on record writing that when he went through Puyi's self-correction essays from the time he stayed in the gulag, he found statements by Puyi admitting that he flat out lied about his own level of involvement in the Manchukuo administration in his war crimes testimonies. Basically, the Russians told him to just blame everything on the Japanese and he complied. In Puyi's own self-correction essays he expressed regret that he got his Japanese friends hanged and never got punished himself for his complicity.

[@stephenross8177]

For an introductory video it's not too bad. Thanks for adding

[@andrewsuryali8540]

@@tekinfomedi I sometimes find it strange that people in the modern era could consider Puyi to have been somehow "wronged" by the Japanese not sharing any power with him. This is a very Confucianist way of thinking. Puyi's only qualification was popping out of a fortuitous womb. He doesn't deserve power. In any case, what I'm talking about is Puyi's own accounting - HIS ACTUAL VERSION OF HISTORY (not the sanitized autobiography) - of how he betrayed his Japanese allies, written as part of the series of self-correction essays he had to write in the gulag. Go search Li Wenda's account of what Puyi wrote about his relationship with the Japanese in those essays. In Puyi's own words, he admitted that he had been a willing participant in the Japanese Manchukuo project, had been pampered by them with his palace and life of luxury, and had participated in the administration of the state. He HIMSELF expressed regret that at the end, when the Russians told him to blame everything on the Japanese, he complied and testified against them in the war crimes tribunals, in effect sending many of his closest Japanese allies to their deaths. Li decided to omit all of this when he worked with Puyi on writing the famous autobiography because it would have been very poorly received by the Chinese public.

[@JohnnyElRed]

Honestly, given the system he was born and forced into at such a young age, could he had come out as anything else than a cruel, petty tyrant? Up until his imprisonment, is not like he had any chance or motivation to reflect upon his actions.

[@yohannessulistyo4025]

In good days, the system should supply him with trusted and best advisors, filtered through rigorous imperial exams. Alas, due to the Confucian inheritance system - through blood instead of meritocracy (actually makes sense when it is done to stop endless debate and violent show-offs about who's actually better) - it resulted in the fear of imperial court inner circle males impregnating Royal house members - hence the closest imperial servants are castrated. He was born during the bad days of the Empire - no one good, wise, or sane wanted to join the exam, enter the court, and save the emperor. The guy was already surrounded by plotting, dishonest eunuch faction. It is not the system, it is also the circumstances.

[@Spongebrain97]

Pu Yi was definitely a victim of circumstance in his youth as without any guidence he was essentially Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones. However as an adult he continued having his arrogant and privileged lifestyle and openly collaborated with the Japanese who were brutalizing the Chinese people

[@tg1982]

Fascinating story, thank you K&G!

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for the video

[@MythicTales993]

Every time I watch your videos, I learn something new. Great job!

[@brettstarks1846]

One thing that should also be mentioned is that in 1928, Chinese soldiers looted and defiled the tombs of Manchu/Qing royalty. That undoubtedly soured Puyi on China and made him more inclined to embrace Japan.

[@shinybreloom4027]

Sun did this and gave one of Puyi's relics to Chiang Kai-Shek's wife as a gift before he was exiled and the Ma clan fought a subjugation war.

[@KevinTheID]

What a fascinating story that people don't always talk about - The rulers left behind after a country's fall. People like Romulus Augustulus, Puyi, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and even the Romanovs to a lesser degree. I don't think we can entirely blame Puyi for becoming the sadistic hedonist that he was in his younger years. We are mainly a product of our circumstances and every whim he had was catered to because of his station as a divine ruler. Plus, he had no actual role models or friends until after his formative years that might have helped temper his more extreme impulses - and by then it took being exposed to terrible war crimes and a decade of prison time to understand what he not only had, but the lives he had damaged along the way. He never understood early on that he could be a different and better person because he had always been so sheltered and no one had ever told him he could be wrong...unless you count his second wife that divorced him. He needed perspective, and for better or worse, did get it in the end. He would never rule China again but managed to die the man he could have been on the throne if those circumstances were different.

[@lolwutyoumad]

Another interesting family is the former royal family of Romania, which today are white trash living in the Midwest

[@LaLunarFox]

In the end he was just a man who wants to escape from what he calls a "prison" for him, he just wants to know the outside world. In the end, he finally get to feel a glimpse of his happiness

[@user-yj6zs4ze1z]

This was a great video 😁

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

In accordance with the laws of the People's Republic of China at the time, Puyi's body was cremated. His ashes were first placed at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, alongside those of other party and state dignitaries. This was the burial ground of imperial concubines and eunuchs prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China. In 1995, as part of a commercial arrangement, Puyi's ashes were transferred by his widow Li Shuxian to the Hualong Imperial Cemetery in return for monetary support. The cemetery is near the Western Qing Tombs, 120 km (75 mi) southwest of Beijing, where four of the nine Qing emperors preceding him are interred, along with three empresses and 69 princes, princess, and imperial concubines. In 2015, some descendants of the Aisin-Gioro clan bestowed posthumous names upon Puyi and his wives. Wenxiu and Li Yuqin were not given posthumous names as their imperial status was removed upon divorce.

[@AbhyudayaSinh]

Very informative ❤❤

[@AbdAlAziz101]

The intro for the AD had me rolling 😂😂😂, love it 😂😂😂

[@VentiVonOsterreich]

Gone, reduced to atoms Like King Louis became Citizen Capet

[@barbiquearea]

That was before they chopped off his head.

[@miles_tails0511]

At least Puyi kept his head and got to live life

[@ImperialEarthEmpire]

I wonder how the romanov will end up if they were spared and allowed to live as commoners...

[@jonathanwells223]

The Romanovs would have led a counter revolution, say what you will about them but the Romanovs are Russian, and no matter how easy their lives are, they’re still made of tough stuff.

[@erenliebert4576]

@@jonathanwells223 bullshit, I am from Russia and we are not some superhumans you think we are from your dumb movies, maybe not as soft as the westerners today but nothing unordinary. And except, Romanovs were like 95% German after all the intermarrying and always spoke foreign languages at home up to the last few decades. And all they would do is run away to France like all the other their relatives and countless other European aristocrats from the east. Nikolai was weak, his son was too young and physically weak, his relatives were also weak or dead, there would be no counter revolution, no basis for it at all

[@MalevolentBite]

They would leave Russia and marry back into other European royal families.

[@battenburg6089]

@@jonathanwells223 Pretty much. A relative of theirs who I think is a princess, still lives in London with her children today

[@p_1945]

Romanov especially nicolas II is too stubborn to change even thier given anything they need for constitutional monarchy but it can't fully blame everything at him as Russia political reform always flip flop for centuries since Peter the great.

[@natheriver8910]

Fascinant live🔥🔥

[@Alec.40]

That was a fun episode.

[@RandomDude-bo1lg]

Great work again

[@jorgejuniorantipallacsa2254]

Good vídeo bro

[@midsue]

Interesting history lesson 🙂

[@venkatt6281]

Very nice production. Love the narration and script. Great story

[@SeijiOkami]

Great video and an incredible story of Puyi. Could we also get a video of Puyi’s relative Yoshiko Kawashima ? Aka the eastern jewel aka The eastern Mata Hari

[@okancanarslan3730]

Puyi's hedonistic (and sadistic) upbringing shows that Chinese emperors had become just "divine" figureheads long before the fall of qing dynasty.

[@deathdrone6988]

Given his position and the history of fallen emperors and monarchs, he was treated extremely well which you'd think is ironic since being a emperor is the literal final boss to communists, but the whole idea of everyone should be treated equally and a desire to be seen as better than their Bolshevik peers (that murdered the Romanovs during the Russian civil war) lead to him being treated very favourably, at least compared to socialists in the West or the upper-class in the Eastern-Block during that time.

[@atNguyen-gm9xi]

He was used for nothing more than an epitome for everything bad of the ancient/imperial Chinese social structure, as mentioned in the video, and that was almost the only reason for Mao and other communist leaders decided to let him out of that Chinese gulag and allowed him to live on

[@danielc9967]

How he was treated is a testament to the power and glory of the Qing Dynasty. Huge swaths of the populace, whether communist or republicans grew up in the iron grip of the Qing Dynasty and their government systems. The reverence and acknowledgment of the supreme power of the emperor, was not going to disappear by his mere dethronement.

[@ingstimated1873]

@@danielc9967 You may not know that Mao joined the army to overthrow the Qing Dynasty when he was still a student. Most of the senior officials, politicians and generals of the Republic of China and the early PRC were committed to overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in their early years, and many of them had relatives killed by the Qing Dynasty. The so-called recognition of the supreme power of the Qing emperor is ridiculous. Later facts also confirmed this statement. In 1917, Puyi was expelled by the warlords of the Republic of China after only twelve days of restoration. There are only two reasons why Puyi was treated well. The first is that the warlords in China were busy fighting for the rule of China and had no time to kill Puyi. The second is that Puyi was still valuable, both for the Chinese and the Japanese.

[@danielc9967]

@@ingstimated1873 “Puyi was still valuable, to the Chinese and Japanese “ - Case in Point!

[@franklee2679]

@@danielc9967 别扯淡了，中国人不是日本人，我们对皇帝没有什么尊重，“王侯将相宁有种乎！”你能理解这句古文的意思吗？Puyi用处仅仅是展示CPC的改造能力而已

[@Ferrum_Intra]

Thank you KaG for this amazing work. The life of Puyi has always intrigued me deeply. Guess it's the tragedy of being the last Emperor of a long Dynasty, or the contrast of living the "Highest High and the "Lowest Low". I sincerely recommend everyone here to read his own autobiography called: "From Emperor, to Citizen", and Paul Kramer's "The Last Emperor". Truly a humbling experience. Best wishes to all.

[@barbiquearea]

I loved Bernardo Bertolucci's biopic, The Last Emperor, which was about the Pu Yi's life. Very excellent film.

[@JonathanReynolds1]

I thought the movie was great too!

[@renevalleramos994]

From riches to rags story.

[@barbiquearea]

He went from being a king to a farmer, while Mao did the opposite.

[@Brandonhayhew]

@@barbiquearea emperor to street cleaner

[@93lucid]

Lot of shade thrown in this video 😂 love it

[@stevefon4934]

Thanks for the video! I'd like to mention that in the maps of ROC, Tibet in the southwest was miswritten as Nepal. But in general, you did a great job!

[@christerprestberg3973]

I can highly recommend "From Emperor to Citizen" an autobiography of PuYi . From the first time I heard about him, thx hearts of irons IV ^^, Ive found him to be one of the most interesting historical figures.

[@stevewashere4122]

good movie. 3 hrs plus. Worth watching.

[@justindieterich1773]

The writing in this was top notch. As much as a McDonalds crew manager 🤣

[@micalangenburg1706]

that caught me off-guard lol

[@sommyben07]

Fr I nearly pissed myself after hearing that😂

[@maddog4u31757]

That "McDonald's Crew Manager" sounded personal lol

[@HenningGu]

I wonder if people recognized him regularly. From what I've been told from my family, most citizens did not know how the emperor looked like. At least during the hey-day of the Empire.

[@tekinfomedi]

Apparently Beijing-ers, mainly extended family descendants of the imperial household did recognize him. The CCP back then did emphasized through the official media that Puyi was back in Beijing with a cultural-social role. As for the earlier Emperors, China had no practice of prominently displaying the portrait of the monarch. Therefore few would recognize their rulers.

[@shinybreloom4027]

say what you want about him, he was the most Beijing Beijinger. he lived there for almost his entire life and witnessed the world he knew change over and over. isn't that something?

[@LibertarianLeninistRants]

A very inspiring story. I am gonna read his autobiography one day

[@treystewart731]

A video on the founding of the Qing Dynasty would be cool too.

[@matheusrondelleite8015]

Puyi's story is a tragical one. A boy, playboyed by his servants his entire life, not given limits by adults around him, treated as God, was certainly in a direction to become a sadistic guy because human behavior to dominate is one of things that explains why we had the need for religion. Although it cannot be ignored that he accepted that the Japanese used violence to subdue the people, and he himself did horrible acts for his amusement, the adults around him should and could tame him, because even a "God" has limits. Also, sadly, in the 21st century we still see children being raised without limits and becoming sadistic bastards as adults

[@AlphaSections]

Actually a very good point!

[@tyshawnbryant3468]

​@AlphaSections just in case you didn't know I was the last Chinese emperor😎

[@TheManFromWaco]

From what I remember from a newspaper article I read some months ago, the man who would've been the heir to the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa, Japan) had it continued to exist, currently owns and tends a bar in the city of Naha. When Japan officially annexed Okinawa in 1879, the native monarchy was dissolved, but the dethroned monarch was allowed to marry a niece of the Meiji Emperor and thus enjoy a cushy lifestyle as part of the imperial family. However, after WWII, only Hirohito and his immediate family were allowed to keep their royal status. So the Ryukyuan branch became private citizens and eventually moved back to the island they used to rule.

[@Vanic00]

From Qin Shi Huang to Puyi, for 2,133 years the Emperor of China ruled the Middle Kingdom. The First was a King, and a General, the Last was a Puppet and a Gardener. So much for the Mandate of Heaven.

[@yohannessulistyo4025]

"Mandate of Heaven" is a sign, never something that is given. If the country is full of disasters, misery, suffering, famine, poverty, etc... the Emperor simply lost it. Of course the supporter faction will try their best to paint a different picture as best as they could. Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng) generally has 2 origin stories: 1) A son of imprisoned Prince, given to neighbouring state of Zhao by Qin, as a hostage to end hostilities. Qin court has no male heir. So, the most ambitious entrepreneur of all time, Lu Buwei made an "investment" in buying The Prince of Qin's freedom . He arranged a marriage between the Prince and a noble lady, but the Prince chose Lu's dancer (kinda like a geisha) and concubine... so he raised another series of "funding" and let go of his favourite concubine. The concubine gets pregnant - and this boy become Qin Shi Huang. The old and frail Prince finally ruled as a king for 2 years before kicking the bucket. Lu Buwei who already have pre-existing relationship with the Queen mother become the "King father" - such a return on investment 2) A speculation that says Lu Buwei actually impregnated his dancer, before he gave her over to Prince of Qin, making Qin Shi Huang illegitimate child - who knows, there was no DNA test back then Qin Shi Huang is no general, he is a paranoid kid grow up in a court chock full of palace intrigues and illegitimate and immoral relationships.

[@haoyang8466]

The last emperor of China was actually (yuan shi kai); although he was overthrown not long after the coronation.

[@shaojiewu9805]

I'm glad that unit 731 was mentioned, it needs to be known by more people.

[@josephsarra4320]

Can you go over next the last pharaoh of Egypt?

[@Latinkon]

You mean Cleopatra? Or the last native pharaoh, Nectanebo II?

[@josephsarra4320]

@@Latinkon I googled and yeah, it’s Cleopatra. Never heard of Nectanebo II, the last native pharaoh. Can you tell me more about him?

[@Conquerthemall]

Just had this topic in school for the last 1/2 year and the time before

[@tengma9902]

Chinese history be like: a dude failed an exam, decide he is the brother of Jesus, starts a civil war 20 million dies. the dude never even read the Bible.

[@SindhuArellano]

这只是洪秀全的借口，他的目的是把汉族人从满清统治者中解放出来，2000万人的死亡主要是满族统治者对汉族人的屠杀

[@tekinfomedi]

Perhaps this person's greatest achievement was that he proved there would be no more repeat of the imperial dynastic cycle. Either the continuation of Qing or a Republic that was a 100% successor to Qing. What perhaps attracted him to Abrahamic thinking was that the role of the monarch in Abrahamic culture was much more intertwined with a specific belief in a higher Force. In contrast, Chinese syncretism tend to have a wider belief in a Son of Heaven. Imagine a situation if it was acceptable for a London monarch to be a Anglican, Catholic or Orthodox so long he supported a wider Church.

[@fishsalted3560]

Wrong,dude actually read the bible and study a lot from it ,he even had a debat with christian cleric,some of his ideology was quite advanced such as promoting gender equality when women cant even vote in west at the same time.But he went corrupt fast after gaining power.

[@SomasAcademy]

I find it amusing how the writer of this video included some really casual language/jokes that just completely clash with the presenter's style, like delivering the line "a guy decided he was the brother of Jesus Christ" and "Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been deleted" with the exact same tone as everything else lmao

[@marcurius5749]

Yeah... I dunno, I don't like it - it is weird

[@virgyvirgil]

Not the first time ive noticed the wierd pop culture references like a tech tree in this video and austin powers in another vid

[@SomasAcademy]

@@marcurius5749 Oh yeah when I say I find it amusing I mean for the wrong reasons lol, the writers should account for the presenter's delivery. The jokes don't land when delivered in monotone.

[@miles_tails0511]

Makes it pretty funny imo 😂

[@marcurius5749]

@@SomasAcademy Yeah I got your meaning :)

[@carlosfilho3402]

Thanks To This Vídeo.

[@nealstultz8705]

I love stories like this. The heights of power to valleys. Some willingly (Diocletian), and others chosen for them (Puyi), but still finding peace and contentment in a humble lifestyle. Lesson for us all.

[@Khichira2012]

I learnt a lot about the last emperor with this video! I am surprised he was sent to visit the aftermath of unit-731, which must have been shocking

[@Brandonhayhew]

i have been watching alot of documentary about him

[@Rhye_]

14:45 this sounds very familiar, current almost.

[@dimamatat5548]

I hold no sympathy for Puyi for the same reason why Quisling is despised. He was a cruel brat, who didn't suffer after being deposed and had a comfortable middle class life. He sold out his people and gave Unit 731 test subjects, not caring if they died painfully.

[@arminhergl5388]

Thank you for covering this very interesting topic. Never heard of Pu Yi's fate after he was dethroned by Chiang Kaichek

[@cosmobane6995]

His life was basically a Viva la Vida music video

[@cj-ace]

Puyi, if he was raised properly then I think he could have regained the title not as it once was but maybe as a constitutional monarchy type of system.

[@AtifHieder]

不可能，占人口绝大多数的汉人为什么要接受一个满人皇帝

[@rxt1366]

Could we get an episode like this for Mannerheim?

[@shzarmai]

please make a video about Nader Shah in the future

[@hameedullahkhan3533]

I would suggest you guys look into the last titular Nizam of Hyderabad, Nizam Osman Ali Khan and his grandson, Nizam Mir Barkat Ali Khan, who passed away just last year. Their story is one that has may similarities to Piyu. Love the work you all do!

[@MysticRyokan]

actually Puyi had a younger brother who married into japanese noblity and whose descendants still live on to this day

[@farhanfakhriza6149]

This Puyi's Story gives a quite literal meaning to Coldplay's Viva la Vida "I used to rule the world Seas would rise when I gave the word Now in the morning, I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to own"

[@PickleRiiiiiiick]

McDonald's crew managers are pretty powerful. Be careful or you might not get a shift for weeks.

[@Yuckers666]

Could you make a documentary video about the 100 days reform of Emperor Guangxu of China and the Cadiz Constitution of 1812 of the Spanish Empire? Thank you so much with your educational videos.

[@dimamatat5548]

Anyone who sympathizes with Puyi misses the point. He was rotten to the core since he was a child, having a sense of entitlement and a severe lack of empathy. After being deposed, he still lived a comfortable life. But he was a brat who wanted to be emperor again. So, he committed treason and sided with the Japanese, giving them test subjects, not caring if they does horribly.

[@PL_Ninja9]

Understandable but the strive to gain back power pushed him to these extremes. The fact that he acknowledged his evil at least gives some peace that it was a good idea to spare his life

[@dimamatat5548]

@@PL_Ninja9 You mean like with Albert Speer, who also confessed to some of his crimes (but not all of them) to get a lesser sentence and make himself look good? Who knows, maybe Puyi had similar intentions?

[@PL_Ninja9]

@@dimamatat5548 who knows but seems like he lived a peacefull end of life years and most likely reflected on those past evils

[@Minboelf]

imagine your walking down the street in the 1950s and some random man walked up to you and said: "I'm the Emperor of China, do you know how to get to this place?"

[@shzarmai]

please consider creating a video about Nader Shah....

[@ZechsMerquise195]

I always found his story to be quite tragic. Hope he found some peace in his old age.

[@absoleet]

Anyone remember watching Last Emperor film directed by Bertolucci back in the 80s in cinemas?

[@tekinfomedi]

I did and while I was positively impressed, I had to say a drawback was trying to put 50 years of a person's life in an approx 3h movie. Certain parts tend to have a sudden jump to the next part. Kind of similar to the recent Napoleon movie. However, audiences and critics generally did not mind. For those who have access and can read Mandarin Chinese, there is a mainland Chinese TV series produced around 1990.

[@grigorione7824]

good movie about this

[@AlejandroHernandez-ej9fk]

Please do Nepal-Tibet Wars.

[@davidjones535]

There was a movie made about all this interesting 80s called The Last Emperor

[@whiterunguard1429]

"I used to rule the world Seas would rise when i gave the word Now in the morning, I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to own." An excerpt from 'Viva la Vida' by Coldplay. The lyrics pair great when it concerns Puyi.

[@nikostrand8570]

Is this just the Wikipedia page narrated? Especially the later life chapter was very similar. Where are the sources? The google doc linked in the description is inaccurate and has totally unrelated sources listed.

[@chrismorris6865]

Such an interesting life. A man who literally swept the streets he used to own.

[@shin1300]

He's on tiktok chilling and vibing travelling the world

[@Aika1801]

while this is overall a great video, the research on the clothes of the consorts (and I guess the woman in those european-only exclusive clubs) need further research. besides the fact that from the point of view of the wearer, the fold of the robes are always supposed to be left side above the right side (anything else is offensive since it's tied to corpses and dead people's funerals), those were clothes that had very much fallen out of fashion by the 1600s. puyi lived in the 20th century... cixi's clothes - while extremely stylised - were on point, and since she too was a consort, puyi's consorts would have worn the same during their life at court. afterwards, they would have worn simple qipaos. nancy duong (lilsuika) has a nice infographic about this on her deviantart. i hope future videos will be better in their research regarding clothes. 😓

[@michellechee9065]

Is there a particular reason why you couldn't get an accurate image of WanRong and WenXiu? Their photographs are all over the internet. We haven't even come to the part where you put them in Han clothing from two thousand years ago rather than modern Qing robes or 1900s Qipao

[@mrcsquestionsandanswers2673]

Beautiful. Love this channel

[@atpsynthase7990]

He reminds me a lot of emperor Honorius.

[@joeyates3909]

he actually makes really good tiktoks now

[@eugenekramer4528]

10:20: Feng Yuxiang. Feng is the family name, and Yuxiang, the given name. Therefore it should be General Feng, not General Yuxiang.

[@johnpeterson8674]

One of his descendants runs a clinic today...just remembered that.

[@Alex_FRD]

I can't tell if K&G is being creative with censorship or if they've developed a dark sense of humor.

[@deaf5014]

i want the MSI ai1600T last chinese empereror. Please, thank you sir.

[@MNTennamG]

Amazing video as always, but a eyesore to see is that Tibet is not included on this map. Even more erroneous is that in its stead a pinpoint of "Nepal" is plastered over the Tibetan Highlands. I am sure this video took long, but please ensure that historical accuracy of maps is kept to date. Tibet was a independent state during that time and to not even include it seems disingenuousness

[@robbabcock_]

What an amazing life! How many people have lived through so much change?