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Rare moving film of the last emperor puyi and empress wanrong
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Rare moving film of the last emperor puyi and empress wanrong
Wanrong (13 November 1906 – 20 June 1946), posthumously known as Empress Xiaokemin, was the Empress Consort of Puyi, the Last Emperor of China and final ruler of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. In 1932, when the Empire of Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria (northeastern China) and installed Puyi as its nominal emperor, Wanrong became the empress of Manchukuo. During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria at the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Wanrong was captured by Chinese Communist guerrillas and transferred to different locations before she was settled in a prison camp in Yanji, Jilin. She died in prison in around June or August 1946 and her remains were never found. On 23 October 2006, Wanrong's younger brother, Runqi, conducted a ritual burial for her in the Western Qing tombs near Beijing.To get more news about empress wanrong, you can visit shine news official website.
Wanrong's full birth name was Gobulo Wanrong ; she is referred to as simply Wanrong because Manchus were usually referred to by their given names only. Her courtesy name was Muhong and her art name was Zhilian. She also adopted a Western name, Elizabeth, which was inspired by Elizabeth I of England.
Wanrong was born in the Gobulo clan , which is of Daur ancestry and under the Plain White Banner of the Eight Banners. Her father was Rongyuan , who served as a Minister of Domestic Affairs in the Qing imperial court. Wanrong's biological mother, Lady Aisin-Gioro, was the fourth daughter of Yuzhang and a granddaughter of Puxu . She died from childbed fever after giving birth to Wanrong. Wanrong was raised by her stepmother, Hengxiang , who was the second daughter of Yulang and also a granddaughter of Puxu. Hengxiang left a deep impression on Wanrong because she doted on Wanrong and treated her like a real daughter. Wanrong had one full brother, Runliang , who was older than her by two years. She also had a half-brother, Runqi, who was younger than her by six years. The family lived in a hutong near Di'anmen in Beijing's Dongcheng District.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Rongyuan believed in gender equality so he arranged for Wanrong to be educated in the same manner as her brothers. Wanrong attended an American missionary school in Tianjin, where she learnt the English language and played the piano under the tutelage of Isabel Ingram.
The Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1911 and replaced by the Republic of China, marking the end of thousands of years of imperial rule in China. The former imperial family were granted special privileges by the Republican government, which allowed them to retain their imperial titles and be treated with respect. Puyi, the abdicated Last Emperor, was given permission to hold an imperial-style wedding in the Forbidden City.
The four dowager consorts – the widows of the Tongzhi and Guangxu Emperors – and Prince Chun (Puyi's biological father) showed Puyi a selection of photographs of young women for him to choose. As the photographs were of poor quality, Puyi had trouble distinguishing among them. He decided that it did not matter who he chose, so he eventually selected Wenxiu. However, after further discussion with the imperial family, Wenxiu was revealed to be actually a 12-year-old girl. They suggested that Puyi choose Wanrong, who was about the same age as him and had a similar family background as him. Since he had already chosen Wenxiu, they decided that he marry both Wanrong and Wenxiu as his primary and secondary spouses to fulfil a Manchu tradition. After Wanrong was selected, a group of palace eunuchs were sent to her home to prepare her for an imperial wedding. Wanrong received an extensive amount of instruction in how to behave like an empress.
Puyi frequently made telephone calls to Wanrong, requesting that she promise to make him feel less lonely, and she agreed. Wanrong wept numerous times before and during her wedding because she knew that her days of freedom and happiness would end after she entered the Forbidden City. Puyi and Wanrong's wedding took place on 30 November 1922 at 0300 hours according to Manchu custom.