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Workers have started to renovate the former residence of the last emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in north China's Tianjin city, said local officials in charge of cultural heritage protection Tuesday.
Emperor Puyi (1906-1967) moved to the Jingyuan Garden, which then was located in the residential quarters of Japanese, after his palace in Beijing was occupied by General Feng Yuxiang in 1925. He lived there until he went to northeast China in 1931.
The former emperor, enthroned in 1909 at the age of three, was compelled to abdicate in the historic 1911 revolution. During the Second World War, he became the fake leader of Manchukuo, or a puppet regime created in China's northeastern provinces by the Japanese rulers from 1931 to 1945.
In 1945, Puyi was captured by the Soviet army as he attempted to flee to Japan and was handed over to the government of the People's Republic of China in 1950. He was released under an amnesty from the Chinese Supreme Court in 1959. In 1967, Puyi died in Beijing at the age of 61.
The two-story home and garden, with a floor space of 2,063 and a total area of 3,089 square meters, will be turned into a museum of the last emperor's life after the repairs and uplifting are completed in two years.
(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2003)
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