When Pu Yi was almost three, palace officials came to his home to take him from his bed. The Empress Dowager Cixi had chosen him on her deathbed to succeed her. That night in 1908, Pu Yi stopped being a boy and became Xuantong, the last emperor of China.
What must it have been like for him? To be taken from everything that was familiar to him and be swept off into the Forbidden City, where he was, for all intents and purposes, treated like a god.
To see adults falling all over themselves, kowtowing and averting their eyes every time he passed them in the hallways.
At the time of Pu Yiâ??s birth, the Qing Dynasty was already in decline, with the country starting to fall under the sway of foreign powers. China was ruled by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who had sent the Emperor Guangxu to prison on charges of conspiracy.
After Pu Yi ascended the Dragon Throne, his father, the Second Prince Chun, ruled as regent. By 1911, though, rebellion had swept through the country, forcing the regent to resign. On February 12, 1912, Pu Yi abdicated. At the age of five, he had already lost a kingdom.
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