Henry Puyi

Who would believe that a 3 year old-boy can be crowned emperor? How could that child be able to govern a kingdom with such little experience? A child from the Manchu (Qing) Dynasty was crowned emperor by Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi before she died. On the 7th day of February in the year 1906, that child was born; it is when the Manchu Dynasty was in tribulation because of the domination of foreign countries. These foreign powers were composed mainly of Westerners. During that time, Emperor Dowager Tzu Hsi ruled the country and imprisoned the titular emperor, Emperor Kuang Hsu, for the reason that he was conspiring against her. The boy who was crowned emperor that time and was at the age of three years old was Aisengioro (Henry) Puyi. Hsuan Tung was the reign name entitled to him as the crowned emperor of China.

As the current emperor of their time, Puyi’s father, Prince Ch’un, served as Puyi’s regent. In 1911, the Chinese had a great resentment against foreigners and aimed to get rid of foreign influences away from China. It led to a revolution against the foreigners and the Manchu Dynasty. This revolution occurred on the 10th day of October in 1911 called the Double Ten Uprising led by Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen was the originator and leader of China’s bourgeoisie domestic revolution and known as the Father of Nationalist China and the Father of the Chinese Revolution. In January 1, 1912, Sun Yat-Sen founded the Republic of China and became the Provisional President of the Republic of China.

Yuan Shi Kai, the protector of Puyi, Premiere and Commander in Chief of the army, proposed to the Manchu Grand Council that Puyi be eradicated from the throne. They agreed but on the 12th day of February in 1912 Puyi, at the age of 5, renounced his throne. Under the pressures of Yuan Shi Kai, Sun Yat-Sen resigned as president on the 12th day of February, 1912. Political organizations and groups were founded and were reorganized together to form the Koumintang or the National...