The Yuan Dynasty poet Hong Xiwen once had a poem: "Poor former Khan Qingshi, bo life is like this." "Beautiful women and turbulent times together seem to never get a decent ending, and the last empress Wanrong is a good example." She was beautiful and noble, but at the same time had a bleak, tragic life that led to the death of the honorable empress before she was 40 years old.
Wanrong was born in 1906 as a member of the Guo Bro clan, and before entering the palace, people evaluated her as talented, feminine and beautiful. Because she had been a new education since she was a child, Wanrong could play the piano and paint, could chant and write, and even learned English with a specially invited diplomat, and at that time she was arguably one of the most high-profile ladies in the entire royal family.
However, it is this distinction that determines the future tragedy of WanRong. In 1922, at the age of 16, Wanrong was elected to the palace and became the last empress of the Qing Dynasty. At the beginning, Puyi and her relationship was very good, wanrong was innocent and pure, and because of her Western-style education, she was quite in tune with the emperor who also studied Western culture, so she was very favored.
But Puyi never stayed overnight in the Wanrong Palace, his health was not good, and he did not have the ability to conceive heirs, which was almost a well-known thing in the palace. And Wanrong is very fond of children, after leaving the palace in 1924, the camera also recorded a photo of Wanrong teasing children with a bright smile. The child's problem has always been Wanrong's heart disease, and it is also one of the fuses for the empress to give birth to contradictions.
On August 23, 1931, Lady Wen Xiuxiang filed for divorce from Puyi, and launched a vigorous "Daofei Revolution" that shocked the Qing court, because she really could not stand Puyi's snub and loss of freedom. Puyi was probably the first emperor to be "abandoned" by his concubines, which made him extremely humiliated, and poured all his anger on Wanrong's body, believing that the empress was jealous and forced Shufei away.
Since then, Wanrong has completely fallen out of favor, and can only use opium to alleviate the loneliness in the high walls of the deep palace. She once thought of divorcing Puyi like Wen Xiu, but the pressure of the family and the honor of the empress, each of which set her dead in place, also made the pain in her heart deeper and deeper.
In 1935, the empress who had lost peace with the emperor was found to be pregnant, and due to Puyi's indifference, he did not know the fact that Wanrong had an affair with the guards until the child was born. Puyi was furious, and in order to maintain the face of the royal family, he threw the baby girl, who was born less than half an hour ago, into the boiler, and deceived her that the child was handed over to Wanrong's brother to raise under Wanrong's bitter pleading.
In Puyi's autobiography "The First Half of My Life" (now abridged), Puyi said that Wanrong had an affair with two bodyguards, Li Tiyu and Qi Jizhong, and the child should be Qi Jizhong. After this incident, Wanrong was completely beaten into the cold palace by Puyi, and the spirit of Wanrong, who had lost the honor of the empress and the traces of her daughter, was abnormal, often cried loudly in the cold palace, and no longer groomed and dressed all day, and the empress who was once beautiful enough to make foreign ministers look sideways no longer had the style of the past.
On June 10, 1946, Wan Rong, who was less than 40 years old, died in a prison in Yanji, Jilin Province, where no one even buried her bones. Puyi did not learn of the empress's death until 3 years later, but he appeared indifferent. Perhaps in the high walls of Sen Leng, in the involuntary situation, death is the best relief for the last empress.