On October 17, 1967, Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, died in Beijing at the age of 61. After Puyi's death, his ashes were buried by his wife Li Shuxian at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing.
But 28 years after his death, his ashes were moved by his wife, Li Shuxian, to a personally run Hualong Royal Cemetery in Hebei Province.
Li Shuxian's move was strongly opposed by everyone at the time, why did she do it? Why did she later repent, and why, after her death, she did not choose to be buried with her husband, but buried Puyi with other women?
In February 1906, Puyi was born, and he was the concubine of the then regent Zaifeng. In November 1908, the Guangxu Emperor died, and since the Guangxu Emperor had no heirs during his lifetime, his aunt, the famous Empress Dowager Cixi, chose Puyi, who was not yet three years old, to inherit the throne.
Not long after the death of the Guangxu Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi also died. Less than a month later, Puyi ascended the throne, and because Puyi was too young, the government was controlled by Empress Longyu, the empress of the Guangxu Emperor, and Puyi's father Zaifeng.
After Puyi was emperor for less than 4 years, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, and Puyi was forced to abdicate in 1912, when he was only 6 years old.
Seven years after his abdication, Zhang Xun led his troops into Beijing, and because of this mutiny, Puyi was pushed to the throne again and again at the age of 12.
Unfortunately, this time, Puyi had not yet sat on the dragon chair, and was pulled down by Duan Qirui, who led troops to Beijing to fight, and Puyi's second reign was only 12 days as emperor.
To say that Puyi's life before the age of 12 was forced to be helpless and he could not choose, then the choice he made as an adult in his twenties can be said to be extremely humiliating, and even he himself said afterwards that this was the most regrettable thing he had ever done in his life.
After Puyi failed to become emperor for the second time, he completely lost his qualification to be emperor. Although he lost the throne, he and his family still lived in the imperial palace of the Forbidden City until 1924, when Feng Yuxiang expelled the 19-year-old Puyi and his family from the Forbidden City.
Puyi, who no longer lived in the imperial palace, began to understand his desire for the throne, but at this time he had nothing but the title of the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. When the Japanese saw this scene of Puyi's downfall, they began to plan to use Puyi.
In the end, driven by interests, Puyi accepted the "good intentions" of the Japanese. In 1931, Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in China and made Puyi the "emperor" of the country.
Obviously, the Japanese government will not be so kind, but everyone who understands knows what medicine is sold in the gourd of the Japanese. But under the condition that the throne was extremely tempting for Puyi, Puyi was hooked.
When Puyi followed the Japanese to the puppet state of Manchukuo in the northeast, he found that he had been deceived, but it was too late to regret it. Puyi did not expect that he would be a puppet emperor in the hands of the Japanese for 14 years.
In 1945, towards the end of World War II, the Soviet Union launched an attack on Japan. When Japan was scrambling to resist the attacks of the Soviet Union and the United States, Puyi saw the opportunity to escape.
But a few days later, Puyi was captured by the Soviet army and taken to the Soviet Union. After arriving in the Soviet Union, Puyi was imprisoned in a detention center and became a prisoner and lost his personal freedom.
Puyi stayed in the Soviet Union for five years, although there was no freedom, but the Soviet Union was still polite to his special prisoner, so Puyi's life was quite comfortable.
It didn't take long for him to get used to the stability of life in the detention center, so much so that he repeatedly applied to the Soviet Union to stay there when China planned to take him back to his homeland.
After leaving the Soviet Union, Puyi was sent to a war criminals management center until 1959, when Puyi was pardoned and gained his personal freedom in advance, when Puyi had reached the age of 54.
Three years later, Chairman Mao invited several of his friends and Puyi to dinner, and after the meal, Chairman Mao asked Puyi in a caring tone whether he was married to a wife, and Puyi said that he was now single. In fact, Puyi had four wives when he was emperor.
Empress Wanrong, who married Puyi in 1922, was previously a minister of internal affairs. The relationship between the two has always been quite good, until Puyi's other wife Wenxiu left him, and the relationship between him and Wanrong began to become cold because of Puyi's temper.
When Puyi cooperated with the Japanese to go to the northeast, Wanrong expressed great resistance, but in the end she was forced by the Japanese to go to the northeast. In puppet Manchukuo, Wanrong became insane because she could not stand the abuse of the Japanese.
After the surrender of Japan and the collapse of the puppet state of Manchukuo, Wanrong was discovered by the Communists, but because she had gone mad and was not a serious offender, she was released, and finally Wanrong died in Jilin in 1946 at the age of 40 because of a smoking addiction.
Lady Wenxiu and Empress Wanrong married Puyi in the same year, but just a month before Puyi made friends with the Japanese and the Japanese launched the 918 Incident, Wenxiu made up her mind to divorce Puyi, and the marriage relationship between the two ended in 1931.
In 1937, in the six years of Wenxiu's divorce from Puyi, Puyi constantly transferred his inner dissatisfaction to Empress Wanrong and beat her into the cold palace.
Because of the departure of Wanrong and Wenxiu, Tan Yuling was introduced to Puyi, who was studying in middle school at the time. The 32-year-old Puyi expressed great joy after seeing Tan Yuling, who was only 17 years old, and the two soon got married.
After marriage, the two had a good relationship, Puyi was very fond of him, and he once said that Tan Yuling was the most loved woman in his life. But just after the two had a sweet five-year marriage, Tan Yuling, 22, died suddenly in 1942 for some reason, and Puyi's family named her a Mingxian noble concubine after her death in honor of her.
Less than a year after Tan Yuling's death, Puyi's fourth wife, Li Yuqin, a Fugui, came to the "imperial palace" of puppet Manchukuo when she was 15 years old, met puyi at the age of 37 and became his wife.
Two years later, the two escaped Japanese control together but were tragically separated during the escape. In 1955, after a long reunion between the two who had not seen each other for ten years, Li Yuqin met her husband in the war criminals management center.
In 1957, the 29-year-old Li Yuqin and the 52-year-old Puyi had a broken relationship, and after the two divorced, Puyi completely became an orphan with no parents, no wife and children.
After talking about Puyi's four wives and concubines, we continued to return to the conversation between Puyi and Chairman Mao after dinner. Chairman Mao quipped after understanding Puyi's general situation, and Chairman Mao said that the emperor should have a mother-in-law.
After that, Chairman Mao told Puyi in a serious tone that marriage is a lifelong event for a person's life, and that he cannot play a child or be sloppy, and that he still has to have a home to be decent. A few days later, Premier Zhou also advised Puyi to start a family.
Puyi took this matter to heart, and the clan members of the Aixin Jueluo family arranged several blind dates for Puyi, but in the end they were rejected by Puyi because they involved the identity of the last emperor of Puyi. In Puyi's view, most of those women were because they looked at Puyi when they were still emperors, rather than their own now ordinary people.
Until Li Shuxian appeared in front of Puyi's eyes, he was deeply attracted to Li Shuxian with only one photo, and when he learned that Li Shuxian was a nurse, he felt that Li Shuxian was the lifelong partner he had been looking for.
At the recommendation of others, the 55-year-old Puyi met the 37-year-old Li Shuxian. In Li Shuxian's view, the most important thing between husband and wife is affection, so the age gap between her and Puyi did not make her reject Puyi's pursuit of herself, and a few days later the two decided to get married.
In April 1962, the two held a wedding, which was Puyi's fifth marriage and Li Shuxian's third marriage. Lee's first marriage was when she was 23 years old when she married a police officer.
After 12 years of marriage, her husband was shot, this year Lee Shu-hyun 31. Two years later, Lee met an accountant and married him, but the two divorced after three years of marriage due to marital discord.
So for Lee, this is her third marriage, and it's also her last marriage. After marriage, Puyi cherished Li Shuxian very much, and he thought about Li Shuxian everywhere, but the sweet married life of the two had only two years, and Puyi's body had problems.
In September 1964, Puyi suddenly had symptoms of blood in the urine, so the two rushed to the hospital, and after some examination, the two learned that Puyi suffered from prostatitis, so they simply did some treatment and then the two went home.
But after two months have passed, Puyi's symptoms have not only not improved but have become more and more serious, and Puyi has reached the point where he has to be hospitalized for treatment. It turned out that Puyi had kidney cancer, and cancer cells appeared in his left kidney.
After learning the cause, the doctor recommended that Puyi undergo surgery to remove his left kidney. After the operation, Puyi no longer had symptoms of blood in the urine, so after a few months of recuperation in the hospital, he was successfully discharged from the hospital.
But somehow, not long after Puyi was discharged from the hospital, he began to urinate blood again, this time Puyi was told that his only kidney had cancer cells and had become cancerous. However, this was not the worst, and a few months later Puyi suffered from uremia.
Since the illness, Puyi's body has deteriorated day by day, and he began to take medicine continuously. During Puyi's illness, Li Shuxian never abandoned his side, but Puyi eventually failed to overcome the torment of illness and died in October 1967, when Puyi was 61 years old and Li Shuxian was 43 years old.
After Puyi's death, Li Shuxian did not marry another person, and she has always lived a solitary life. 30 years after Puyi's death, Li Shuxian also died because of lung cancer, when she was 72 years old.
From the above information, li Shuxian's feelings for Puyi are undoubtedly loving, otherwise she would not take care of Puyi when she was ill, and everything would be done herself. Since Puyi's death, Li Shuxian has been living as Puyi's wife and has not remarried.
To know that Li Shuxian was only 41 years old and had no heirs at the time, she could have remarried, but she did not. Li Shuxian chose a lonely life after Puyi's death.
During the period when Puyi was diagnosed with kidney cancer, Li Shuxian even proposed to Puyi that he wanted to transplant his kidney to Puyi, but this matter was eventually rejected by Puyi, because Puyi did not want to involve Li Shuxian because of this. Through this matter, it is not difficult to see the strong emotion between the two people.
But why did Li Shuxian specifically instruct others before he died not to bury himself with Puyi?
After Puyi's death, Li Shuxian and everyone in the Puyi family unanimously agreed to place Puyi's ashes in the Babaoshan Cemetery. But 15 years after Puyi's ashes were buried, Li Shuxian insisted on removing Puyi's ashes and burying them in the Hualong Royal Cemetery despite the opposition of everyone.
It turned out that Puyi had said that he wanted to be buried with his family, especially his favorite Xianggui Tan Yuling before, puyi hoped that he and Li Shuxian and Tan Yuling could be buried together.
In order to realize Puyi's wishes, Li Shuxian buried Puyi's ashes with Tan Yuling in 1995. But just two years later, Li Shuxian regretted it.
Since the Hualong Royal Cemetery is a commercial cemetery, Puyi's mausoleum has become a famous local tourist attraction. Puyi has been a puppet emperor for the first half of his life, and he does not want to carry this identity after he dies.
But when Li Shuxian found out about this, it was too late, and Li Shuxian at that time had no ability to repent, so Li Shuxian said when she was ill that she did not want to become a sign of other people's business like Puyi, and she hoped that after her death, she could be buried in the Babaoshan People's Cemetery buried before Puyi.
Therefore, although Puyi and Li Shuxian loved each other, the two could not be buried together in the end, and as for what Li Shuxian thought in her heart, perhaps only she herself knew.