From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi (Hardcover)

~ W. J. F. Jenner (Translator) (Author), Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From Emperor to Citizen is the autobiography of Pu Yi, the man who was the last emperor of China. A unique memoir of the first half of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of one born to be an absolute monarch, the book begins with the author's vivid account of the last, decadent days of the Ching Dynasty, and closes with an introspective self-portrait of the last Ching emperor transformed into a retiring scholar and citizen of the People's Republic of China.

In detailing the events of the fifty years between his ascension to the throne and the final period of his life as a quiet-living resident of Beijing. Pu Yi reveals himself to be first and foremost a survivor, caught up in the torrent of global power struggles and world conflict that played itself out on the Asian continent through many decades of violence and upheaval.

This firsthand description of the dramatic events of Pu Yi's life was the basis for the internationally acclaimed 1987 Bernardo Bertolucci film The Last Emperor which was named Best Picture of the Year by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. From Emperor to Citizen readily lends itself to cinematic adaptation as a personal narrative of continuously significant and revealing episodes.

Becoming emperor and then forced to abdicate with the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911, all before he is seven continues to live in Forbidden City for another decade still treated as the Son of Heaven by the moribund Ching court, but in reality a virtual prisoner, with little genuine human contact apart from his beloved nurse Mrs. Wang, his teacher Chen Pao-shen and his English tutor Reginald Johnston.

When at the age of nineteen Pu Yi is finally forced to vacate his isolated existence within the Forbidden City, he begins his long odyssey as the dependent of the occupying imperial Japanese regime, first in Tientsin, and eventually installed as "emperor" of the Japanese puppet state styled Manchukuo in China's northeast provinces. With the defeat of Japan and the end of the Second World War, Pu Yi faces a very uncertain future as he is shunted off to Russia for five years before returning to a new China transformed by revolution, where he is confined in the Fushun War Criminal Prison. Here he undergoes several years of rehabilitation, "learning how to become a human being," as he calls it, before receiving an official pardon and being allowed to finally live as an ordinary citizen of Beijing.

This autobiography is the culmination of a unique and remarkable life, told simply, directly and frankly by a man whose circumstances and experiences were like no other.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Chinese --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Foreign Languages Pr; Bilingual edition (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 7119007726
• ISBN-13: 978-7119007724
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #289,536 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening, March 10, 2002

By	Collins (Troy, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi (Hardcover)

I bought this book at the Forbidden City in Beijing while studying in China. Although the translation is awkward at points, the content is truly eye opening. The story will be familiar to anyone who has seen Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor", but the depth to which this autobiographical account takes the reader is far deeper than that of the film. To stand in the Forbidden City and think of the turmoil that was occuring in China at the time of the author, Pu Yi, is truly amazing. I hope that anyone looking to understand the history of China at the turn of the century will try to find this book.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pu Yi my life, November 15, 2005

By	Nadia Azumi - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pu Yi Last Emperor of China, his life, and his death.Considering that the book is a translation I think it was very well written,bringing out the past,the present and what happened to Pu Yi at the end of his life.The book is very easy to read considering that it is an autobiography.It has many black and white pictures. This book encouraged me to trace the life of Pu Yi which I was lucky to do,right before Tianmen Square incident.
I hired a Mandarin taxi driver and ask him to take me around and trace Pu Yi's life from the Forbidden City to his last residence.
I went around and did all that.However I was not allowed to go to the Prisons.It is a military area.
I saw the places in the Forbidden City,the house that he lived in after being reformed.The house were he lived with his wife the nurse.Finally I was allowed to go into the cemetery were his remains are in a very small sinnabar wooden box, with a small oval picture,and his name Pu Yi.He is burried way behind the big shots that came and died after him.You must really look to find him.I was lucky enough to do this,as it so happened that the movie of Bertolucci The Last Emperor of China had come out.In China Chinese people love Italians.So when they asked me are you American I said no Italia.They answered ah Marco Polo.Isn't that funny?
I suggest that you read this book if you are fascinated with the Chinese culture.After all what happened,happened and things cannot change.Our daughter also did a paper in High School about the Last Emperor of China using this book as a guide.I hope that this was useful to you,I enjoyed it very much.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Link back to the past, August 30, 2007

By	Cephas Lim "Cephas" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

I bought this book when I was in Holiday in Malaysia. I have always been fascinated by Pu Yi. How he felt being on the dragon throne and falling from the greatest height and living through it and reforming is such a fantastic story.

I think his story is fair portrayal of his life though in the ending it was a bit tinted to glorify the communist party. But overall it gave a good assessment of his life, his pains, his cowardice and most of all his reformation to a citizen.

You could almost feel his anguish as he was writing it.

I would highly recommend this book as I could not put it down since I bought it.