Pujie

Pujie
Pujie (left) and Hiro Saga at their wedding in 1937
Born	(1907-04-16)16 April 1907 Beijing, Qing Empire
Died	Beijing, China
Spouse	Tangshixia Lady Hiro Saga
Issue	Princess Huisheng (1938-1957) Princess Husheng (1941- )
Full name Aisin Gioro Pujie 愛新覺羅溥傑
House	House of Aisin Gioro
Father	Zaifeng
Mother	Youlan

Prince Aisin-Gioro Pujie (16 April 1907 – 28 February 1994) was the younger brother and heir of Puyi, the last emperor of China. In 1945, he was arrested for collaborating with the Japanese during World War II. He was released a year after his brother in 1960 and later joined the Chinese Communist Party.

Biography

Early life

Pujie
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	溥杰
Simplified Chinese	溥傑
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Pǔjié Wade–Giles Pu3 Chieh2
Japanese name
Kanji	溥傑
Transcriptions Romanization Fuketsu

Pujie was the second son of Zaifeng and his wife Youlan. As a child, he was brought to the Forbidden City in Beijing to be a playmate and classmate to his brother Puyi. A well-known incident recounted how the young Puyi threw a tantrum when he saw that the inner lining of one of Pujie's coats was yellow in colour, as yellow was traditionally a colour reserved only for the Emperor.

In 1929, Pujie was sent to Japan for studies. He graduated from the Gakushuin Peers’ School and became fluent in the Japanese language. He then went on to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, graduating in July 1935.

Pujie was first married in 1924 to a Manchu princess, Tángshíxiá (唐石霞), but they had no issue. He left his wife behind when he went to Japan for studies, and the marriage was dissolved some years later. After graduation from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, Pujie agreed to an arranged marriage with a Japanese noblewoman. Pujie selected Lady Hiro Saga (1914–1987), who was a relative of the Japanese Imperial Family, from a photograph from a number of possible candidates vetted by the Kwantung Army. As his brother Puyi was without a direct heir, the wedding had strong political implications, and was aimed at both fortifying relations between the two nations and introducing Japanese blood into the Manchu imperial family.

The engagement ceremony took place at the Embassy of Manchukuo in Tokyo on 2 February 1937 with the official wedding held in the Imperial Army Hall at Kudanzaka, Tokyo, on 3 April. In October, the couple moved to Hsinking, the capital of Manchukuo, where Puyi was then the Emperor.

Manchukuo

As his elder brother Puyi had no children, Pujie was regarded as first in line to succeed to the Manchukuo throne, and the Japanese officially proclaimed him as heir apparent. However, he was not appointed by his brother as heir to the Qing dynasty, as imperial traditions stated that a childless emperor should choose his heir from one of the next generations of the family. While in Manchukuo, Pujie served as honorary head of the Manchukuo Imperial Guards. He returned briefly to Japan in 1944 to attend the Army Staff College.

At the time of the collapse of Manchukuo during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria of August 1945, Pujie initially attempted to escape to exile in Japan with his brother. However, as it became apparent that no escape was possible, he opted to return to Hsinking in an unsuccessful attempt to surrender the city to Kuomingtang forces of the Republic of China, rather than have the city fall into Russian hands.

Pujie was arrested by the Soviet Red Army, and was sent to prison camps in Chita and Khabarovsk in Siberia with his brother and other relatives. With the Sino-Soviet rapprochement after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Pujie was extradited to China in 1950.

Under the People's Republic of China

On his return to China, Pujie was incarcerated in the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre. A model prisoner, he became a symbol of leniency by the communist regime, joined the Communist Party of China, and later served in a number of important posts.

In 1978, Pujie became a deputy from Shanghai at the 5th National People's Congress. He subsequently served as deputy from Liaoning, Politburo Standing Committee Member, and Vice Chairman of the Nationalities Committee of the 6th National People's Congress in 1983. He was appointed Deputy Head of the China-Japan Friendship Group from 1985. He rose to a seat on the Presidium of the 7th National People's Congress in 1988. From 1986, Pujie was also Honorary Director for the Handicapped Welfare Fund.

In addition, he served as a technical adviser on the 1987 film The Last Emperor.

Ancestry

Family of Pujie

16. Jiaqing Emperor               8. Daoguang Emperor                       17. Empress Xiaoshurui               4. Yixuan                             18. Uya Lingshou               9. Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangshun                       2. Zaifeng                                   10. Lingiya Deqing                       5. Lady Lingiya                             1. Pujie                                         24. Guwalgiya Tasiha               12. Guwalgiya Changshou                       6. Guwalgiya Ronglu                             3. Guwalgiya Youlan                                   7. Yehenara Wanzhen

Descendants

Pujie had two daughters.

• Huisheng 慧生 (1939–1957) – H.H. Princess (Chün Chu Kung Chu) Huisheng, was born at Hsinking on February 1938 and educated privately and then studied at Gakushuin University. She was killed (murdered) on 10 December 1957 in what appears to have been a murder-suicide.

• Husheng 嫮生 (born 1941) – H.H. Princess (Chün Chu Kung Chu) Yunsheng was educated privately and then studied at Gakushuin Women's University in Tokyo. She later married Kosei Fukunaga, a Japanese aristocrat employed in the automobile industry in Tokyo. She has five children.

In 1961, Pujie was reunited with his wife with permission by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. The couple lived in Beijing from 1961 until her death in 1987.

Under the terms of a Manchukuo succession law adopted in 1937, Pujie, as the emperor's full brother, was heir to the throne of Manchukuo when Puyi died in 1967. Pujie had no sons. When he died, the right of succession passed to his nearest male relative, namely Jin Youzhi, his half-brother.

See also

• Qing Dynasty nobility
• Ranks of Imperial Consorts in China

External links

• "The Last Emperor's Brother HUKETSU" (Chiba Prefecture, Japan's English-language page)
• Information about TV Asahi's (Japan) Autumn 2003 dramatization of Pujie and Lady Hiro Saga's marriage, Ryuuten no ouhi – Saigo no koutei (流転の王妃・最後の皇弟)

Pujie Qing Dynasty Born: 16 April 1907 Died: 28 February 1994
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Kangde Emperor (Puyi)	— TITULAR — Emperor of China 17 October 1967 – 28 February 1994 Reason for succession failure: Empire abolished in 1912	Succeeded by Puren
	— TITULAR — Emperor of Manchukuo 17 October 1967 – 28 February 1994 Reason for succession failure: Empire abolished in 1945