Li Yuqin (15 July 1928 – 24 April 2001), sometimes referred to as the "Last Imperial Concubine" (), was the fourth wife of China's last emperor

Puyi Puyi (7 February 190617 October 1967) was the final emperor of China, reigning as the eleventh monarch of the Qing dynasty from 1908 to 1912. When the Guangxu Emperor died without an heir, Empress Dowager Cixi picked his nephew Puyi, aged tw ...

. She married Puyi when the latter was the nominal ruler of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

, a puppet state established by the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

Biography

Li Yuqin was a Han Chinese woman who was born in

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

to a middle class family from

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. Her father, Li Degui was a translator to a local missionary organisation, while her mother, Wang Xiuru, was the owner of a small silk farm in Changchun’s outskirts. Both sides of Li’s family served the imperial court, with her paternal great grandmother being the wet nurse to the Xianfeng Emperor’s daughter and her maternal family being court physicians. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, many people who worked in the imperial court were banished by republican forces to the countryside provinces, which is how the Li family ended up in the commoner class. Li had two brothers and three sisters and had a relatively happy childhood. Li attended Nanling Girls' Academy () in Changchun, then known as Hsinking, the capital of

. In February 1943, Li and nine other girl students were taken by their principal Kobayashi and teacher Fujii to a photography studio for portraits. Three weeks later, the school principal and teacher visited Li's home and told her that Manchukuo's emperor

had ordered her to go to the palace to study. She was first taken directly to Yasunori Yoshioka, who thoroughly questioned her. Yoshioka then drove her back to her parents and told them Puyi ordered her to study at the palace. Money was promised to the parents. She was subjected to a medical examination and then taken to Puyi's sister Yunhe and instructed in palace protocol. Li then became a concubine of Puyi and was given the title of Noble Lady Fu (). She lived a lavish lifestyle and had many servants. Li stated that she and Puyi only consummated their relationship once and never had sex again. In 1945 the

regime collapsed following the Japanese surrender at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Li attempted to flee from Changchun, alongside

, Empress Wanrong and other remaining members of the old Qing court. She, as well as the rest of Puyi's family was evacuated with him by train from

to Dalizigou. From there, however, Puyi continued by plane with only two of his sisters, his brothers, three nephews, his physician and a servant to

Mukden Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. It is the province's most populous city with a p ...

, where he was arrested and taken to the Soviet Union.Puyi (Swedish): ''Jag var kejsare av Kina'' (I was the emperor of China) (1988) According to Puyi, Li Yuqin was very frightened and begged to be taken with him, when he left from Dalizigou to Mukden, but he assured her that she and Wanrong could reach Japan as well by train. Some documents state that Puyi let the women go by train in the belief that women would be better treated by the military than men. Li Yuqin in 1981

They were shortly arrested by Soviet forces and sent to a prison in Changchun. Empress Wanrong was experiencing significant opium withdrawal symptoms at that time. Empress Wanrong died shortly in the same year before Li was released in 1946 and sent back home. She worked in a textile factory and in a library in Changchun, studying the works of

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

. In 1955 she began visiting Puyi in prison. After applying to the Chinese authorities for a divorce, Li was shown into a room with a large bed on her fifth visit to Puyi. According to Li it was the leader of Puyi's ''unit'' who wanted to reform Puyi. Li said of Emperor Puyi: ''As an emperor, he brought a lot of disaster to the Chinese people and became a collaborator. But as a human being, he also suffered a lot of pain and misery much heavier than the common people's." Li officially divorced

in 1957. She later married a technician named Huang Yugeng (), with whom she had two sons. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

Li became a target for attack by the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

because she used to be Puyi's concubine. She died on 24 April 2001 at the age of 73 in

after a six-year battle with

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...

References

External links

Ex-wife of China's Last Emperor Dies
People's Daily Online, April 28, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Yuqin 1928 births 2001 deaths Manchukuo royalty Deaths from cirrhosis People from Changchun Remarried royal consorts