Reginald-fleming johnston sir james haldane steward lockhart

Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston ( zh, s=庄士敦爵士, t=莊士敦爵士, p=Zhuāngshìdūn juéshì, l=Sir Johnston; 13 October 1874 – 6 March 1938) was a Scottish

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and colonial official who served as the tutor and advisor to

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 ...

, the last

emperor of China Throughout Chinese history, "Emperor" () was the superlative title held by the monarchs of imperial China's various dynasties. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was the " Son of Heaven", an autocrat with the divine mandat ...

. He was also the last British Commissioner of Weihaiwei. Johnston's book '' Twilight in the Forbidden City'' (1934) was used as a source for

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci ( ; ; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved inte ...

's film dramatization of Puyi's life ''

The Last Emperor ''The Last Emperor'' () is a 1987 epic biographical drama film about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China. It is directed by Bernardo Bertolucci from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mark Peploe, which was adapted from Puyi's 1964 auto ...

''.

Early life

Johnston was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. He studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and later was awarded a scholarship to read modern history at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. While at Oxford Johnston had begun a friendship with Cecil Clementi. Both shared an interest in sinology; Clementi and Johnston would keep in contact for the rest of their lives. In 1898, he joined the

Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

and was initially posted to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. In 1904, he was transferred to the British leased territory at Weihaiwei on the coast of the Shandong Peninsula as a District Officer, working with Sir James Stewart Lockhart. For his extreme industry, Johnston was noted from his superiors as a capable colonial magistrate. Johnston was also a keen traveller. In 1902, he explored

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. In 1904, he visited Kiautschou,

Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...

, and later

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. In January 1906, he undertook a year-long journey from Peking to

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

, publishing an account of his experiences in 1908. A "militant anti-Christian" whose criticism of missionaries in China possibly hindered his promotion, Johnston was fascinated by Chinese Buddhism. In 1908, he had a private audience with the 13th Dalai Lama, one of the few westerners to do so. He wrote three books during his time in the service: ''From Peking to Mandalay'' (1908), ''Lion and Dragon in Northern China'' (1910), and ''Buddhist China'' (1913).

Tutor to Puyi, in the Forbidden City

Selected by the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

for his expertise in Chinese history and culture in 1919, he was appointed

tutor Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...

of thirteen-year-old

who still lived inside the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is the Chinese Empire, imperial Chinese palace, palace complex in the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasty L ...

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

as a non-sovereign monarch. As the Scottish-born tutor to the Dragon Emperor, Johnston and Isabel Ingram, daughter of an American missionary and the empress's tutor, were the only foreigners in history to be allowed inside the inner court of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. Johnston carried high imperial titles and lived in both the Forbidden City and the New Summer Palace. Johnston met the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

imperial descendant, Zhu Yuxun, the Marquis of Extended Grace, and arranged for him to meet Puyi in the Forbidden City. More than a tutor, Johnston befriended the isolated adolescent. In his account of his time at the Forbidden City, Johnston notes the rampant corruption of the imperial household, with

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

s selling off dynastic treasures. He obtained a bicycle and telephone for Pu Yi, and against the wishes of the retainers, much-needed spectacles. After Puyi was expelled from the

in 1924, Johnston briefly served in an advisory capacity to Puyi before returning to his colonial service duties. Serving as Secretary to the British China Indemnity Commission (1926). In 1927, he was appointed the second civilian Commissioner at Weihaiwei. He ran the territory until it was returned to the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

on 1 October 1930. Johnston tried to get the British diplomatic legation in Peking to host Puyi, and although the British authorities were not very interested in welcoming the former emperor, the British representative eventually gave Johnston his consent. However, he later discovered that Puyi - in view of the situation and against Johnston's advice, had taken refuge in the Japanese legation after being advised by Zheng Xiaoxu.

After China

Johnston was appointed Professor of Chinese in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1931, a post based at the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

, to which he bequeathed his library in 1935. This library, one of the finest collections of Chinese and East Asian books in the country, consists of over 16,000 volumes. He retained his ties with Puyi, hosting one of his sisters and her husband at his house in Mortlake Road,

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

, in London during the 1930s, and even visited him in

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 ...

in July 1935. Johnston retired in 1937, having acquired the small island of Eilean Rìgh in Loch Craignish, Scotland, Pu Yi granted Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston permission to fly the Imperial flag of Manchukuo on the Island, making it the only location outside of China to do so, and grew a Chinese style garden.Arnold C. Brackman, ''The Last Emperor''.New York: Scribner's, 1975, p. 206 After a short illness, he died in Edinburgh. In his will, he requested that no religious ceremony be conducted. In accordance with his wishes, he was cremated. His ashes were scattered on his island and the surrounding loch. He never married but was at one stage engaged to the historian Eileen Power, and was close to author Stella Benson. He was named as a respondent in the divorce of Elizabeth Sparshott, and was engaged to her at the time leading up to his death. Against his explicit request, Sparshott burned many of his materials and letters, including ones from Puyi's childhood in the Forbidden City. Sparshott justified her actions by saying "when a woman makes the supreme sacrifice for a man (her reputation) she probably feels too deeply to be able to identify herself with him for some long time". Johnston's book '' Twilight in the Forbidden City'' (1934) describes his experiences in Peking and was used as a source for

's film dramatization of Puyi's life ''

''. He was portrayed by Peter O'Toole in the film.

Published works

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References

External links