Aisin-Gioro Yinian (1916–1987),

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin Chinese), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by artists, poets and writers in the Sinosp ...

Rushiguan Ge (如是觀閣) was a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

nobleman, author and the last heir of the principality of Rui before the extinction of his line. He was also known by his Han Chinese name Jin Jishui ().

Life

The peerage of Prince Rui was created in 1636 in honor of

Dorgon Dorgon (17 November 1612 – 31 December 1650) was a Manchu prince and regent of the early Qing dynasty. Born in the House of Aisin-Gioro as the 14th son of Nurhaci (the founder of the Later Jin dynasty, which was the predecessor of the Qi ...

's merits. Although Dorgon had no male heir, his nephew Dorbo was adopted by him and succeeded his title. Yinian was a descendant of Dorbo. Yinian was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. In his early years, he was surrounded by the servants in his family residence and enjoyed a prestigious life. After the death of his uncle Zhongquan in 1939, who had no offspring, Yinian was designated as his uncle's successor.

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 head of the house of

Aisin-Gioro The House of Aisin-Gioro is a Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and Manchukuo (1932–1945) in the history of China. Under the Ming dynasty, members of the Aisin Gioro clan served as chie ...

who had abdicated from the throne of China by then, was set up as a puppet by the

Japanese Empire 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 1910 to ...

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

. Puyi attempted to contact Yinian and invited him to succeed his uncle's peerage. Yinian was enraged by Puyi's offer since he deeply despised Puyi for the latter's cooperation with the Japanese. As a result, he refused his title and peerage and even compared Puyi with

Shi Jingtang Shi Jingtang ( zh, 石敬瑭; 30 March 892 – 28 July 942''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 283.), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Gaozu of Later Jin (), was the founding emperor of the Later Jin dynasty of China during the Five Dynas ...

, who cooperated with the

Khitans The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical nomadic people from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East. As a people desce ...

. Yinian's living condition had worsened throughout years due to his uncle's squandering of family properties. By the time of his uncle's death, he had to pawn off valuable belongings he possessed. Despite not being able to make a living, he rejected the invitations that offered him a job in the administration system of Japanese occupation. After the wars, Yinian worked in

Beijing Library Beijing Library (北京城市图书馆) is located north of the Central Green Forest Park in Tongzhou, Beijing, Tongzhou, Beijing, and is one of the three major buildings in the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center. It was completed and opened ...

as a transcriber. He published several novels in the 1940s. In the 1950s, he started a magazine with another Manchu writer Jin Shoushen from

Wanyan The Wanyan (; Manchu: ''Wanggiyan''; Jurchen script: ), alternatively rendered as Wanggiya, was a clan of the Heishui Mohe tribe living in the drainage region of the Heilong River during the time of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Of the Heis ...

clan. 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 ...

, he was able to make through the political turbulence without being harmed, since he was not into politics. In 1974, he was invited by a government-run publishing house to participate in the revision of the ''

Compendium of Materia Medica The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in th ...

''. Yinian died in 1987 unmarried and childless. Yinian's memoir “Life in the Imperial Mansion” was a faithful recall of the aristocratic life of Qing dynasty nobles. His poetry also received a certain degree of recognition among the Chinese literati.

References

{{Reflist 1916 births 1987 deaths Aisin Gioro Manchu literature Qing dynasty imperial princes Prince Rui (睿)