The Last Emperor of China

About this book

New York Times bestselling author Paul French tells the extraordinary story of the last Emperor of China and the final two years during which he and his court occupied Peking's secretive Forbidden City. A monarch without a crown, a ruler without a people, an emperor without a realm. In the early 1920s, the former-Emperor of China, Puyi and his Empress, Wanrong, were sequestered inside Peking's ancient Forbidden City. Surrounded by scheming courtiers, fawning servants, and corrupt eunuchs, Puyi did not know from one day to the next whether he would experience restoration, expulsion, or assassination. The Last Emperor of China delves into the final years of the Manchu Dynasty, beginning with China's last royal wedding. Contrary to established belief, this was not a loveless marriage between an impotent Emperor and a neglected Empress. Paul French calls upon previously unpublished letters from the Emperor's tutor and the diary of Wanrong's English teacher, her closest companion. These sources shed an entirely new light on the final days of China's last dynasty before the imperial court's brutal expulsion, revealing a loving relationship and an Emperor attempting to assert control of the Forbidden City. More than just the tale of the royal couple, The Last Emperor of China is also the story of the ancient citadel itself--the Forbidden City. It was a haven prohibited to all except the imperial family and their court. It survived looting, conflagration, and bombardment. A redoubt of the old dynasty, the Forbidden City was perhaps the greatest symbol of constancy and power in China--as it remains today.