Li Yuqin

Li Yuqin (15 July 1928 – 24 April 2001), sometimes referred to as the "Last Imperial Concubine" (末代皇娘), was the fourth wife of China's last emperor Puyi. She married Puyi when the latter was the nominal ruler of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War.^[1]

Biography

Li Yuqin was a Han Chinese woman who was born in Changchun to a middle class family from Shandong. 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 (新京南嶺女子優級學校) in Changchun, then known as Hsinking, the capital of Manchukuo. 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 Puyi 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 (福貴人). 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.^[2]

In 1945 the

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."[2]

Li officially divorced

She died on 24 April 2001 at the age of 73 in Changchun after a six-year battle with cirrhosis.^[1]

Notes

External links

• Ex-wife of China's Last Emperor Dies People's Daily Online, April 28, 2001