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From Emperor To Citizen: The Autobiography Of Aisin Gioro Pu Yi
by
Pu Yi
,
Henry Pu Yi
“Important and fascinating.” —
The New York Times
In 1908 at the age of two, Henry Pu Yi ascended to become the last emperor of the centuries-old Manchu dynasty. After revolutionaries forced Pu Yi to abdicate in 1911, the young emperor lived for thirteen years in Peking’s Forbidden City, but with none of the power his birth afforded him. The remainder of Pu Yi’s life was li
...more
Hardcover
,
496 pages
Published
by Foreign Languages Press
(first published 1964)
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Community Reviews
(showing
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969)
This is one of those occasions where the movie is better than the book.
The Last Emperor of China had an interesting life, even if he had little say in it. He was the last remnant of an absolute monarchy which had existed in various forms (with some interruptions) since the time of Alexander the Great. He ended his life as a gardener and a citizen of the People's Republic of China after the Cultural Revolution. For much of his life, however, he had no power at all, even if he had some wealth. He ...more
The Last Emperor of China had an interesting life, even if he had little say in it. He was the last remnant of an absolute monarchy which had existed in various forms (with some interruptions) since the time of Alexander the Great. He ended his life as a gardener and a citizen of the People's Republic of China after the Cultural Revolution. For much of his life, however, he had no power at all, even if he had some wealth. He ...more
Seorang lelaki tua berkaca mata dengan perawaan kurus berjalan tertatih-tatih menuju sebuah singgasana kerajaan yang ditutupi kain merah. Lelaki tua itu memandangi kursi dengan penuh perasaan, lalu perlahan mendekati kursi, nyaris melewati tanda dilarang mendekat setelah sebelumnya menengokkan kepala ke kanan dan kiri memastikan tidak ada seorang pun yang memperhatikan dirinya.
Tiba-tiba seorang anak kecil berseru memanggil dirinya, lebih tepatnya memanggil ”Kakek” Anak kecil itu memberitahukan b ...more
Tiba-tiba seorang anak kecil berseru memanggil dirinya, lebih tepatnya memanggil ”Kakek” Anak kecil itu memberitahukan b ...more
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Ever since watching "The Last Emperor," I've kind of been obsessed with court life in imperial China, so I decided to read about it straight from the horse's mouth in this autobiography by China's last emperor, PuYi. Sure, the ridiculously opulent palace lifestyle was fascinating, and his descriptions of empress/tyrant Tzi Chi entertainingly creepy, but PuYi's fall from absolute power was even more gripping. This was a man who had complete control over millions of people, lost it during the revo
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You could almost feel the party official standing over his shoulder as he wrote it.
Henry Pu Yi. Lahir tanggal 7 Feb 1906 dan diangkat menjadi kaisar pada tanggal 13 Nov 1908. Tanggal 12 Feb 1912 janda permaisuri Lung Yu mengumumkan penurunan tahta Pu Yi.
Pu Yi adalah kaisar yang berkuasa hanya selama 3 tahun tanpa adanya kesadaran yang nyata akan situasi politik . Setelah kedaulatan pemerintahan China berganti menjadi Republik, Pu Yi masih diperbolehkan melanjutkan kehidupan di istana yang disebut dengan Kota Terlarang dan mempertahankan tradisi kerajaan. Hal ini tertuang dalam ...more
Pu Yi adalah kaisar yang berkuasa hanya selama 3 tahun tanpa adanya kesadaran yang nyata akan situasi politik . Setelah kedaulatan pemerintahan China berganti menjadi Republik, Pu Yi masih diperbolehkan melanjutkan kehidupan di istana yang disebut dengan Kota Terlarang dan mempertahankan tradisi kerajaan. Hal ini tertuang dalam ...more
Buku yang perlu kau baca dalam hidupmu! Memang buku ini bukanlah buku yang akan membuatmu terkesima atau excited. Bahkan boleh dibilang kadang-kadang menbosankan. Namun, selain kita bisa belajar sejarah darinya, sosok Henry Pu-Yi mengajarkan banyak hal tentang kehidupan pada kita. Kau akan dibuat kagum padanya, sebuah contoh bahwa kelemahan kita bisa dikalahkan oleh kemauan keras kita untuk memperbaikinya.
Review lengkapnya ada disini: http://bukufanda.blogspot.com/2011/04...
Review lengkapnya ada disini: http://bukufanda.blogspot.com/2011/04...
I found the book quite comforting in the long run than watching the movie. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of Chinese history, so that actually affected my rating.
Still, it is fun to discover the life of the last emperor. I hope all societies will learn from Pu Yi's life.
Still, it is fun to discover the life of the last emperor. I hope all societies will learn from Pu Yi's life.
This is interesting - I read it for a class back in the 80's.
Jun 15, 2015
Tariq Mahmood
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history
,
south-east-asia
This autobiography is a unique account of an Emperor, Henry Pu Yi, the Lord of 10,000 years, fall from his privileged position to that of a humble and ordinary citizen of Mao's communist regime in modern China. For me the first earlier chapters of Henry's life in the Forbidden city were interesting but not riveting enough as his time colluding with the Imperialist Japan to his incarceration by Russia and China's communist regime. The chapters detailing his transformation to an ordinary citizen o
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I saw the movie 25 years ago and loved it and now I finally read the book - and now I want to see the movie again. This is a marvellous book. Such and extraordinary life told through an incredible period of history: imperial autocratic rule to communism, Japanese invasion ww2, Stalin, Mao ....navigating these momentous times complex times - especially the machinations of the Japanese and the whole Manchukuo period - through the eyes of a single individual is tremendously helpful to understanding
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Buku ini berdasarkan penuturan Pu Yi sendiri. Dia menceritakan perjalanan hidupnya yang luar biasa: penobatannya sebagai Kaisar pada usia dua tahun, hubungannya dengan orang-orang di sekitarnya, korupsi yang menggerogoti kerajaan, menjadi boneka penguasa Jepang, mendekam di penjara sebagai tawanan perang, dan menjadi tukang kebun di mana hanya sedikit orang yang mengenalnya sebagai Putra Langit.
Dengan sangat terbuka dan sedemikian banyaknya informasi teperinci yang gamblang, Pu Yi menulis kisah ...more
Dengan sangat terbuka dan sedemikian banyaknya informasi teperinci yang gamblang, Pu Yi menulis kisah ...more
This is the story of the author's personal journey, not a history textbook, and so it's a poor way to try and understand the events of the period. Pu Yi centers the story on himself, a man surrounded and imprisoned by privilege and controlling forces, so the larger events of history come at him second or third-hand. As a result, there's no clear high-level picture, and I was left wondering what other information is necessary to understand all of it: there are times where he makes reference a set
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This autobiography traces the unique life of Henry Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, from when he first ascended the throne at 2 years 10 months of age, through his time in hiding, to his time puppet ruling Manchukuo for the Japanese in WWII, to his thought reform under the communists.
The first 3/4 of the book will make you very angry at Pu Yi. He is incredibly self-centered with all of his focus being on his own continued life and continuing imperialism in China. He not once thinks of the good ...more
The first 3/4 of the book will make you very angry at Pu Yi. He is incredibly self-centered with all of his focus being on his own continued life and continuing imperialism in China. He not once thinks of the good ...more
I read this years ago after seeing The Last Emperor, traveling to China, and making a comment to our guide/translator about how the set of the Forbidden City looked so much like the real thing. She said that the scenes in the film were not shot on a set, and told me that the film was based on this book. (I was very happy that I had gone half way around the world to see something only to find it closed for a film production!) Some research later led to the fact that Bertolucci had read it before
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Mar 22, 2010
Samuel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those interested in Chinese history and also fans of good stories.
This was a very fascinating read indeed. The autobiography of the last emperor of China, Pu Yi, tells the story of the great changes in China when the days of the old empire ended and new communist China was born. Caught in all this is a man with quite a sad destiny. Pu Yi became the emperor at a very young age of two only to lose his title soon after. His confined life continued as a puppet emperor of Manchukuo for the Japanese and finally a prisoner. Only through reformation by the communist g
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It's odd to read an autobiography with an unreliable narrator- after a sheltered life that could not possibly have produced and entirely sound mind, after being used as a puppet emperor by the Japanese, being a prisoner for 5 years in the Soviet Union, Pu Yi wrote this book while under governement supervision after release from the War Prisoner Thought Control Center by the government of Mao Tse Tung.
So while describing his life in the palace he says things like " I still have one of my breakfas ...more
So while describing his life in the palace he says things like " I still have one of my breakfas ...more
As with all autobiographies, things can be forgotten, some parts of life omitted, and the conclusion questionable. In Pu Yi's case, the book was published in Communist China. Sure, he was rehabilitated, but was it because he sincerely believed he was wrong and saw that communism is the way, or he learned to adapt, just go with the flow and hope he would be released? That's my question. That has been his life.
The autobiography of the last emperor of China. It reads like an account of every major event of the 20th century as this man, crowned emperor in 1908 at the age of two, forced to abdicate in 1912 but continuing to live previous lifestyle until 1924, installed as a puppet emperor of Manchuria by the Japanese in 1934, captured by Soviet troops in 1945 and in 1950 turned over to Communist China for re-education in a prison until 1959 when he is rehabilitated as a representative to the Communist Pa
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Hace mucho que no leía una autobiografía y ésta es en definitiva interesante. La redacción es sencilla y sin profundidad, esto pienso es resultado de una traducción plana; aún así despertó mi curiosidad hacia China. Sobretodo me hizo ver que no se absolutamente nada acerca de su política. Trataré de buscar más libros acerca de todo esto en el futuro. Leí que existe una película y ya esta en mi lista para ver.
Kind of boring at first but then you get used to his style of writing. Horribly complicated at the beginning when he was explaining about his family and how he became the successor of becoming the emperor. First time I stop right before the went to Tianjin. The pictures in the books were fascinating which helped me to visualise things when reading the book, thought the frustrating things about this book were the names! My parents are chinese (born in China), I also speak chinese fluently althoug
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Interessant und tragisch: Das Dokument eines Mannes, der zeitlebens instrumentalisiert wurde. Erschütternd ist es insbesondere durch die Idealisierung der Politik Maos, konkret bspw. des "Großen Sprungs nach vorne", die Millionen Menschen das Leben kostete.
Sep 05, 2012
Arief Rahman
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history-biography-and-memoar
,
nonfiction
Takdir. Sebuah kata yang bahkan seorang Kaisar tak mampu mengungkapnya. Siapa yang tahu anak yg pernah dijuluki Putera Langit dan pewaris dinasti berusia ratusan tahun berubah hidupnya menjadi rakyat jelata? Henry Pu Yi (ia suka dengan nama Henry pemberian gurunya dari Inggris) tahu betul akan kisahnya: lahir sebagai pewaris dinasti yg hampir mati, menjadi raja boneka dan ikut program "cuci otak" nya pemerintahan Komunis. Semua ia tuangkan dalam biografi yaing sangat menyentuh ini. Masa-masa pen
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Tragic.. that is the life of the last Emperor of China. When i read this book, all i can feel for him is pity. Sometimes i feel he deserves it, but as i read in one chapter when he told about how he was left alone, getting bullied, insulted, and had to suffer all the humiliation back in Fushun as prisoner, i can't help but feel pity. This inspires me in perspective of how to see life, be grateful of what we have and believe that there is always rise and fall in our life. I can't imagine how does
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Benar kaaan? Buku yang aku punya judulnya The last emperor! Susah mencarinya disini :( udah aku inget2 mulai sekarang kalau cari buku terjemahan, judulnya ngga boleh jauh beda sama buku aslinya :D
Buku ini epic historis, luar biasa kurasa, entah karena aku memang penggemar buku-buku memoar dan true story kelas berat, atau buku ini bener-bener memang bagus, sama sajalah =)) Buku ini menceritakan sejarah hidup Henry Pu Yi sebagai kaisar cina terakhir, dari beliau berumur 2 tahun sampai beberapa wak ...more
Buku ini epic historis, luar biasa kurasa, entah karena aku memang penggemar buku-buku memoar dan true story kelas berat, atau buku ini bener-bener memang bagus, sama sajalah =)) Buku ini menceritakan sejarah hidup Henry Pu Yi sebagai kaisar cina terakhir, dari beliau berumur 2 tahun sampai beberapa wak ...more
The second half of the book is easier to get through than the first. There are just so many names and I got confused a lot about the different wives, consorts, cousins, servants, etc. that existed in the Forbidden City. Also, since the book was written under communist rule and after Pu Yi was "reeducated", I have to believe that the story was swayed and probably not completely accurate. Overall, a fascinating story of how China changed from imperial to communist rule including details about the
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penasaran sama buku ini pas beli. apalagi tahu bahwa cerita ini adalah autobiografi kaisar terakhir cina yang sempat difilmkan. Pas baca, nyatanya, saya kesulitan mencerna buku ini, karena bahasanya yang agak rumit dan lebih seperti buku dokumenter daripada novel. cerita meloncat-loncat dari satu peristiwa, tahun, dan tokoh-tokoh yang silih berganti dengan bahasa yang dokumenter abis. tulisan di buku ini adalah autobiografi kaisar terakhir itu sendiri lho.. #bukunya belum selesai-selesai dan bel
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This was a very intriguing book. This is the autobiography of the last emperor of China. It offers an amazing insight into the life of the Chinese imperial court in the early 20th century as well as the difficult times of the War Lords, Japanese occupation and early years of the Communist government. One of the really fascinating aspects is that Pu Yi wrote this under the supervision (and guidance?) of the Communist authorities. A fascinating view of history by an important figure.
Pu Yi Last Emperor of China, his life, and his death.Considering that the book is a translation I think it was very well written,bringing out the past,the present and what happened to Pu Yi at the end of his life. And I also think his story is fair portrayal of his life though in the ending it was a bit tinted to glorify the communist party. But overall it gave a good assessment of his life, his pains, his cowardice and most of all his reformation to a citizen
"Important and fascinating" is what the blurb on the cover says, and this is true. Unfortunately, these adjectives don't always mean that the book is fun to read.
The story itself really is important and fascinating, but the book itself is rather dry. I watched Bertolucci's film adaptation of this autobio a few years ago and liked it so much that I decided to read the book when the opportunity arose. I would recommend the movie first.
The story itself really is important and fascinating, but the book itself is rather dry. I watched Bertolucci's film adaptation of this autobio a few years ago and liked it so much that I decided to read the book when the opportunity arose. I would recommend the movie first.
Worth reading but of course much bias must be taken into consideration given the circumstances under which it was written. It's a shame it could not have been written with more freedom and less propaganda. As such, it's very political and I would have liked to learn more about Pu Yi's personal relationships too.
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Also credited as "Henry Pu Yi" or "Aisin Gioro Pu Yi"
Pu Yi, of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the last Emperor of China, and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing Dynasty.
More about Pu Yi...
Pu Yi, of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the last Emperor of China, and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing Dynasty.
