The Mothers of the Last Emperor
The high consort Duan kang. She was the strongest among Puyi’s four formal mothers in the palace.
On November 5, 1924 the last emperor of China was forced out of the Forbidden City, however it would take almost two weeks for the most senior consorts to leave the palace. In the newspapers of the time it was speculated why it took so long to expel them. According to the newspaper Shuntian Times (顺天时报) it was probably because they were seen as having a higher social standing than the emperor himself as they were the most senior members of the Imperial family. It would not have been appropriate for them to follow the emperor to his father’s residence , so another place had to be prepared for them as they did not belong to the same generation.
“Recently, it is said that the two senior concubines Jingyi and Ronghui are not leaving the Forbidden City and they want to commit suicide. This has become a problem. Both general Lu and the Chief of police Mr. Zhang have asked the abdicated emperor to persuade them to leave, but with no success. The situation is quite complicated - not only does the republican government not know why they do not want to leave, even the abdicated emperor does not really understand. Yesterday, someone familiar with the Qing Court affairs told us his opinion for reference, which is as follows:
“The senior concubines Jingyi and Ronghui are the concubines of Emperor Tongzhi, who died without a son. It was completely wrong to let Emperor Guangxu succeed the throne (because they were of the same generation). When Guangxu died also without a son, his brother’s son Puyi became the emperor. The reign title’s name Xuantong means that this emperor was continuing the line of Emperor Xuan Zong (Daoguang), so he was considered as the son of Emperor De Zong (Guangxu) instead of Mu Zong (Tongzhi). This made these two senior concubines extremely unhappy - they refused to come back to Beijing from Empress Dowager Cixi’s tomb until the Qing Court agreed that Emperor Xuantong was the son of both Mu Zong and De Zong.”
- Shuntian Times Nov.12 1924
The incident above mentioned highlights something easy to forget: the power and status of the senior women of the palace. Very often empresses and high consorts would outlive an emperor. This meant that they would have a strong say in almost any matter within the palace confinement as the most senior member of the Imperial family. The consorts could influence the emperor from a very early age, as men had very restricted access to the chambers of the palace. In his autobiography “From Emperor to Citizen” the last emperor of China Puyi describes his relation to the senior consorts in the chapter “Mothers and Son”:
“When I entered the palace as the adopted son of the emperors Tung Chih and Kuang Hsu all their wives became my mothers…Normally I saw very little of them and I never sat and talked with them in an ordinary, friendly way. Every morning I would go to pay them my respects. A eunuch would put down a hassock covered with yellow silk for me to kneel on, and after kneeling to them for a moment I would get up and stand to one side waiting for them to make their usual remarks. At this time of day they were having their hair combed by eunuchs and they would ask me, “Did the emperor sleep well?” or advise me to dress warmly as the weather was cold, or inquire how far I had got in the book I was studying. It was always the same—a few dry and stereotyped remarks; sometimes they would give me a few clay toys or something of the kind and then they would say, “Go away and play now emperor.” This would be the end of our meeting and I would not see them again for the rest of the day.”
The only mother the last emperor almost never saw was Youlan, his biological mother. She lived outside the palace and was not formally recognized as the mother of the emperor. Youlan ended her life tragically, committing suicide after she had been scolded by the strongest among Puyi’s formal mothers Duan Kang.