Ai Xin Jue Luo Puyi, this is arguably the most peculiar emperor in the history of the world, has always been a very important figure in modern Chinese history. Because he was the last emperor of China's last feudal dynasty, his life was basically floating and sinking with the fortunes of the country, and whenever China's direction changed slightly, his life experience would also change greatly. It can be said that he is a living sample of China's modern history. Such an important figure even Chairman Mao had to give up three points of courtesy, and after Puyi was pardoned, Chairman Mao invited Puyi to dinner at the Yinian Hall.
However, as an emperor who has abdicated, is a representative of a feudal dynasty, and should be an enemy of New China, why would Chairman Mao think of inviting Puyi to dinner?
Puyi, also known as The Xuantong Emperor, was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He was put on the throne at a very young age, for the simple reason that Empress Dowager Cixi at that time wanted to find a puppet emperor who was easy to control, so she took a fancy to Puyi. During his reign, the Guangxu Emperor became at odds with Cixi and tried to escape Cixi's control, but ultimately failed. This made Cixi realize that an adult as emperor would always want to do things on her own, stealing her beloved power. Therefore, in order to ensure that she can continue to be her "Wu Zetian", a young puppet emperor is needed to ascend to the throne so that she can continue to control the government.
Later, with the rise of the Xinhai Revolution, Yuan Shikai forced Puyi to abdicate, of course, Puyi at that time did not understand anything, and the decision to abdicate was not made by him. The Beiyang government is willing to spend money to support Puyi every year, and his life has not changed much. Such a life might have been better for him, for he would no longer have to live up to the emperor's daily red tape. Slowly, he grew up in the deep palace, he knew that he was the emperor, he knew that everyone in the palace listened to him, he always wanted to go out of the palace to see, to see the outside world, but the guards would not let him out of the palace. It wasn't until later, when his parents hired a foreign teacher for him, that his world slowly opened up from the Forbidden City and realized the vicissitudes outside.
However, China's feudal system, from the Xia Shang Zhou to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, has lasted for three thousand years. Words such as emperor and forbidden city are not as simple as a person and a city for Chinese, that is, the faith and reverence that Chinese last for thousands of years, and cannot be simply overthrown by a few new cultural movements and revolutions. Puyi was the last emperor of China, and in the eyes of many people at that time, he was not a simple person, but a representative of China's thousand-year-old cultural history, and the last hope of the Qing Dynasty in the world. At that time, in China, there were not a few people who still fantasized about the prosperous dynasty in their hearts, they still did not believe that China had changed, they still wanted to adhere to China's beliefs, and wanted to continue the law of China for thousands of years. Zhang Xun was restored, Emperor Xuantong was put on the throne again, and many people followed the holy decree again; the Beiyang government later thought about canceling the annual tribute of the Qing royal family, but there was always a group of people who jumped out to speak for the Qing royal family who were not related to each other. These people are not speaking for the Xuantong Emperor, they are speaking for the Qing Dynasty, for the sake of China's thousand-year-old culture, they are not willing to believe in the antiquity of these systems, they still have their hearts in mind what they call the prosperity of China. They expressed their views through Emperor Xuantong, but did not consider whether Puyi himself was willing or not.
Emperor Xuantong, an innocent, ignorant child, was wrapped up in the times and stood again and again on the cusp of China's millennium changes. Countless people were chattering around him, all fighting around him, but no one cared about his own wishes. He was slowly overwhelmed by these people, and he also thought in his heart that one day he would revive the Great Qing and reshape the glory of his ancestors.
Then, Feng Yuxiang launched a coup d'état in Beijing, formed the Nationalist Army, and broke away from the warlords of his immediate lineage. Before he withdrew from Beijing, he stopped the preferential treatment policy of the Qing Dynasty and expelled Puyi's entire family from the palace. Poor Puyi did not expect that his wish to leave the palace was still fulfilled, but in this way - he was driven out of his home by others. From birth, his fate is pushed by the times, and every major event in life is not decided by himself. Therefore, he hated the Beiyang warlords, hated the imperial palace, hated all this, hated the present China.
Although he was free, he was still the abdicated Xuantong Emperor, and this status still brought him countless ups and downs. The Japanese invaded the northeast, and they found Puyi, hoping that Puyi could become the emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo. Puyi knew that the opportunity had come, he could make his own decisions, he could realize his great cause of rejuvenation, and he could eliminate those hateful Beiyang warlords. The naïve Puyi thought that he could borrow the hand of the Japanese to achieve his wishes, so he agreed to the invitation of the Japanese. But later he discovered that his ideals could not be realized at all, and he was again "put under house arrest" by the Japanese as puppet emperors.
This decision brought a lifetime of disaster to Puyi. Since then, he has been labeled a traitor, not recognized by his compatriots, and the Japanese have only regarded him as a puppet vase. He did not understand that his life was the most special life in China, that he was the abdicated emperor, that his every move had countless pairs of eyes staring in the shadows, that his private affairs could never be private, and that his decisions were linked to China's destiny. The decisions he thought he had made for himself were still implicated in the hearts of the Chinese people and the direction of China's history because of his identity. He felt involuntary, felt that this imposed identity had brought him too much trouble, and at this point, he began to hate his identity, he became inferior, he began to hate everything about himself.
Eight years later, the Chinese people defeated the invaders with their tenacious and indomitable will. During Operation Storm in August, Soviet troops swept through the northeast on the seventh day, and the Japanese Kwantung Army was instantly reduced to ashes. Puyi prepared to flee to Japan under the arrangement of the Japanese, but was caught by Soviet soldiers on the plane and imprisoned. The first half of his life seemed to have gone from prison to prison.
At this time, Puyi had become extremely pessimistic and inferior. He felt that he could not control his life, and countless times he thought about committing suicide. In the prisoner-of-war camp, some qing dynasty ministers recognized him and actually knelt down in front of him, "Emperor Emperor." Puyi was very uncomfortable, and went straight to another room to cut his wrist to commit suicide, but he did not succeed, and was found and rescued. Puyi could only sigh helplessly afterwards, and his own life and death could not be decided by himself.
However, New China is different from any chinese era, and this era is a new world of openness, democracy, freedom and equality. In this era, everything that was once there can be forgiven, and if it is involuntarily or sincerely repentant, it can get the opportunity to be a new person in New China. Openness, inclusiveness, freedom and democracy are the basic characteristics of our republic. Puyi, the last Xuantong Emperor, the pseudo-Manchukuo Emperor, everything about him is so involuntary, he should not be treated too harshly. Of course, the great people who founded the new China also understood this truth, so they announced that they would pardon him. Puyi never dreamed that he would be pardoned, he felt that the identity he was carrying was old and should not be forgiven by the people, but the people of New China forgave him. He was very excited and shed tears. For so many years, he had suffered for so many years only because he had worn that golden hat, and after all these years, there was finally an era that no longer treated him differently because of this, he was just a poor man coerced by the times.
When Chairman Mao heard of his amnesty, he prepared to invite him to dinner. Of course, this meal was not a casual invitation, and Chairman Mao had his own ideas. First, although China has experienced decades of ups and downs and the people have completely changed, China at that time still has not shaken off the shadow of feudalism, and some shabby and outdated ideas have not been changed. Emperor Puyi of Xuantong is still a belief in the hearts of many people, as can be seen from the fact that some people knelt down to him during his transformation. If you want to completely overthrow such beliefs, you must show the people that Emperor Xuantong is just an ordinary person, and everyone can sit on an equal footing.
In this way, the feudal ghost in the hearts of the people can slowly disappear. Second, it is reasonable to say that even if a person of such a special status is pardoned, he should not eat at the chairman's table, but Chairman Mao's arrangement is to tell the people that our party is an inclusive party, a party that seeks truth from facts and can tolerate people. China is also a new China, there are no bureaucrats and aristocrats in this China, the leaders can eat with the people, and they can also accommodate the old forces that were once there, and China has changed. Third, Chairman Mao was greatly shocked when he read Puyi's autobiography, "The First Half of My Life."
He knew that Puyi's actions were basically forced, and he was just a poor person whose fate was not up to him. He saw that Puyi was inferior and sad because of these involuntary things, and he hoped that through this meal, Puyi could regain his yearning for life, and also convey an attitude: the original Manchu Qing aristocratic New China could be accepted. Fourth, Puyi is the representative of hundreds of thousands of Manchu people, the Manchus were discriminated against in the people because of the Qing Dynasty, and Chairman Mao's invitation to Puyi to dinner is also a proof of national equality; in New China, fifty-six nationalities are equal, and everyone can live peacefully in the land of China. The People's Republic of China is the eternal home of all Chinese nations.
The meal went smoothly, although Puyi was still a little cautious, so that he was a little afraid to eat others to give him vegetables, but he also knew in his heart that he had gained a new life. Later, he was arranged to be a commissioner of literature and history in the Literary and Historical Association, and also successfully married a daughter-in-law, and the Xuantong Emperor finally became an ordinary citizen and lived freely in Beijing.