Among all the last emperors in China, puyi, the deposed emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was enough to be called a "lucky man", and after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, his life was not only safe, but also he could enjoy his old age in peace. Although Puyi was once reduced to a pawn of Japan, after a military court trial, the vast majority of the guilt was irrelevant to him, but Puyi still had to bear the remaining small and half of responsibility. Therefore, Puyi was sent to the Fushun War Criminals Management Center in 1950 for a ten-year period of ideological re-education and labor reform, number 981.
In December 1959, Puyi was pardoned in advance, but he did not know what work to do when he was released from prison, after all, his experience in the first half of his life was very monotonous and he did not have any skills. Moreover, due to his special status, even if someone wants to invite him to work, he must weigh whether he is qualified or not, so Puyi will be idle for a while and a half. However, in this particularly embarrassing period, a person appeared, he was the modern literary scholar Guo Moruo.
If Guo Moruo is a cultural giant in the 20th century, after the May Fourth Movement, there are not many talents like him, especially in the study of chinese poetry history, ancient Chinese history, and ancient writing, and Guo Moruo's achievements are unparalleled. However, although Guo Moruo was very knowledgeable, his study of Manchu was not very deep, and the progress of his work was quite unsmooth, just when Puyi had just been pardoned and released from prison, so he thought of this "last emperor", and he planned to invite Puyi as his assistant, so that his difficulties would disappear.
However, the ideal is very full, the reality is very bone, when Puyi learned of Guo Moruo's intentions, his face suddenly darkened, he did not say much, just coldly said five words to Guo Moruo: "I don't understand Manchu." At this time, Guo Moruo did not know how to be good, and the situation of being rejected by people in person was the first time since he became famous, he did not sit, nor did he stand, and he could not get off the stage for a while. In the end, Guo Moruo lied that something was wrong and hurriedly left Puyi's residence, never mentioning this matter again.
After this matter spread, many people did not believe Puyi's words, could it be that he, who was born in the Manchu Qing royal family, would he forget that his mother tongue was not successful? In fact, Puyi did lie, because since the Manchu Qing entered the customs, it has always emphasized the integration of Manchu and Han cultures, and Chinese is one of the compulsory courses for the royal family, although Puyi was born late, but the training should be indispensable. However, in his autobiography "The First Half of My Life", Puyi said that he would only say one Manchu sentence - Yi Li (flat body), what is going on?
Puyi said in the book that not only was he not interested in Manchu since he was a child, but the teacher who taught him was an old-fashioned old gentleman, which made his head bigger, so he only learned the common word "Yili" for several years. However, in the Palace Museum, there is a copy of Puyi's autograph, which is the phonetic pronunciation he gave to English words in Manchu, which means that Puyi not only knows Manchu, but also is very proficient. It can be seen that Puyi does not understand Manchu at all, he just does not want to be Guo Moruo's assistant.
Fortunately, on February 16, 1960, Puyi finally received a letter of introduction from the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, and the state asked him to work at the Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the days that followed, Puyi watered every day, engaged in hygiene, and grafted cuttings, and lived a very comfortable life. In the second half of his life, Puyi found the love in his heart again, and for him, this life is no regrets.