On this date, 8 March 1932, the Japanese install the former Chinese Emperor Hsuan Tung, now called Henry Pu Yi, as Chief Executive of the puppet nation of Manchukuo, in Manchuria. He serves the Japanese Empire until the Soviet Union over-runs Manchuria in 1945. Pu Yi's life story is a very sad one and is documented in the movie "The Last Emperor." Our chronology includes the following events:

1906-02-07: Henry Pu Yi (reign name Hsuan Tung) is born.

1908-12-02: Manchu Dynasty heir Hsuan Tung comes to power as the Emperor of China at the age of three.

1912-02-12: The five year old emperor is forced to abdicate by Chinese general Yuan Shih-k’ai, but still lives in The Forbidden City in Tianamen Square, Beijing and is treated with enormous respect.

1912-03-10: Yuan Shikai becomes the president of China.

1917-00-00: At age 9, a warlord named Chang Hsun restores Pu Yi to throne. However, 6 days later he is abandoned by his supporters after a plane drops three bombs on the Forbidden City.

1917-00-00: Henry Pu Yi remains in the Forbidden City.

1919-03-04: An English tutor, Reginald Fleming Johnston, schools Pu Yi in English and history. Pu Yi adopts the name of Henry after the English kings.

1922-00-00: At 16, Pu Yi is forced to marry Wan Jun because she is beautiful and comes from a wealthy family. He had preferred Wen Hsiu, and retains her as his consort.

1924-11-05: Pu Yi is forced to leave the Forbidden City by the army of Feng Yu Hsiang and views himself as blessed with “freedom” for the first time. He takes with him his imperial seal and a suitcase filled with precious stones.

1931-09-18: Officers of the Kwantung army, which secure Japanese interests in Manchuria, blow up a section of the South Manchurian Railroad new Mukden. Claiming that Chinese troops were responsible for the "Manchurian Incident," the Kwantung Army occupies the city of Mukden.

1931-09-21: By this date, the Japanese hold the Manchurian cities of Mukden, Changchun, Antung, Yinkow, and Kirin.

1932-03-09: Japan sets up a new country in the region of Manchuria which they name Manchukuo. Pu Yi is given the title of Chief Executive which angers him since he sought to be restored as emperor.

1934-03-01: Japan makes Pu Yi the Emperor of Manchukuo, taking the title of K’ang Tech, or “Tranquility and Virtue”. He is nothing more than a figure-head.

1937-12-13: Japanese forces route Chinese troops definding the city of Nanjing. Fearing the consequences of surrender to the Japanese, Chinese military men donned civilian clothing and retreated into the city. A six-week stretch of atrocities against the civilian population of Nanjing commences.

1945-00-00: Manchuria is overrun by the Soviet Union and Pu Yi is captured, put under house arrest, and tried for war crimes.

1946-00-00: Pu Yi is sent to Japan to testify against the Japanese war criminals who had been his former allies. He claims that he had been the unwilling tool of the Japanese and not, as they claimed, an instrument of Manchurian self-determination.

1949-10-01: Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China.

1950-00-00: The Soviets relinquish control of Pu Yi and he is sent back to China to spend 9 years in Fushun War Criminals prison, where he is provided with instruction in various menial tasks.

1956-00-00: China criticizes the Soviet government over Soviet wishes for a peaceful coexistence with the west. China believes that war with the West isinevitable.

1959-00-00: Pu Yi is released from prison when Mao Zedong grants him amnesty, and a year later becomes an ordinary citizen and a gardener in Bejing.

1964-00-00: Pu Yi publishes his book "From Emperor to Citizen - The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi.

1967-00-00: There is so much civil unrest throughout China, that Mao is forced to call out the army to restore order.

1967-00-00: Pu Yi dies from cancer, though it was rumored that he had been murdered by revolutionaries under Chairman Mao, who had called for a Cultural Revolution in China.

A full listing of key political, economic, and military events throughout all of Chinese history is available in the EIGroup TruthEngine.

Joan