The Last Emperor of China

Living through one of the most tumultuous periods of Chinese and world history, Puyi, the last Emperor of China, was both a participant in, and victim of, his times. In 1908, aged only two, Puyi ascended the throne at the Forbidden City in Beijing as Qing Emperor of China. At six, rebellions forced his abdication but he continued to live at the palace surrounded by women and eunuchs. At 13 he started to learn of the wider world from his British teacher Reginald Johnston. Soon afterwards Puyi was evicted from the Palace and embarked on an amazing personal quest to recover his throne. He became a puppet Emperor controlled by the Japanese, a prisoner of the Soviet Union, an inmate of a Communist Chinese re-education camp and finally an ordinary citizen living in Beijing through the brutal upheavals of the Cultural Revolution. Featuring never-before-seen archive footage and photographs, as well as extracts from his writing and interviews with eyewitness relatives.