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In 1917 he became the Emperor Hsv.r.n Tung again for a few days when swashbuckling General Hsun, so reactionary that he still kept his pigtail, captured
Peiping, and popped him on the throne in the middle of a July night. With Japanese money and the first airplanes used in a Chinese war, ousted Premier Tuan Chi-sui captured the city a few days later and gave Emperor Hsuan Tung 30 minutes to abdicate.
All his life a helpless tool of one agency or another, Pu Yi has longed to dodge the trappings of state and lead the life of a normal western youth. As the last of the conquering Manchus that ruled China since 1644 it was his duty to have at least two wives. He did not want two wives, for he had already picked a beautiful bride from the catalog of a marriage broker. The daughter of a Manchu businessman named Jung Yuang, she had been educated by the Sisters Miriam and Isabel Ingram. Philadelphia missionaries, and preferred to be called Elizabeth. Elizabeth was quite sufficient but on the insistence of his Japanese "protectors" in Tientsin Henry took Wife No. 2.
Wife No. 2 was a saucy baggage called Shu Fei. In 1931 she rushed to the civil courts of China and sued for divorce, claiming that after nine years her marriage was still unconsummated (TIME, Oct. 12. 1931). There are few things about his new Empire that Henry Pu Yi can really direct, but on one point he is adamant: there will be neither concubines nor eunuchs in his latest court. Henry and Elizabeth will get along by themselves.
Bicycling is one of his hobbies. As a Japanese puppet he dares not leave his palace unguarded, so he rides around and around his garden compound, doing tricks. The Emperor of Manchukuo can now pedal on the rear wheel alone, with the front wheel in the air. Photography is another pastime. Henry Pu Yi likes to show his own cinemas after dinner and complains sometimes that visiting tourists never send him copies of the snapshots for which he is always willing to pose.
As the nominal ruler of 30,000,000 Manchukuans, of whom less than 10% are full-blooded Manchus, Henry Pu Yi's intentions are of the best. Month ago he gave his first interview as Emperor-to-be. Henry Pu Yi wore the new khaki uniform of a Manchukuan Field Marshal with which the Japanese Government had fitted him out, complete with embroidered orchids on the epaulets, and gleaming field boots. Though he speaks English perfectly an interpreter solemnly translated questions and answers. He announced:
"During my reign I hope with heavenly guidance to emulate the great Chinese Emperors of the golden Chow dynasty.* Whatever our political differences I am sure that the Manchurian Empire and America can work together for the preservation of peace."
"Will you ask his Imperial Majesty how is his health?" asked a reporter.
Henry Pu Yi forgot the game he was playing and, without waiting for the interpreter, beamed: "Oh, I'm just fine!"