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If he could have his way Henry Pu Yi would like to be proclaimed constitutional Emperor of Manchukuo with as simple and comfortable a ceremony as the proclamation of last week's other new monarch, Leopold III of Belgium. But the Japan that picked him from the Chinese discard ten years ago has not paid his bills for nothing. Japan needs him as a symbol before the world of Manchukuo's independence, a hollow-eyed figurehead to distract Manchurian peasants with the pomp of a royal court.
By last week carpenters had built a small replica of Peiping's great open air Altar of Heaven with its ceremonial steps. Ready, too, was an imperial throne of ebony, carved with dragons and orchids. Tailors embroidered robes of imperial yellow and jewelers had carved a Ju Yee or sceptre of jade. Since meteorologists announced that the temperature was likely to be about 20 below zero the enthronement ceremony was advanced from sunrise to noon. For many hours Henry in his yellow robe must make his obeisance to his illustrious ancestors while mandarins kowtow and the traditional orchestra in mushroom hats, red tassels and plum colored jackets, plays 48 drums, 48 gongs, eight long slabs of hardwood to be struck by jade hammers, and 24 flutes of piercing shrillness.
*Painted by Jerry Farnsworth. Robes from an antique Manchu portrait loaned by Upton Close.
*Not Manchu but pure Chinese were the golden Chow who ruled China for 866 years (1122—256 B. C), longest-lived of all China's dynasties. Under Chow emperors Chinese savants were instrumental in discovering the compass. Under them, too, was established the first "league of nations," a League of States to prevent War, in 515 B.C. "How courteous and elegant are all its way" wrote Confucius. "I am for the House of Chow."