In 1959, the last emperor Pu Yi was taken to Beijing by his fifth sister Jin Yunxin and brother-in-law Wan Jiaxi after ten years of reform of the Fushun War Criminals Management Center. From the king of the dead country to the war criminal, and then to become a citizen of New China, Pu Yi's journey has been very bumpy.
In his later years, Pu Yi's life was free, which was unimaginable to him before. When he was extradited back home from the Soviet Union a decade ago, he feared that he would be executed and that he would spend the rest of his life in a war criminal camp.
He resisted reform until, under the guidance of everyone, he began to confess his sins and repent, and finally received amnesty and was released from prison. In August 1945, as Japan's defeat was decided, Pu Yi also arranged his own retreat early - to flee to Japan.
But when he was intercepted by Soviet troops on the way, he knew that his crimes were serious and that he had committed many crimes during the Anti-Japanese War, so he begged to stay in the Soviet Union to avoid death.
On July 30, 1950, Pu Yi was extradited back to China. Previously, he had asked to stay in the Soviet Union, but was refused. On the train escorting him home, he fidgeted and lost his temper, fearing that he would be liquidated and die immediately upon his return.
When the train arrived in Changchun, which he had once familiarized, his despair reached its peak, and he even thought he would be put on public trial here.
In order to stabilize the psychological state of Pu Yi and others, ** proposed to have an exchange with Pu Yi in the Northeast, with Gao Gang in charge. Therefore, the special train escorting Pu Yi and other war criminals temporarily stopped in Shenyang.
In order to create a better atmosphere for communication, the venue was arranged very simply. Despite this, Pu Yi was still very nervous, he felt his legs go limp, and his hands kept shaking after sitting down, thinking that he was walking into the courtroom and would be sentenced to death soon.
But it soon became clear to Pu Yi that this was not a courtroom, but a meeting. Gao Gang was very polite to him, inquired about his health and life in prison in the Soviet Union, and encouraged them to confess their crimes and expose the Japanese invasion.
Subsequently, they were arranged to get into the car and escorted to Fushun.
After arriving at the Fushun War Criminals Management Center, Pu Yi was convinced that he was nearing the end of his life and was resistant to reform. This group of war criminals was deeply influenced by feudal ideology, stubborn, and never admitted their crimes.
Pu Yi, in particular, argued that he was "kidnapped" by the Japanese from Tianjin to the puppet Manchu emperor, had no real power, and was just an unfortunate "good man". Before returning to China, he also asked the people around him to speak in unison, saying that he was forced to become the puppet Manchurian emperor under the threat of Japan, so as to alleviate his crimes.
The transformation of Pu Yi was an extremely complex task, and there was no precedent to follow, since the feudal emperor had not yet been reformed. The Fushun War Criminals Management Center can only gradually explore in practice, first understand Pu Yi's past, then analyze his thoughts, and then formulate special reform methods while conducting psychological counseling.
In order for Pu Yi to deeply understand the aggressive nature of Japan and the crime of his collusion with Japan, he had to work every day. However, Pu Yi strongly resisted this.
As a result, the correctional officers began to start with Pu Yi's nephews, Yu Zhe and Yu Liang, taking advantage of their young and quick acceptance of new ideas, to inspire them to report Pu Yi and force him to confess some crimes.
Although Pu Yi was only forced to confess his sins at this time, he did not really repent ideologically. At the beginning, Pu Yi lived in the same cell with his father-in-law Rong Yuan, younger brother Pu Jie, and his nephews Yu Zhe, Yu Liang, and the eunuch Li Guoxiong, and was taken care of by Li Guoxiong and others, and even called him "the emperor".
However, such an environment is not conducive to Puyi's transformation.
In the process of Pu Yi's reform, it was not he himself who was first transferred to another cell, but other relatives. Pu Yi was kept with Li Guoxiong for a month so that Li Guoxiong could teach him how to take care of himself.
When Li Guoxiong was transferred, Pu Yi began to live independently, although there were various difficulties and ugliness at first, but after more than two months, he was able to basically take care of his own life, which marked the first step in his transformation journey.
The crimes of the puppet Manchurian war criminals originated from Japanese war criminals, so as long as the Japanese war criminals confessed, the puppet Manchurian war criminals were also easy to admit guilt. At the same time, the puppet Manchurian war criminals were encouraged to report Japanese war criminals, forming a situation of mutual containment and urging them to admit their guilt.
** The proposed "repentance education" method makes war criminals confess their crimes in the face of hard facts. The War Criminals Management Center also gave the war criminals humane treatment, and they were allowed to eat rice, white flour, vegetables they grew themselves, and chickens, while the cadres of the War Criminals Management Center reduced their rations.
Watering and growing vegetables, this is Pu Yi's life in the war criminals management center. His seventh uncle Zaitao and his two younger sisters also came to visit him, bringing the outside world and taking him to the society to experience the great changes in New China.
Through the "repentance education" in the war criminals management center, Pu Yi finally took the initiative to admit his guilt, consciously repented, and finally won the pardon. In this process, the most distinctive thing is to ask them to write their own confession materials, which are uniformly named "The First Half of My Life", so as to prompt them to break with their first half of life.
Although Pu Yi was reluctant to do this at first, he eventually persevered, opened his heart, and faced his past.
In the process of reform, the manuscript of "The First Half of My Life" was constantly improved, and Pu Yi gained a deeper understanding of his crimes. In the end, he completed this 200,000-word autobiography**.
This confession was mimeographed by the War Criminals Administration for reference by political, legal, and historical circles. In addition, the book was given to *** and others to read.
Due to the gray cover, the book was called the "Gray Book".
In 1962, ** gave high praise to the unfinalized "The First Half of My Life", which he believed had great educational significance and historical value, especially for the last emperor Pu Yi to dare to disclose his past, this spirit is really rare.
Therefore, it was decided to promote the book to the society and benefit more people. However, in the "gray book", Pu Yi's account of his confession and repentance was a bit excessive, and in order to make the book more rigorous, ** decided to send Li Wenda, who was then the editorial director of the Mass Publishing House, to help revise it.
In 1959, after receiving an amnesty, Pu Yi worked closely with Li Wenda to create a joint creation. At the same time, Li Wenda also conducted in-depth research on historical figures and events related to Puyi, personally went to the northeast to conduct field investigations, and collected a large amount of information.
In the process of revising "The First Half of My Life", Pu Yi further examined and transformed his own thinking, and personally experienced the new atmosphere of the new China, which was unimaginable in the old society.
In March 1964, the revised version of "The First Half of My Life" was officially released. On December 4, 1959, Pu Yi, who had undergone amnesty, reported to the Civil Affairs Bureau the day after his sister took her home and went through her household registration procedures.
At that time, each resident filled in a total of 29 items in the household registration book, and Wu Jingshen, who handled the household registration, made a detailed inquiry about all the information of Pu Yi.
In the process of applying for Puyi's household registration, Wu Jingshen encountered the problem of address and academic qualifications. Regarding the address, since Pu Yi lived in the Forbidden City in his early years, he could not fill it in, so he could only fill in the address of his sister.
As for his academic qualifications, Pu Yi received a royal education and never went to school, but his knowledge level was not low, so he filled in a private school. In 1964, when the household registration was renewed, the educational background was changed to junior high school.
Originally, I filled in high school, but then I crossed it out.
In 1964, the new household registration book made Wu Jingshen feel a little nervous. He had never applied for such a hukou, and because of his limited education level, he wrote two wrong words in Pu Yi's hukou.
One is the word "juku" in a private school, which he mistakenly wrote as "book". The other is the word "karma" for unemployed, which he mistakenly wrote as "leaf". However, these mistakes did not hinder Pu Yi's life.
He first stayed at his sister's house for half a month, and then was arranged to live in a hotel. His daily life was arranged, and he was arranged to work in the botanical garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, responsible for watering and hygiene.
Soon after, he was assigned to observe the greenhouse and the breeding greenhouse. He relied on his labor to support himself. Despite life's challenges, Pu Yi never gave up.
With his hard work and tenacity, he has won the respect and recognition of others. His story teaches us that no matter what difficulties come your way in life, with determination and courage, you can overcome them.
In his later years, Pu Yi became an employee of the Committee for the Study of Cultural and Historical Materials in 1961. He hopes to have a partner to accompany him for the rest of his life. After introduction, he met and married Li Shuxian of Chaowai Guanxiang Hospital.
They moved together to live at No. 22, East Guanyin Temple, Fusuijing, Xicheng District. Pu Yi cares about and respects Li Shuxian very much, treats her with all obedience, and insists on picking her up from work even on rainy days.
** Once met Pu Yi and his wife cordially, but after March 1967, Pu Yi's health continued to deteriorate, and finally died of uremia on October 17 of the same year, and Li Shuxian was buried in the Hualong Imperial Mausoleum near the Qingxi Mausoleum, and his life came to an end.
Pu Yi's ten-year journey, from the last emperor to a war criminal, and then from a war criminal to a citizen of New China, his road of reform is like the epitome of the reform of war criminals in the New China period, which not only created a precedent for the reform of war criminals, but also became a practical model for the proletariat to transform society.
He told us with practical actions that reforming war criminals is not only about eliminating war criminals, but also about making war criminals reflect on their own crimes, reflect on the evils of war, and finally devote themselves to the anti-war trend.