Li Yuqin
| Li Yuqin | |
|---|---|
| Noble Lady Fu (福貴人) |
|
| Born |
15 July 1928 Changchun, Jilin, Republic of China (1912-1949) |
| Died | 24 April 2001 (aged 72) Changchun, Jilin, China |
| Spouse |
Puyi (1943-1957) Huang Yugeng (1958-2001) |
| Issue | (Two sons with Huang Yugeng) |
| House | House of Aisin-Gioro (by marriage) |
| Li Yuqin | |||||||
| Chinese | 李玉琴 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Lǐ Yùqín |
Li Yuqin (15 July 1928 – 24 April 2001), sometimes referred to as the "Last Imperial Concubine" (末代皇娘), was the fourth wife of China's last emperor Puyi. She married Puyi when the latter was the nominal ruler of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Li Yuqin was a Han Chinese by birth and her ancestral home was in Shandong. She was born in a peasant family in Changchun, Jilin.
Li attended Nanling Girls' Academy (新京南嶺女子優級學校) in Jilin, then known as Hsinking, the capital of Manchukuo. In February 1943, Li and nine other girl students were taken by their principal Kobayashi and teacher Fujii to a photography studio for portraits. Three weeks later, the school principal and teacher visited Li's home and told her that Manchukuo's emperor Puyi had ordered her to go to the palace to study. She was first taken directly to Yasunori Yoshioka, who thoroughly questioned her. Yoshioka then drove her back to her parents and told them Puyi ordered her to study at the palace. Money was promised to the parents. She was subjected to a medical examination and then taken to Puyi's sister Yunhe and instructed in palace protocol. Li then became a concubine of Puyi and was given the title of Noble Lady Fu (福貴人).
In 1945 the Manchukuo regime collapsed following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. Li attempted to flee from Changchun, alongside Puyi, Empress Wanrong and other remaining members of the old Qing court. Empress Wanrong was experiencing significant opium withdrawal symptoms at that time. She, as well as the rest of Puyi's family was evacuated with him by train from Changchun to Dalizigou. From there, however, Puyi continued by plane with only two of his sisters, his brothers, three nephews, his physician and a servant to Mukden, where he was arrested and taken to the Soviet Union. According to Puyi, Li Yuqin was very frightened and begged to be taken with him, when he left from Dalizigou to Mukden, but he assured her that she and Wanrong could reach Japan as well by train. Some documents state that Puyi let the women go by train in the belief that women would be better treated by the military than men.
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