Line of succession to the former Chinese throne

The House of Aisin Gioro ruled China during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). A Chinese emperor would pick one of his many sons, or another relative, to succeed him. Under the Qing, a succession edict was hidden in the palace and read upon the death of the emperor.

After Puyi, China's last emperor, was ousted in 1912, the country was declared a republic. Puyi was emperor of Manchukuo, now northeastern China, in 1934–1945. He died without issue in 1967. His brother Prince Pujie was next in line under a 1937 succession law, the most recently published agreed upon succession rule. Stories published in the Chicago Times and The New York Times acknowledge Pujie as heir of Puyi.

Pujie died in 1994. He is survived by a daughter, Princess Husheng, who was born in 1941. However, the law restricts succession to males. Several news stories have suggested that Jin Yuzhang, a nephew of Puyi and Pujie, is the current family head.

In The Empty Throne, Tony Scotland tells how he found Prince Yuyan, who lived in a mud floor hovel near the imperial palace. Yuyan, a distant cousin of Puyi, told Scotland that the former emperor made him heir to the throne in a ceremony performed while they were imprisoned in Russia together in 1950. This claim is not supported by any official document, although it was customary in the Qing dynasty that an emperor name his successor in a will or edict. Puyi's autobiography confirms merely that the idea was discussed. Yuyan died in 1997. His eldest son is Prince Hengzhen, who was born in 1944. There is no indication that Yuyan designated him heir to the throne, or that he claims this status.

During the 1911 Revolution some minorities suggested that the Manchu emperor be replaced by an ethnic Chinese. Both Duke Yansheng, a descendant of Confucius, and the Marquis of Extended Grace, a descendant of the imperial family of the Ming dynasty, were proposed and rejected.

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