The Last Emperor: A Deep Dive Into the Qing Dynasty and its Rulers, Adapted from My First Half of Life by Emperor Puyi

2024-02-07 11:00 Reading by Konstantin Aisinjorovsky The movie “The Last Emperor” is adapted from the autobiography “My First Half of Life” by Emperor Puyi of the Qing Dynasty. Chen Chong plays the ill-fated Empress Wanrong. …

Although there was talk of “expelling the Tartars” during the Revolution of 1911, as the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, we are still more familiar with the Qing Empire than other dynasties; even those who are least interested in history mention Kang and Yong They can still talk eloquently, and you even notice that they know a lot about the emperor’s appearance, temperament, and habits. However, the history books clearly only record that someone was “long and slender” – this is thanks to many movies and TV series, except “The Legend of Zhen Huan” 》The Emperor, most of the actors are pretty handsome.

There may be other factors contributing to people’s enthusiasm for the Qing emperor. The history of the Qing Empire itself is extremely dramatic. If we cannot analyze the causes of its collapse from a political and economic perspective, then the ruler’s apparent behavior and personality may give us a glimpse of it, while satisfying our thirst for knowledge and entertainment. ; And when such desires and needs enter the sub-cultural field, it also reflects the current society’s dissatisfaction, desire and ideals with reality.

The heyday of Kangxi, Yongzong and Qianlong provided writers with great room for interpretation. Even though most of them are inconsistent with historical data, we can see the writers’ evaluations and opinions on individual emperors, as well as how these sub-cultural products were shaped and recreated. The general public’s understanding of history.

Kangxi

As a professional emperor, Zhang Guoli has played the roles of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong generations. The attached picture is from the TV series “The Legend of Kangxi/…

Title: “A Dream of Red Mansions” Author: Cao Xueqin Publisher: Sanmin Book Company

How worth writing about the Kangxi Dynasty? Let’s put it this way, the three new martial arts masters have all written about this era, and their works just happened to be embellished with important events during the Kangxi period. Jin Yong’s “The Deer and the Cauldron”, a work about collecting mountains, tells the story of Wei Xiaobao and the young Xuan Ye’s capture of Oboi, the conquest of San Francisco and the Ming and Zheng regimes; one of Liang Yusheng’s masterpieces, “Seven Swords Down the Tianshan Mountains”, made his knights and Wu Sangui’s forces, and later Historical events such as the pacification of Huijiang intersect; Gu Long’s debut work “Sword of the Sky” features the appearance of the deposed prince Yinreng who failed to compete for the throne, and profiles the tragedy of the political struggle between the nine sons of Kangxi in his later years.

In his prime, Kangxi consolidated the Qing Empire’s civil, political and military achievements. His irrefutable achievements made him always appear in fictional works as a wise and wise figure. However, with hindsight, Xuan Ye slacked off on domestic affairs in his later years, which also started the direction of the empire. The beginning of decline. For example, although Cao Xueqin’s “A Dream of Red Mansions” contains more family affairs than government affairs, from the descriptions of Jia’s family reminiscing about the glory of hosting the emperor’s southern tour in the past, and Wang Xifeng’s descriptions of tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall to save the family’s predicament, it is not difficult to see that Kangxi condoned official corruption and suffered losses. how serious the situation is.

Yongzheng

“Yongzheng Dynasty” is praised as a classic TV series of the Qing Dynasty. Even Wu Qilong and Chen Jianbin also played the role of Emperor Yongzheng in the future. The…

Title: “Startling Every Step” Author: Tonghua Publishing House: Reading Republic/Savage Culture

Scheming, cold-natured, harsh and cruel… There are many emperors who have been criticized in Chinese history. However, after only 13 years in power, Yinzhen has collected so many labels. In a sense, Yinzhen can be considered a One emperor through the ages. However, the extreme and one-dimensional description also leaves a lot of room for interpretation by later generations. When applied to romance novels, he becomes a domineering CEO, which in turn gives rise to a cold yet affectionate emperor character like the time-travel novel “Bu Bu Jing Xin” .

Although Yongzheng’s iron-fisted policy saved many of the long-standing shortcomings under Kangxi’s rule and pushed the Qing Dynasty’s economy and national power to its peak, novelists did not let him go. Gao Yang, in his “A Dream of Red Mansions” series based on the Cao Xueqin family, The description describes Yinzhen’s appearance as that of a rat or an ape, not resembling a human king. Liang Yusheng created “The Three Heroines of the Rivers and Lakes” based on folk rumors that Yongzheng was stabbed by Lu Siniang and his head was missing, and added bizarre plots: The assassin took advantage of the opportunity of selecting a “beautiful girl” to sneak into the harem and take advantage of the emperor’s lust to assassinate her. However, this version of Yongzheng once received the true biography of Shaolin, and his Arhat Fist was actually difficult for the female heroes to succeed.

In the short term, Yinzhen’s notoriety may not be washed away by TV dramas about the Qing Dynasty, but in the world of fictional novels, he may be the Qing emperor with the highest military value.

Book title: Seven volumes of “Collection of Gao Yang’s Works: Dream of Red Mansions Series” Author: Gao Yang Publishing House: Lianjing Publishing

Qianlong

Huo Jianhua plays Emperor Qianlong in “Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace”. (Picture reproduced from: Disney+)

Book title: “The Book of Swords and Enmities” Author: Jin Yong Publishing House: Yuanliu Publishing

Compared with his father and grandfather, Hongli’s image in historical materials is fuller and richer. The etiquette dispute between Emperor Qianlong and the British envoy Macartney (kneeling on one knee or kneeling three times and knocking nine times) is generally regarded as a microcosm of the Qing Empire’s transition from prosperity to decline. During this trip, Macartney observed that China was seriously The lack of modernization also planted the seeds of future invasions by foreign powers.

Interestingly, Macartney’s entourage spoke highly of Hongli, praising the eighty-year-old man for his majestic appearance and extraordinary conversation. He also had strong personal self-control and never drank alcohol in his life. Go to bed early and get up early. The personality traits recorded in historical data are obviously very different from the impressions of later generations of him who was obsessed with success and extravagant. There are countless gossips and anecdotes about Qianlong. It is guessed that most of them are based on the common people’s view of the emperor’s family in the prosperous society. The imagination of the Qianlong Dynasty has therefore become an important material library for modern novelists.

For example, the mystery of Qianlong’s life experience can be found in Jin Yong’s “Records of Enmities and Enmities” by Jin Yong and Gao Yang’s “The Romance of Qianlong”, which point out that Hongli was originally a Han Chinese and his brother Chen Jialuo was the leader of the largest anti-Qing gang in the world. Jin Yong in the helm, Gao Yang in the game’s official history and unofficial history paid more attention to the human side of Qianlong; Qiong Yao’s “Huan Zhuge Ge” and Wang Dulu’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” are also set in the same period. The former is Hongli’s fictional folk illegitimate daughter. , although the plot of the latter is not directly related to Qianlong, it was Qianlong who first pacified Xinjiang, and Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu had the stage to gallop around the world. The story also takes place during the Qianlong period.

By the way, the publication date of this article happens to be the 225th anniversary of the death of Emperor Qianlong (February 7, 1799). You see, you have another useless piece of knowledge.

Screening in the same scene

Guangxu

In the 1980s, the great director Li Taixiang filmed “The Fall of the Country” and “Weeping Blood in Yingtai” which were set in the late Qing Dynasty. Ti Lung was in the two… Title of the book: “Yiyongmen” Author: Huang Yulang Publisher: Yu dynasty

During the reign of Guangxu, the Qing Empire was already in turmoil. Even though he never really held real power in his life, his efforts to promote the Reform Movement of 1898 still earned him a relatively good reputation; although there were many criticisms of the content of the Reform in later generations, and for Empress Dowager Cixi Zaitan was still generally regarded as an enlightened monarch in the Qing Dynasty who could accept the new system.

“Yiyongmen” written by Hong Kong cartoonist Huang Yulang basically continues the image of Emperor Guangxu in the mainstream historical view. It also moved the male protagonist who was originally hostile to foreign emperors and promised to help reform. The plot of “Yiyongmen” draws on classic settings and plots from Jin Yong’s novels, but the original part also vividly describes the dilemma of the Han people in the late Qing Dynasty between national identity and the future of their country, as well as the helplessness of martial arts masters under the pressure of Western guns. Cartoonists also made up creative origins to trigger the Boxer Rebellion by the Eight-Nation Allied Forces.

Xuantong

The adult Puyi in “The Last Emperor” is played by Zun Long, and director Jiang Wen is said to be a contender for the role.Later Jiang Wen Yu Yiwan… Title: “Chinese Heroes” Author: Original work/Ma Rongcheng Publishing House: Cultural Communication

Although the Qing Dynasty collapsed three years after Puyi ascended the throne, his ups and downs life has also become the basis for many film and television adaptations. The most famous among them is Bernardo. Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor” describes how the aging dynasty in the twilight swallows up people’s youth and aspirations.

The Hong Kong comic “Heroes of China” cleverly combines historical facts such as the Qing royal family was expelled by Feng Yuxiang in 1924, Puyi came to power in 1932, and the Qing Gang leader Du Yuesheng was a trafficker before he became rich. The existing martial arts worldview of the comic is combined to form a story in which the protagonist Hua Yingxiong is entrusted with assassinating Puyi on his way to Manchuria, and therefore confronts the escorting eunuch Jia Chi.

The character of Pu Yi in “Hero of China” is similar to the version in “The Last Emperor”, except that the tragic color of being involuntarily is diluted, which highlights his ambitious but ignorant side, seeking profit and following the trend and being treacherous. Is that right? We don’t know Puyi’s true identity, but the “Heroes” chapter is indeed the highlight of the original work after Ma Rongcheng left the creative team.

Emperor Qianlong Emperor Yongzheng Emperor Kangxi Qing Dynasty Last Emperor Jin Yong Gu Long Liang Yusheng martial arts history