Evening Star Newspaper, December 22, 1929, Page 96

THE SUNDAY STAR,* WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 22, 1929. China’s Exiled Emperor Now Plain Mr.. Pu. Born 1o jabulous wealth, carefully seguestered through childhood to fit him for a sovereign’s iot, an Emperor in his teens and now another Napoleon endur- ing virtual selitude at the age most American boys are just emerging from college—such is the fate of China’s ersi- while bey Emperor, the pouth who fled the Forbidden City when the new gov- ernment was set up in Peking five years ago. Here is an intimate picture of “Mr. Pu Yi,” told im Seatile by Dr. Vernon McKenzie, dean of the School of Journal- ism, University of Washington, recently returned from a trip to the Orient. BY VERNON McKENZIE. T WAS the first time an Emperor had ever lit my cigarette. When I was shown into the reception room of his unpretentious house in ‘Tientsin, I wondered just how to estab- lish a mental contact with this boy, the last of the Manchu dynasty, who, when just about the age of curly-haired King Michael of Rumania, appeared destined to rule over a nation of 400,000,000 people. But not for long was I ill at ease, either physically or mentally. He mo- tioned me to a seat beside him, on a comfortable leather divan, and handed me a box of Egyptian cigarettes. Striking a match, he offered me the first light. Then after this slight bit of human contact we settled back in our seats for our interview. Today he is Mr. Pu Yi, living a sequestered life in the Japanese concession of Tientsin, in a house which would rent for about $100 a month. Five years ago he was the Emperor, titular ruler of China, dwelling in the For- of Peking, though then stripped of all actual governmental power and authority. Less than 20 years ago he was the far-famed Emperor, with thousands of servants to do bidding and the legal ruler of hundreds of millions of more or less faithful subjects. Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to refer to him now as the Emperor. But during our chat his secretary-interpreter referred to him as on he will be plain Mr. Pu Yi. When the Republican insurgents ended the reign of the Manchus in 1912 he was 6 years of age. So today he is 24. His life, even in tur- bulent, topsy-turvy China, has been in the main a peaceful one. But always, except for a few dangerous and hectic days, five years ago, he has been virtually a prisoner. During the first six years of his life China was ruled by the iron hand of the vigorous old Dowager Empress ‘Tzu Hsi. Until he reached his nineteenth birth- day he was restricted to journeys between the Summer palace and the Forbidden City. When the Southern army captured Peking in 1924 he fled for his life to a distant part of the city, but in a few weeks found asylum in . Tientsin. There he lives today, under the jurisdiction of the Japanese authorities, bound by an-agree- ment which forbids him to leave the concession. A few miles west from Peking to the famed Summer palace; 100 miles east to Tientsin— that has been the orbit of his travels, though he longs to- go around the world, not once but sev- eral times, and see some of the personalities and places about which he is exceptionally well . informed. .~ His eyes sparkled when I asked him about his future plans. His face flashed a fezling of long- pent-up desire. “I wish—I hepe-—first to go to Japan and pay my respeots to the Emperor, then I think I will start around the world. From Japan I will naturally ge to the United States, and then to Burope. For nearly 20 years I have been reading about all the interesting people and cus- toms of the world, of the famous scenic spots. 1 wonder how far away this time will be.” IT DID net seem tactful to inquire why he did not stert now or sef a definite date very soon. But frem the Japanese authorities and from his friends two excellent reasons were learned. His visits to foreign capitals might cause pelitical complications. And he hasn’t the money! He can’t even afford to buy a round- the-world ticket—he whose grandmother, the Dowager Empress, is said to have spent any- from $10,000,000 to $40.000,000 preparing wish to see? Well, first of all visit the Prince of Wales. He many things, including his free- l. Then he would like to know Hoover, Lloyd George and Lindbergh. asked him if he would not look forward to Marie of Rumania, but for some reason he did not seem to enthuse over the suggestion. “When Prince George, the Prince of Wales’ younger brother, was in China recently,” volun- “he called on me at my former and we had a very pleasant , oh, so rare, visits give me from the outer world. I have always I read many American Only Twenty-Four Years Old, the Lds{'of the Manchus, Virtually a Prisoner in Tientsin Concession, Looks Out Smilingly on the World That Cheated Him of a Monarch’s Crozon. Mr. Pu Yi, the former emperor, now 24, who lives a very restricted life at Tientsin. periodicals, but it is always read, read, read and never see.” Pu Yi is a well educated young man, thoroughly abreast of pelitical science, govern- ment and seciolegy and well versed in history and literature, perticularly of his own eountry. For many years he had an American. tutor. He reads English fairly well, but for some years has had no opportunity to practice speaking it. He dresses in western clothing and looks very much like any well bred Chinese student at Harvard or Columbia, such as the famed Well- ington Koo, or Dr. C. T. Wang, minister for for- eign affairs in the present Chinese government. Like so many Chinese who prefer to talk through an interpreter, he understands a good deal, more probably than he would admit, of the English language. It is a favorite trick of Wellington Keo's, for instance, to make use of an interpreter for part of an interview, and then, with a twinkle of the eye, break into excellent Oxford English. Pu Yi's English is nothing to compare with Koo’s, but several times during our talk he caught the drift of my question before it was transiated and started fo answer it. AN interview through the medium of an in- terpreter is frequently unsatisfactory. The intimate mental contact so essential is diffi- cult, sometimes impossible, to establish. But there is one infallible method to employ which will usually “loosen up” the one interviewed American reporters know it well and employ it frequently. It is to trade information—have something to tell that the “victim” wishes very much to know. It happened that I had stum- bled on something which Pu Yi was very eager to talk about and about which he had not the fullest information. When he was talking about the Dowager Em- press, 1 told him that just the previous day I had seen some remarkable pictures of the rifling of the Manchu mausoleums—a mystery, by the vay, which has not yet been cleared up. “But where?” he inquired. “Were they in the papas?” “No. they have never been published,” I re- plied. “They were shown me privately by a member of the American legation, to whom they were brought by a friend of the Chinese pho- ‘tographet who took them surreptitiously early in August, 1928. They were remarkable photos and very tragic. The bandits had ruthlessly wrecked the coffins in at least 13 tombs and stolen loot estimated at more than $15,000,000.” The photegraphs are so gruesome, at least two or three of them, that I hesitated to go into details. But he begged me to go-on, and I told him how the body of the favorite concubine of Chien Lung, great-great-great-grand- father of this boy, had been ghoulishly exposed in its coffin and how for nearly a century and a half since this forgotten lady’s death it had remained in a state of almost perfect preserva- tion. Even the silk robes showed no signs of decay. I even told Pu Yi how the Dowager Em- press’ body had been thrown callously to the ground and how the body could be pilainly seen in the picture. I promised him that I weuld try to arrange for him to see a set of the seven photographs if he wished, and he eagerly urged me to try to do this for him. The ex-Emperor had no harsh criticisms to make of the Nationalist Government on any political score, but his eyes did flash when he referred to this and one or two other things which he feels are unnecessary ruthlessness and vandalism. It is commonly believed in Peking that the robbery of the Manchu tombs could not have taken place without sub rosa official connivance. The walls of the mausoleum were so thick that it took a score or more looters 15 days to blast their way into the interior, where the treasured jewels of fabled value were buried. Pu Yi recalls almost nothing of those dis- turbing days in 1912 when the Republicans seized the power of the Manchu rulers and established a so-called democratic form of gov. ernment. “I'm afraid I remember almost nothing,” he replied with a smile. “You see, I was not quite 7 years old. I knew something very serious was happening, but I did not know just what. But in later years my tutors teld me the whole story in great detail and explained to me its implications.” But of the events of 1924, when the Nation- alist army marched nerth and captured Peking, his recollections are vivid, indeed. He was then just 19, and when the battering, sprawling Na- tionalist army reached the very gates of the Porbidden City he had to flee. There was no army to defend him, and for two days he scur- ried through the twisting backways of the capital, his life every minute in peril, until he reached the shelter of his uncle, Prince Chun. Probably he theught of the fate of the Czar and his family, just eight years previously. He had with him only a faithful retainer or two, who led him through lanes and back alleys of a tortuous mnature which probably no other city in the world possesses. There were fires and loeting. Soldiers and decided that it was more politic for him remain in the capital, 50 he was escorted to the Japanese concession in Tientsin. that day he has had no money from Chinese government. His personal and possessions, valued at many millions, were seized. : ‘Here is China. I give my people to you. May there always be peace.’ I'm afraid they have not found & year—they are said to be very happy. On July 1, 1929, he deemed it advisable to move into a less expensive house, the property of Mr. Lu Chung-yu, a well known Anfu leader. He economized te save a matter of $50 or $100 a month. A few years ago, while still living in the palace in the Forbidden City, he also felt it wise 0 econemize—and dismissed. more than 1,000 servants! Teday he has about 20 in his househeld, and this. does not mean what 20 servants would mean in the United States. Their aggregate pay weuld probably not exceed the sum paid to one American butler. (Coprright, 1929.) Provide T'raps for Stray Cats. THE night life of the cities, usually assoclated with neisy. parties and bright. lights, .also involves a huge, unseen and usually unthought- of populatien of siray cats. In fact. so numer- Neglected or deserted by owners, they skulk at night unseen, but, because of their proclivities, not unheard. The best way of trapping the cats, and the humane, is by means of a box trap with : a wire which is attached to springs the trap when the cat is pressed on the floor. e survey is issuing a booklet on the sub- of cat traps, giving information on how to construct and bait them. Sets Mark for Publications. T‘HE Office of Information of the Department of Agriculture is one of the busiest estab- lishments in the Government service, judging from the quantity of publications issued during the past year. The officials estimate that dur- ing the past year 25,000,000 copies of various publications were issued, the greater part of which were free bulletins of varieus sorts,