Last Empress Consort of the Qing Dynasty in China: Empress Wanrong
By admin on 2014-12-23

Empress Xiao Ke Min; also known as Empress Wan Rong (婉容皇后) (13 November 1906 – 20 June 1946) was the last Empress Consort of the Qing Dynasty in China, and later Empress of Manchukuo (also known as the Manchurian Empire).

Early life

Gobulo Wan Rong ("Beautiful Countenance") was the daughter of Rong Yuan, the Minister of Domestic Affairs of the Qing Government and head of one of Manchuria's most prominent, richest families. She was highly educated at an American missionary school in Tianjin by the American tutor Isabel Ingram, where she had been given the Christian name of "Elizabeth".

At the age of 17, Wan Rong was selected from a series of photographs presented to the Xuan Tong Emperor (a.k.a. Puyi), who resided in the Forbidden City as a non-sovereign monarch of China, as potential candidates for the post of Imperial consort. The wedding took place when Puyi reached the age of 16, and many expensive gifts were given to the bride and her family, although Puyi never showed much interest (sexual or otherwise) in either Wan Rong or his concubine Wen Xiu.

China

The union between Puyi and Wan Rong never produced any heirs, and some historian state that they might never have been sexually intimate. Some believed Puyi was infertile, but this could have been a delicate way to avoid discussion of his sexuality. It is widely believed that Puyi was homosexual, and while living in Changchun as the puppet Emperor of Manchukuo, there were rumors of his sexual involvement with various pageboys. His sister-in-law Hiro Saga wrote of Puyi's relationship with young boys in her memoirs.

Empress Wan Rong started using opium when she was a teenager. According to Puyi's memoirs, it was fashionable for educated girls to smoke cigarettes at that time, and a small amount of opium was often added by the Chinese as an analgesic.

After Puyi was forced out of the Forbidden City by the Chinese warlord Feng Yuxiang in 1924, he fled with Empress Wan Rong and moved to the foreign concession in Tianjin. There, they resided in the "Quiet Garden Villa" in the Japanese Concession in Tianjin. In Tianjin, Wan Rong grew to despise Puyi and they led increasingly separate lives.

Manchukuo

With hope of restoring the Manchu Empire, Puyi accepted Japanese offers to head the new state of Manchukuo, and relocated to Changchun, Jilin Province, which had been renamed Hsinking, in March 1932. He lived in the Russian-built Salt Rates Palace, a tax office that had been converted into a temporary palace while a new structure was being built. Relations between Wan Rong and Puyi remained strained, and she lived in a separate room, rarely coming out or eating meals with Puyi. Even after the move into the new and luxurious Wei Huang Gong, Wang Rong continued to sleep in separate quarters. Realizing her husband was only a puppet ruler with no real political power, and having all the burdens of an Empress but none of the advantages, Wan Rong's addiction to opium started to become serious. She was taking about two ounces of opium a day, a huge quantity, between July 1938 and July 1939.

Rumour has it that in 1940, Empress Wan Rong became pregnant by one of her servants, her driver Li Tieh-yu. Instead of having him executed, as he could have, Puyi paid him off and told him to leave the town. When Wan Rong gave birth, the doctors killed the baby girl with a lethal injection. It is also speculated that in his memoir, Puyi wrote that he had thrown Wan Rong's baby into a fire, but records such as this were deleted upon inspection before his memoirs were published. It can only be speculated how this may have affected Wan Rong's mental health, and indeed from that moment she lived in a near-constant opium haze.

During the Evacuation of Manchukuo during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945, Puyi attempted to flee Manchukuo, leaving behind his empress (Wan Rong), his concubine (Li Yuqin) and some other imperial family members, ostensibly because his immediate entourage was at risk of arrest and the women would be safe.

Empress Wan Rong, her sister-in-law Hiro Saga and the other members of her group attempted to flee overland to Korea, but were arrested by the Chinese communist army in Talitzou, Manchukuo, in January 1946. In April, they were moved to a police station in Changchun, eventually released only to be rounded up again and locked up at a police station in Jilin. Wan Rong's opium supply had long since dried up and she was suffering the effects of withdrawal. When Chiang Kai-shek's army bombed Kirin, Wan Rong and Hiro Saga were both moved to Yanji Prison in Jilin Province.

Empress Wan Rong died in Yanji Prison in June 1946 from the effects of malnutrition and opium withdrawal, aged 39. However, Puyi did not receive the news until three years later.

In October 2006, Empress Wan Rong's younger brother, Gobulo Runqi (1912-2007), had a tomb built for Wan Rong at the Western Qing Tombs.