Changchun Things to Do

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Pu Yi married at only 16 years old. His first wife, an empress of Manchuria was Wan Jung. The second wife was Wen Hsin. Wan became an opium addict. He did not care about them. Wan was lonely and her grief drove her mad. Wen the consort got away from him, and divorced.
Japanese army tried to force him to marry with Japanese women. Actually his younger brother Pu Chieh was married with Japanese woman " Hiro Saga"*. Japanese army want to inject the Japanese blood to the Manchurian emperor. He married a very young Chinese girl to avoid the Japanese control, but maybe he seemed to be no sperm.

* Younger Brother Pu Chieh and Hiro who bore their two daughters, have had their own remarkable story and managed to forge a sincere bond despite their arranged marriage, cultural differences (helped no doubt by Pu Chieh's fluent Japanese), forced separation at war's end due to each being held in separate jails, Hiro's eventual repatriation to Japan, and not knowing where or how each other are doing. They managed to reunite after 16 years apart during which their eldest daughter committed suicide whilst still a teenager. The couple stayed together the remainder of their lives until Hiro's passing in 1987 and Pu Chieh's in 1994, the three members of the family of which are now interred at specially built shrine "Aishin Kakura (Aisin Gioro) Shrine" whose front faces Beijing at Shimonoseki Japan. Their younger daughter resides in Japan having raised her own next generation family.

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Maybe you already have watched the movie “Last Emperor”. As you know, Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi was the last emperor of China. He was born in 1906. He lived a stormy life and he has succeeded to the throne at only three years old in 1908. He became the emperor three times. In 1911 one revolution happened, and then Shin(=Chinese dynastic country)has ended. The dynastic reign continued for about 2,000 years. He abdicated from the emperor. He come back to the emperor again in 1917 .But the period is only 12days at 12 years old. The coming back was caused by the group concerned Shin. But they are failed. Pu Yi was mortified. He would like to revive of his status.
In 1924 one Chinese military clique ordered him to get out from the big palace in Beijing. He depended on Japanese cooperation. In 1928 one incident happened and let him be very angry. One group of Chiang Kaishek military rob from Chinese tomb of Shin many treasures. In 1931 one affair was happened by Japanese Kanto army. They blast the railroad of Manchuria. After the incident Japanese kanto army make Manchuria in 1932. He finally was able to be a emperor of the country again in 1934.
The building is the first palace of the Manchuria where he lived with his wives. In front of this building you can see the word of stone monument by Jiang Zemin “ Don’t forget 9.18”. I thought this building is relatively small as he lived. You can see the room of his wife, too.
And WW2 happened and as a result, Japan was defeated in the war. Manchuria has broken and the emperor abdicated the throne three times. This time was the last time. The third time's the charm. He was caught and carried to the Soviet Union. He was moved to china’s jail in 1950. He was educated as ordinary human life here.
He get out the jail in 1959. The new regime granted a general amnesty to political offenders. He married with Lee, one nurse. He wrote his biography. The biography created a great sensation. He died in 1967.

One of the few attractions in Changchun, the Palace of the puppet emperor is where Pu Yi, the disposed last emperor of China lived when he was appointed 'emperor' of Manchukuo by the Japanese during their occupation of the North East of China in the 1930's. The palace was built in European style of the 1930's. There's also a small museum with many pictures of Japanese atrocities and war crimes.

Some scenes of Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" (1987) were filmed here.

A large park in the outskirts of Changchun with an outdoor permanent sculpture exhibition from artists from all over the world.

There is also an indoor museum which can be visited even during the hard manchurian winter.

Tickets at RMB 20,00 (US$2,50) / person.

This square in the middle of the town is the division of Renmin Dajie (People's Avenue) between north and south.

It is easily recognizeable by its monument with an airplane in the middle of the square.

If you drive around the town, you will definitely drive around this square some time.

For many, the only sight in Changchun, Aixin "Henry" Puyi's palace in the eastern suburbs of the city is one of the great historical sights in China. The palace has been refurbished, and is due to be officially reopened later this month (August 2004).
Puyi was the last Qing Dynasty emperor, and his reign was ill-fated from the very moment of his inauspicious coronation in Beijing's Forbidden City. In 1932, long after he had abdicated, he was spirited away from his isolated Tianjin home to become Japan's puppet emperor in Manchuria. It was a ridiculous attempt to give some form of legitimacy to the dictatorship.
The chronology of Puyi, his wives, concubines and retainers is told with admirable evenness by the palace museum, and the many visitors appear to understand - but not respect - his rather pathetic existence here in Changchun. By the time Puyi arrived in Changchun he had little face to lose.
Unusually for a musuem in China, the humdrum of daily life is well portrayed. Snippets include that he signed important state papers while sitting on the toilet (a little way of showing his disdain for the Japanese); the royal swimming pool; his music room; the 'kow-tow' room where he met dignitaries; the royal swimming pool; the royal cinema - with just two chairs.
Even more sad is the evidence of how the lives of his family was destroyed over the years: who could survive a life of boredom, ridicule and lack of any purpose?
The palace grounds originally extended much further than it does today, and the authorities are slowly reviving the other buildings and the grounds. The work so far shows a real appreciation of the need to sow history fairly and in an accessible manner.
Although details of the rooms are given in Chinese, English and Korean, the captions of the enlarged photographs are given only in Chinese.
If you have seen Bertolucci's "Last Emperor" you will recognise many of the rooms from the film, especially the huge yellow galleried lobby.

A beautiful green isle just in the middle of the city, where you can hear no sound but the trees, birds, lake, wind... nature.

Fantastic place to take a walk, hava a pic-nic or just catch some sun...

Later I will give other impressions on the park... with some other great pictures too.

If you have watched the Bertolucci's movie "The last emperor", you will at least know the history... here you will have the opportunity to visit Pu Yi's Palace.

In the palace, information is available also in English, besides of Chinese and Japanese. Behind the buildings you find a beautiful chiese garden, which must be even more charming on spring.

You can see by the picture: on that day the outside temperature was about -22C... not exactly appropriated for tourism (!!!).