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Оглавление8 February 1912
The terms for the treatment of the Manchus after abdication, agreed to in Peking by the Empress-Dowager and Princes and the Cabinet, and telegraphed to Nanking for the approval of the Republican Cabinet, have been returned with certain modifications, and were today communicated to the Palace for final approval. The modifications are so reasonable and the terms so liberal that agreement on this question is now assured.
The terms, as modified, provide specially for the insertion of the words “after his abdication” wherever reference is made in the articles to the Emperor, who is to be known as the Manchu Emperor. The Emperor is to reside first in the Forbidden City and eventually in the Summer Palace, and is to be accorded honours such as are given to a foreign Sovereign visiting China – that is, the Chinese, after his abdication, not being his subjects, will show him due courtesy, not fealty and obedience.
After his abdication, the Manchu Emperor will receive an annual grant of $4,000,000, not taels [Chinese currency]. The explanation ingeniously given is that taels will be abolished when the currency is reformed, while special expenses for ceremonial occasions will be granted by a vote of Parliament. Imperial bodyguards will be allowed, but must be provided and selected by the Republic. Ancestral sacrifices shall continue as for the Ming Emperors. The Republic shall bear the expense of completing the mausoleum of the Emperor Kwang Hsu. The present Palace staffs shall be retained, and all private property shall be respected, whether belonging to the Emperor or to the Princes – Manchu, Tibetan, or Mongol.
Princes and hereditary nobles shall continue as before, and the order of succession shall be maintained. The seal of the Manchu Emperor shall continue to be affixed to all Manchu patents of nobility. The Imperial clan shall enjoy identical privileges with the remainder of the population, and shall in future be exempt from compulsory military service. Manchus, Mongols, Mahomedans, and Tibetans shall be treated on an equality with Chinese in all matters, including residence, occupation, religious toleration, and retention of hereditary titles.
Regarding the Manchu pensions, the agreement provides that “arrangements shall be made for devising a livelihood for the Manchu Bannermen, but pending the completion of these arrangements the pensions shall continue as before.” This provision is intended to mean that arrangements will be made by the new Parliament.
The foregoing terms are to be communicated by the representatives of both parties to the foreign Legations in Peking.
The agreement contains no reference to the eunuchs.
All the above terms are well understood by all the classes interested. In this respect the delay has been advantageous. Everybody wants peace and an early settlement.
In 1911, a revolution led by Sun-Yat Sen turned China into a republic after two millennia of imperial government, overthrowing the Manchu Qing dynasty that had ruled the majority Han Chinese since 1644. Pu Yi, as the last Emperor became known, was then six.
He had been chosen to succeed his uncle four years earlier and after his enforced abdication was permitted to continue living in the Forbidden City in Beijing with his eunuchs and other servants. Despite the best efforts of his tutor, the Scot Reginald Johnston, he grew up spoiled and erratic, with a taste for Western consumerism.
By the mid-1920s, China was riven by struggles between warlords. Pu Yi fell under the influence of the Japanese and, when they occupied Manchuria, became their puppet emperor. Captured by the Russians at the end of the war, he then spent 10 years in prison in China. He survived the Cultural Revolution, working as a gardener until his death in 1967.
