Last China Empress went crazy in the end? | Wanrong

In 1911, Qing Dynasty was overthrown and replaced by the Republic of China. However, Emperor Puyi and his imperial family were still able to retain the imperial titles and were allowed to remain in the northern half of the palace, the Forbidden City. In March 1922, Emperor Puyi was 15 years old. The four Daoist consorts, the widows of previous emperors, decided that Puyi should get married. They selected four girls for Puyi to choose from. They showed him the photos of the four girls, but the photo quality was not good enough. When Puyi looked at the photos, he thought every girl looked very similar. He then randomly selected one of them. The selected girl was Wan Su. His decision was vigorously opposed by one of the consorts. She said this girl was only 12 years old, she was not pretty, and her family was not prominent. Instead, the consort recommended another girl, Wan Rong, who was at the same age as Puyi. She was beautiful and her family was wealthy. Puyi was annoyed by the argument and agreed to select Wan Rong as the empress. And the first selected girl, Wan Su, would also be the secondary consort. This began the life of the last Chinese empress. Wan Rong was from a wealthy and prominent family. Her father served as the Minister of Domestic Affairs in the Qing imperial court. Her mother died when she was still a baby. Wan Rong was raised by her stepmother. Her father was open-minded and believed in gender equality. Therefore, Wan Rong could attend an American missionary school in Tianjin, where she learned English and piano. She also had an English name, Elizabeth. After Wan Rong was selected as the empress, she rebelled initially, because she did not want to marry someone she had never met before. But in the end, she compromised. After the marriage, Wan Rong began living in the Palace of Gathered Elegance, the old residence of Empress Dowager Cixi, while the Emperor Puyi continued living in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. However, Puyi rarely spent the night with Wan Rong. Legend said Puyi lacked sexual desire. As the empress of China, Wan Rong had her own kitchen Her personal eunuch said Wan Rong was kind to her servants. She was also generous to the people. In 1923, she donated 600 silver coins to help the famine. Because Wan Rong was lonely in the palace, she always wanted to have someone to amuse her. At the age of 18, she still behaved like a child. Sometimes she would ask a eunuch to play with her. Wan Rong also enjoyed western culture and cuisine. She even taught Puyi how to eat western food with a knife and fork. In fact, Puyi liked her and found her company enchanting. He once appeared with a German-made bicycle to help Wan Rong learn how to ride a bike. During this time, Puyi came every day to see Wan Rong. Later, Wan Rong started to smoke a cigarette to cure her headache and Puyi would help her light the fire. The secondary consort, Wan Su, was not that lucky. She was never favored by the emperor. And the relationship with Wan Rong was competitive. Wan Rong perceived her as a rival and would write letters to mock her. In 1924, the warlord Fang Yusang seized the control of Beijing and banished Puyi and the imperial family out of the palace. After being exiled, Puyi, Wan Rong and Wan Su moved to Tianjin and later settled in a quiet garden villa where they have lived in peace for some time. The family continued to live luxuriously. Wan Rong started to smoke opium and became addicted to it. She was a shopaholic. She also competed with Wan Su in this matter. Whenever Puyi bought something for one of them, the other would ask Puyi to buy for her as well or even to ask him to buy more. But Puyi always showed a preference for Wan Rong and spent more time with her as well. Puyi would frequently take Wan Rong to the Siming Theater to enjoy operas. In 1931, Wan Su could no longer endure the ignorance from Puyi and decided to divorce him. Afterwards, Puyi believed that it was the fault of Wan Rong. He began to blame her and to neglect her. Their relationship got worse over time. Later in 1931, in the hope of restoring the Qing dynasty, Puyi accepted an offer from Japan to have their puppet state in Manchukuo in Manchuria. Since then, their lives were carefully monitored by the Japanese. On the 1st of March 1934, the Japanese government proclaimed Puyi as the Emperor of Manchukuo and Wan Rong as his Empress. The couple lived in the Russian-built Weihuan Palace. Apart from Puyi's coronation, Wan Rong only made one other public appearance. Because of Puyi's neglect and her loneliness in Manchukuo, Wan Rong started to smoke heavily the mixture of tobacco and opium. In 1935, Puyi visited Japan and stayed there for some time. While Puyi was away, Wan Rong has developed secret affairs with two of Puyi's attendants in the Manchukuo Palace. One day, Wan Rong found she was pregnant, but she still insisted to give birth to the illegitimate child. After Puyi knew about her pregnancy, Wan Rong forced him to acknowledge the child as his or to allow the child to be raised outside. But Puyi was furious and ignored her. In the end, her child died upon delivery. Rumors said the newly born child was poisoned right in front of Wan Rong. Some said the child was thrown into the fireplace. Since then, Wan Rong was completely broken. To escape from the cruel reality, she became a heavy opium addict, and she needed two ounces of opium every day. While her mental health got worse, she no longer groomed herself nor dressed properly. In her later years, she even struggled to walk. In 1945, during Soviet invasion, Puyi attempted to flee from Manchukuo. This time, he left behind Wan Rong. Wan Rong and the rest of her group tried to flee to Korea, but they were captured by the Chinese communists in 1946, and they were transferred to different prisons. In the same year, Wan Rong died in prison at the age of 39 No one knows about her burial location. Her remains were never found. Only several years later, Puyi learned about Wan Rong's death. He wrote, And then I often thought, if she had divorced me in Tianjin as Wan Xiu did, she may have escaped from it. Wan Rong was born as a pampered and beautiful girl, but after she became the empress, her destiny was closely tied to Puyi, who eventually contributed to an unexpected tragic ending.