Puyi, courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之) was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty ruler. Becoming the Xuantong emperor at age two, but forced to abdicate on 12 February 1912 due to the Xinhai Revolution. He later served as the ruler of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo during World War II.
Dorgon, formally known as Prince Rui, was a Manchu prince and regent of the early Qing dynasty. Born in the Aisin Gioro clan as the 14th son of Nurhaci, Dorgon started his career in military campaigns against the Ming dynasty, Mongols and Koreans during the reign of his eighth brother, Hong Taiji, who succeeded their father.
The Shunzhi Emperor was Emperor of the Qing dynasty from 1644 to 1661, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China proper. A committee of Manchu princes chose him to succeed his father, Hong Taiji (1592–1643), in September 1643, when he was five years old. The princes also appointed two co-regents: Dorgon (1612–1650), the 14th son of the Qing dynasty's founder Nurhaci (1559–1626), and Jirgalang (1599–1655), one of Nurhaci's nephews, both of whom were members of the Qing imperial clan.
The Yongzheng Emperor, born Yinzhen, was the fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigned from 1722 to 1735. A hard-working ruler, the Yongzheng Emperor's main goal was to create an effective government at minimal expense. Like his father, the Kangxi Emperor, the Yongzheng Emperor used military force to preserve the dynasty's position.
The nobility of China was an important feature of the traditional social structure of Ancient China and Imperial China.
The House of Aisin-Gioro was the Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and the Manchukuo (1932–1945) in Chinese history. The term comes from aisin, which means "gold" in the Manchu language, and gioro, which is the surname/family-clan name of the Aisin-Gioro's ancestral home in present-day Yilan, Heilongjiang Province. In Manchu traditions, families are identified first by their hala (哈拉), which is their family or clan name, and then by mukūn (穆昆) which is the more detailed classification and typically refers to individual families. In the case of Aisin-Gioro, Aisin is the mukūn, and Gioro is the hala. Other members of the Gioro clan include Irgen Gioro (伊爾根覺羅), Šušu Gioro (舒舒覺羅) and Sirin Gioro (西林覺羅).
Jin Youzhi, born Aisin Gioro Puren, was a politician and historian who was the nominal head of the Aisin Gioro clan, the imperial clan of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, from 1994 until his death in 2015. He was the fourth and youngest son of Prince Chun, and a younger half-brother of Puyi, the Last Emperor of China. Instead of using his Manchu clan name "Aisin Gioro" as his family name, Puren adopted "Jin" as his new family name. "Jin" means "gold" in Mandarin, as does "Aisin" in the Manchu language. His courtesy name was "Youzhi"; he is best known as "Jin Youzhi". The Chinese media referred to him as "The Last Emperor's Younger Brother" or "The Last Imperial Younger Brother (最后的皇弟).
Yuyan (1918–1997), courtesy name Yanrui, nickname Xiaoruizi, was a Chinese calligrapher of Manchu descent. He was a member of the Aisin Gioro clan, the imperial clan of the Qing dynasty. He claimed that he was appointed by Puyi, the last Emperor of China, as the heir to the throne. His claim is the subject of the travel adventure book The Empty Throne by British journalist Tony Scotland.
Zhang Xun, courtesy name Shaoxuan (少轩), pseudonym Songshoulaoren (松寿老人), nickname bianshuai was a Qing and Republic of China's loyalist general who attempted to restore the abdicated emperor Puyi in the Manchu Restoration of 1917. He also supported Yuan Shikai during his time as president.
The Duke of Yansheng, literally "Honorable Overflowing with Sagacity", sometimes translated as Holy Duke of Yen, was a Chinese title of nobility. It was originally created as a marquis title in the Western Han dynasty for a direct descendant of Confucius.
The Qing dynasty (1636–1912) of China developed a complicated peerage system for royal and noble ranks.
The Forbidden City was first built in the early-15th century as the palace of the Ming emperors of China. It is located in the centre of Beijing, China, and was the Chinese imperial palace from the early-Ming dynasty in 1420 to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912, continuing to be home of the last emperor Puyi until 1924, since when it has been a museum.
The Western Qing tombs are located some 140 km (87 mi) southwest of Beijing in Yi County, Hebei Province. They constitute a necropolis that incorporates four royal mausoleums where seventy-eight royal members are buried. These include four emperors of the Qing dynasty and their empresses, imperial concubines, princes and princesses, as well as other royal servants.
The House of Zhu, also known as the House of Chu, was the imperial family of the Ming dynasty of China. Zhu was the family name of the emperors of the Ming dynasty. The House of Zhu ruled China from 1368 until the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, followed by the rule as the Southern Ming dynasty until 1662, and the last Ming princes, the Prince of Ningjing Zhu Shugui and Prince Zhu Honghuan (朱弘桓) held out until the annexation of the Kingdom of Tungning in 1683.
The Kong Family Mansion was the historical residence of the direct descendants of Confucius in the City of Qufu, the hometown of Confucius in Shandong Province, China. The extant structures mainly date from the Ming and Qing dynasties. From the mansion, the family tended to the Confucian sites in Qufu and also governed the largest private rural estate in China. The Kong family was in charge of conducting elaborate religious ceremonies on occasions such as plantings, harvests, honoring the dead, and birthdays. Today, the mansion is a museum and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu".
Marquis of Extended Grace was a title held by a descendant of the imperial family of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) during the subsequent Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Holders of this title were also called the Marquis of Zhu from the surname of the Ming imperial clan. The marquis presided at memorial ceremonies held twice a year at the Ming tombs near Beijing.
It is not usual for a Chinese dynasty to pass smoothly into the next one, as is depicted in historical timelines, since dynasties were often established before the overthrow of an existing regime, or continued for a time after they had been defeated. However, in dynasties prior to the Yuan dynasty, the reigning dynasties often gave title to certain members of the previous dynasties as recognition of the legitimacy of the former dynasty and the way to show the right to the dynastic change. The method is known as "The two crownings and the three respects" (二王三恪), the people who were given to such position had right to retain the law from the original dynasty within the land given to them, and the reigning emperor couldn't treat them as his subject. From Yuan dynasty to the Republic of China, titles or treatments given to members of previous dynasties were not considered crownings or respects.
China was a monarchy from prehistoric times up to 1912 CE, when the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty in favor of the Republic of China. The succession of mythological monarchs of China were non-hereditary. Dynastic rule began in circa 2070 BCE when Yu the Great and his son Qi established the Xia dynasty, and lasted until 1912 CE when dynastic rule collapsed together with the monarchical system.
Puyi, the last emperor of China, came from a long noble ancestry. During the course of his three terms as emperor, and during post war life, he had five wives and numerous consorts.
