Sample Pages Preview
Puyi later recalled, "With sincerity, I wrote this book to repent my past and to lay bare my ugly crimes against the Chinese people; also to leave behind my personal recollections for later generations. I am sure the readers of this book will form their own proper conclusions from reading it."
After reading through the copied manuscripts of Puyi's memoir, the leaders confirmed that they were glad see Puyi's written repentance of his crimes. They praised the fact that Puyi's memoir showed not only his own successful reformation, but also the progress of Chinese society overall in the past half-century. They said that Puyi's memoir, after thorough editing,should be published.
On December 14th 1959, when Puyi met Premier Zhou for the first time, he reported that he had written a memoir including the account of his reformation. With great interest, Premier Zhou immediately asked Puyi whether or not he had the memoir with him. Puyi replied that it had been stored in the prison. Puyi said that, at the time, it was only a draft. Although it had been revised twice, it still needed thorough revision.
More than a month later, on January 26, 1960, when Premier Zhou received Puyi and his relatives, he told Puyi he had received a copy of his memoir and had read most of it. Enthusiastically, he told Puyi, "Your memoir is very valuable." Premier Zhou praised Puyi for the courage to "declare war against feudal society" and to "expose his stupidity in trying to restore the Qing Dynasty". But Premier Zhou also said, "I think there is too much self-criticism in it. It should be written according to historical facts."He requested Puyi to improve it through further meticulous revision.
Before long, at Premier Zhou's direction, Puyi's long memoir was divided into three volumes. In a large font of characters and sixteen mo, four hundred copies were printed. They were issued to the leaders of the CPC and the CPPCC, and Puyi was also given a set. The white front covers had 'UNFINISHED' written on the upper right corners.
Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Pen Zhen and other leaders of the state gladly read Puyi's memoir. They said, "It is the first memoir written by a Chinese emperor." They all gave their honest opinions and suggestions to Puyi, and praised his courage in exposing his old self. Mr. Peng Zhen said, "A memoir should not be a long self-criticism. Puyi was only a little boy when he was chosen to be emperor, what error did he make then?"
Four months later, The Masses Publishing House was ordered to print seven thousand copies of Puyi's memoir, in two volumes and thirty-two mo,with gray covers. They were confined to distribution within government,legal, and historical circles, in order to solicit constructive criticism from the officials and academics.
Of course, Puyi himself was still dissatisfied with the manuscript of his memoir. He knew it needed further revision, and he wanted to add his experiences from 1957 to the time he was released.
The Masses Publishing House belonged to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). Mr. Li Wenda, one of its chief editors and a popular writer,was appointed to help Puyi with the further revision of his memoir.
At the end of April 1960, it was arranged for Mr. Li Wenda to live at the famous Xiangshan Hotel, near the Beijing Botanical Garden, to help Puyi revise his memoir. For two and a half months, every morning, Puyi worked in the botanical garden. After lunch, he would go to the Xiangshan Hotel to work on the revision with Mr. Li. They first reduced the number of sections containing self-criticism, next they reorganized some of the narrative, concluding by adding more recent events, from 1957 until the end of 1959. Also included was an account of Puyi's feelings when he was received by Premier Zhou. Finally, they perfected the language of the whole manuscript.
