Synopses & Reviews
British academic and diplomat Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) published Twilight in the Forbidden City in 1934. The work is a memoir of Johnston's time in Beijing between 1919 and 1924, at the court of the Qing Dynasty, where he served as tutor to Aisin-Gioro Puyi (1906-1967), last emperor of China. Johnston was one of only two foreigners who were permitted to enter the imperial palace, and so his account provides a unique Western perspective on the epochal events of the period. The work has a preface by the emperor Puyi and includes detailed descriptions of palace rituals, including Puyi's wedding ceremony; translations of key documents; Johnston's perspective on the revolution of 1911 and the 1917 restoration; his observations on Chinese society as a whole; and eye-witness accounts of the political intrigues of the palace. The memoir was dramatised in Bernardo Bertolucci's cinematic masterpiece, The Last Emperor.
Synopsis
Johnson's account of the last years of the Chinese Qing dynasty provides a unique Western perspective on this historic period.
Synopsis
This work is the record of Johnston's time spent in Beijing between 1919 and 1924, where he served as tutor to Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last emperor of China. As a foreigner, Johnston had unprecedented access to the imperial palace. He provides a unique Western perspective on this tumultuous period.
Table of Contents
Introduction; Preface; 1. The Reform Movement of 1898; 2. The collapse of the Reform Movement; 3. Reaction and the Boxer Movement, 1898-1901; 4. The last years of Kuang-Hsü, 1901-1908; 5. The Empress-Dowager, T`zǔ-Hsi; 6. The Revolution, 1911; 7. The 'Articles of Favourable Treatment' of the Manchu Imperial House; 8. The Ta Ch`ing and the Hung Hsien Emperors; 9. Change Hsün and the Restoration of 1917; 10. Autobiography of the Old Man of the Pine-Tree (translated from the Chinese); 11. The Forbidden City, 1919-1924; 12. The Imperial tutors; 13. The Manchu court in twilight; 14. The Imperial Household Department (Nei Wu Fu); 15. The dragon unfledged; 16. Monarchist hopes and dreams; 17. The dragon restless; 18. The dragon flaps his wings; 19. Dragon and phoenix; 20. Plots and stratagems; 21. The Imperial garden; 22. The summer palace; 23. The Fifth of November; 24. The dragon caged; 25. The flight of the dragon; Epilogue: the dragon goes home; Pedigree of the Manchu Emperors; Notes; Index.