The Last Manchu

The Autobiography of Henry Pu Yi, Last Emperor of China

By: Paul Kramer, Henry Pu Yi

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

In 1908, at the age of two, Henry Pu Yi ascended to become the last emperor of the centuries-old Manchu dynasty. After revolutionaries forced Pu Yi to abdicate in 1911, the young emperor lived for 13 years in Peking’s Forbidden City, but with none of the power his birth afforded him. The remainder of Pu Yi’s life was lived out in a topsy-turvy fashion: fleeing from a Chinese warlord, becoming head of a Japanese puppet state, being confined to a Russian prison in Siberia, and enduring taxing labor. The Last Manchu is a unique, enthralling record of China’s most turbulent, dramatic years.

©2010 Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Important and fascinating." ( The New York Times)

Fascinating

One of the top autobiographies that I’ve ever read. Intriguing and fascinating from the start to the end.

A case of bad narration ruining a great story

The story is truly fascinating. Like most Westerners, prior to this book, I only knew about the life story of China's last emperor from Bertolucci's 1987 movie. After I started listening to this, I also looked him up on the (sign, where else) good old wikipedia. This autobiography glossed over, albeit understandably, A WHOLE LOT of things, including the total omission of such unimportant fact as the murder of the newborn child of the empress). And of course, one can't help noticing all that propaganda. Despite all the above-mentioned issues, it is fascinating to hear such fascinating life story from his own perspective...But seriously, couldn’t the narrator at least make a tiny little more effort in pronouncing any the Chinese names correctly?

Amazing

If you're not very interested in the history, the economics, a lot of the finer details, this may drag a bit for you. it can come off a little dry. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, because I have an obsession with this particular historical figure.
the performance was also exquisite, it was nice to have a narrator who actually understands how to say foreign words.

A man bound to the end

This man's life was that of a desperate struggle to be free, yet always being bound. Either bound by the corrupted traditions of the Qing Dynasty as a child, emperor in name only. Or bound by the ambitions of Imperial Japan, a pawn of great power geopolitics. Or bound by the pernicious nature of Communism, again a pawn for domestic propaganda. Only in death was he free. His is a story to be told of why man should and will always seek freedom.

From Empor to Citizen

Henry Pu Yi had an extraordinary life, this captures a glimpse behind the curtain. The autobiography paints a vivid picture of growth in the face of overwhelming hardships.