Wanrong

Wanrong (13 November 1906 – 20 June 1946), of the Manchu Plain White Banner Gobulo clan, was the wife and empress consort of Puyi, The Last Emperor of China.

She is sometimes anachronistically called the Xuantong Empress, referring to Puyi's era name.

Wanrong was born into the Gobulo (郭布羅) clan on 13 November 1906, which translates to the 32nd year of the second month of the fourth day of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, under the Plain White Banner of the Eight Banners and of Daur ancestry.

Her father Rongyuan (榮源) had held office under the Qing dynasty until the 1911 Revolution.

The Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1912 and replaced by the Republic of China, marking the end of thousands of years of imperial rule in China.

The former imperial family were granted special privileges by the Republican government, which allowed them to retain their imperial titles and be treated with respect.

Puyi, the abdicated Last Emperor, was allowed to hold an imperial-style wedding in the Forbidden City.

Puyi, 16 years old at the time, was shown a selection of photographs of young females for him to choose from.

Puyi later claimed the faces were too small to distinguish between.

He selected Wenxiu, a 12-year-old girl, but the decision was opposed by the former concubine dowager Consort Jin based on her status and appearance.

The dowager consorts suggested Puyi choose Wanrong, who was about the same age and had a similar family background as he did.

Because he had already chosen Wenxiu, they decided he would marry both Wanrong and Wenxiu as his primary and secondary spouses in accordance with Manchu tradition.

After Wanrong was selected, she moved back to Beijing to prepare for the marriage.

A group of palace eunuchs were sent to her home to prepare her for an imperial wedding.

Runqi, Wanrong's brother said that: "They taught her how to bow and behave with the emperor. She rebelled. She was fed up with the lessons and unhappy about marrying someone she had never met before."

However, she eventually conceded to the marriage.

Wanrong's wedding included three traditional ceremonies, both before and after the grand nuptials: The ceremony of betrothal gifts, in which a large procession presented gifts from Puyi at her home; the Daizheng ceremony, in which the Emperor sent messengers to the bride's home to inform them of the wedding date; and the title-conferring ceremony, in which The Book of Empress Title-conferring was presented to Wanrong at her home.

In accordance with Manchu tradition, she stepped over a large fire, a saddle, and an apple on her wedding day.

The American travel writer Richard Halliburton, who was present at the event, described it as follows: "At four in the morning this gorgeous spectacle moved through the moonlit streets of Peking en-route to the prison-palace. The entire city was awake and the people thronged the line of march. A forest of pennants blazed and fluttered past ...gold dragons on black silk, blue dragons on gold silk; and swaying lanterns, and gilded kiosques containing the bride’s ceremonial robes, and princes on horseback surrounded by their colorful retinues. There was more than enough music. Last of all came the bride’s sedan hung with yellow brocade, roofed with a great gold dragon, and borne along by sixteen noblemen. I followed close behind the shrouded chair, and wondered about the state of mind of the little girl inside. Headed straight for prison, she was on the point of surrendering forever the freedom she had hitherto enjoyed... The procession wound its way to the 'Gate of Propitious Destiny,' one of the entrances to the palace, and halted before it.

Torches flared.

There was subdued confusion and whispers.

Mandarins and court officials hurried back and forth.

Slowly, darkly, the great gates swung open,—I could look inside the courtyard and see the blazing avenue of lamps down which the procession would move up to the throne room where the emperor waited.

Into the glitter and glamour of this 'Great Within' the trembling little girl, hidden in her flowered box, was carried.

Then as I watched, the gates boomed shut and the princess became an empress." Puyi sat upon his Dragon Throne as people kowtowed to him. Later, in Wanrong's new living quarters, she kowtowed to him six times as the decree of their marriage was read in celebration. Wanrong wore a mask, as was Imperial Chinese tradition for the night-time wedding ceremony, and Puyi, who was inexperienced with women, later stated: "I hardly thought about marriage and family.

She was the titular empress consort of the former Qing dynasty from their marriage in 1922 until the exile of the imperial family in November 1924.

When Wanrong became empress in 1922, her father then took employment in the Imperial Household Department until Wanrong was expelled.

Wanrong's biological mother, Aisin-Gioro Hengxin (恒馨) died when Wanrong was two.

Wanrong was raised by her stepmother, Aisin-Gioro Hengxiang (恆香).

Wanrong had a brother, Runliang (潤良) as well as a half-brother, Runqi (潤麒).

The family lived in Mao Er hutong ("hat maker lane") near Di'anmen in Beijing's Dongcheng District.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Rongyuan believed in gender equality in regards to education, so he arranged for Wanrong to be educated in the same manner as her brothers.

Wanrong attended an American missionary school in Tianjin.

She later became the empress consort of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in northeastern China from 1934 until the abolition of the monarchy in August 1945, at the conclusive part of the Second World War.

She was posthumously honored with the title Empress Xiaokemin.

During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria at the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Wanrong was captured by Chinese Communist guerrillas and transferred to various locations before she was placed in a prison camp in Yanji, Jilin.

She died in prison in June 1946 and her remains were never found.

On 23 October 2006, Wanrong's younger brother, Runqi, conducted a ritual burial for her in the Western Qing tombs.

Her courtesy name was Muhong (慕鴻) and her art name was Zhilian.

She also adopted a Western name, Elizabeth, which was inspired by Queen Elizabeth I of England.