"Mao had often noted that Lenin had Nicholas "II, the last Russian emperor, shot together with the rest of the Russian imperial family, as Lenin could not make the last tsar into a communist; making the last Chinese emperor into a Communist was intended to show the superiority of Chinese communism over Soviet communism.[234] Puyi was to be subjected to "remodeling" to make him into a Communist."
Puyi had never brushed his teeth or tied his own shoelaces once in his life and had to do these basic tasks in prison, subjecting him to the ridicule of other prisoners.[240] Much of Puyi's "remodeling" consisted of attending "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist discussion groups" where the prisoners would discuss their lives before being imprisoned.[241] When Puyi protested to Jin that it had been impossible to resist Japan and there was nothing he could have done, Jin confronted him with people who had fought in the resistance and had been tortured, and asked him why ordinary people in Manchukuo resisted while an emperor did nothing.[242] Puyi had to attend lectures where a former Japanese civil servant spoke about the exploitation of Manchukuo while a former officer in the Kenpeitai talked about how he rounded up people for slave labor and ordered mass executions.[243] At one point, Puyi was taken to Harbin and Pingfang to see where the infamous Unit 731, the chemical and biological warfare unit in the Japanese Army, had conducted gruesome experiments on people. Puyi noted in shame and horror: "All the atrocities had been carried out in my name".[243] Puyi by the mid-1950s was overwhelmed with guilt and often told Jin that he felt utterly worthless to the point that he considered suicide.[244] Jin told Puyi to express his guilt in writing. Puyi later recalled he felt "that I was up against an irresistible force that would not rest until it found out everything".[245] Sometimes Puyi was taken out for tours of the countryside of Manchuria. On one, he met a farmer's wife whose family had been evicted to make way for Japanese settlers and had almost starved to death while working as a slave in one of Manchukuo's factories.[246] When Puyi asked for her forgiveness, she told him "It's all over now, let's not talk about it", causing him to break down in tears.[247] At another meeting, a woman described the mass execution of people from her village by the Japanese Army, and then declared that she did not hate the Japanese and those who had served them as she retained her faith in humanity, which greatly moved Puyi.[248] On another occasion, Jin confronted Puyi with his former concubine Li in meetings in his office, where she attacked him for seeing her only as a sex object, and saying she was now pregnant by a man who loved her.[248]
Asshole is a massive understatement too. He signed off on all the horrible war crimes the Japanese did in Manchukuo, including slavery. He constantly had his servants beat each other, encouraged his wife's opium addiction because it made her "mote manageable", and constantly raped teenage boys (and probably girls).
Dude deserved a painful death, but Mao rehabilitated him just to dunk on Lenin lmao
Also, I'd heavily recommend reading up on Puyi's life. Dude went from a spoiled emperor egomanicial sadist who never even had to tie his own shoes, to a common worker who visited a woman in the hospital everyday because he accidentally hit her with a bike.
"Mao had often noted that Lenin had Nicholas "II, the last Russian emperor, shot together with the rest of the Russian imperial family, as Lenin could not make the last tsar into a communist; making the last Chinese emperor into a Communist was intended to show the superiority of Chinese communism over Soviet communism.[234] Puyi was to be subjected to "remodeling" to make him into a Communist."
And he succeeded
Mao has the biggest dick of anyone in history.
Reading about how is interesting.
Holy shit, I hadn't read anything on this before. They truly broke that man just to make him rebuild himself into a better person. And it worked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyi#Later_life_(1945%E2%80%931967)
For anyone wondering where this is from. Looks like most is sourced from the book The Last Emperor.
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Asshole is a massive understatement too. He signed off on all the horrible war crimes the Japanese did in Manchukuo, including slavery. He constantly had his servants beat each other, encouraged his wife's opium addiction because it made her "mote manageable", and constantly raped teenage boys (and probably girls).
Dude deserved a painful death, but Mao rehabilitated him just to dunk on Lenin lmao
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From what I read it seems like in his later years he was sincerely reflecting on his past and felt massive shame.
Self-honesty and criticism are extremely powerful, and extremely rare
They forced him to see the consequences of his actions.
Also, I'd heavily recommend reading up on Puyi's life. Dude went from a spoiled emperor egomanicial sadist who never even had to tie his own shoes, to a common worker who visited a woman in the hospital everyday because he accidentally hit her with a bike.