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There are mainly three parts of the museum, one is about the basic landscape and facilities of the palace, the other is about the life experience of the emperor Puyi, and the last is special part with the theme of Japanese Invasion called “Never Forget 18 on September”, the day was the beginning of the invasion. Its main structures include Jixi Building on the west courtyard and Tongde Hall on the east courtyard. The outer court contained buildings for affairs of state.
First we saw the palace. The main construction was a two-floor building with yellow glass roof, including some other buildings with different styles. Puyi established Fake Manchu Empire and became the king in this very building from 1932-1945. Palace as it was, there was no way to compare it with the ones in Forbidden City. It was like everything was built on bubbles, you never knew when the bubbles might disappear with a pop. We were very interested about the cars Puyi once took, sadly the tour guide wasn’t as passionate as us. Cold face and less words were all his got, then i moved to the next scene.
I was walking in this big yard and thought to myself, what a pathetic guy Puyi was! He was just a tool that Japanese used to invade China. He couldn’t do whatever he wanted, not only that, he had to ask for permission from those heartless invaders. We all know what puppet’s life like? All his life is depending on that string, doesn’t matter if he had a soul or not. Living like that is worst thing ever. But maybe he just put his life first and would everything to keep himself breathing in this cruel world. Dignity and life, which one is more important? Who knows? Everyone has different answers.
Then we watched Life from Emperor to Citizen, a story of Puyi’s life. As the last emperor in Chinese history, he once was the ruler three time, one was the last king, the other was the Restoration king, the last one was the puppet king of Manchuguo. He had 5 wives but no kids. He might be greatest traitor. He betrayed his country and his people, and threw away all the national interests to keep himself alive.
However, he was lucky in some way. When Chinese people won the battle against Japanese invaders, he did not got killed by the raging nation. Instead, the new government turned him into a normal citizen and made him stand on his own feet, which was very rare in anywhere of the world.