Life

Life during the Qing dynasty

He was a part of the House of Aisin-Gioro. Puwei's biological father was Zaiying, the second son of Yixin. Since Yixin's eldest son Zaicheng died without an heir, Puwei was adopted as Zaicheng's son by the Empress Dowager Cixi's decree. After the death of Zaicheng, Puwei assumed the title of prince and became the second generation Prince Gong. Puwei was also appointed as the minister of anti-smoking. During the 1911 Revolution, he organized the Royalist Party with Shanqi and others in an attempt to restore the Qing Dynasty, and he refused to sign the abdication edict. It is rumored he said "As long as I'm here, we will fight. The Qing Empire will never perish".

Life after the Qing dynasty

After the Qing dynasty fell, Puwei bought a house on the seaside of Qingdao and brought all his family members from Beijing. When the Japanese army captured Qingdao in 1914, his house, that was built along the sea was naturally exposed to the naval gunfire. One night, after his residence had been shelled several times, Puwei and his family hurried to a friend's house. He took refuge in his residence, but before he could move in, it was shelled too and an entire wall of a room was destroyed. Even in this situation, Puwei still tried to remake the disbanded Zongshe Party, and secretly organized armed forces in the Liaodong area in a desperate attempt to restore the Qing dynasty.

In 1922, China took back the sovereignty of Qingdao from the Japanese. Puwei, who was determined to restore the Qing, left Qingdao after living there for 10 years and went to Dalian, which was under Japanese rule at the time. Before leaving, he gave some of the furniture to Kang Youwei. After experiencing these futile intrigues, Pu Wei became increasingly frustrated. At this time, he also began to realize the difficulty of life financially.

Puwei was immature when it came to employing people. The person that was responsible for managing his property took a lot of money from him. He originally owned thousands of acres of fertile land, and every year the land rent could fully guarantee his royal life, but as the years passed, the person took the money from selling a large area of land and kept the money for himself. He also smuggled out a large number of books and antiques from the Forbidden City. Later, in order to cover up such a large-scale theft, a eunuch set fire to the Forbidden City. Puwei, who became increasingly financially unable, even had to abandon his two-horse glass-covered carriage. After moving north to Dalian, his life became more difficult, and political frustration made his health deteriorate. In October 1936, in a hotel in Changchun, the 56-year-old last Prince Gong passed away due to poverty and illness.

Claim to the throne

Puwei is the direct grandson of the first generation Prince Gong, Yixin. Yixin's eldest son Zaicheng was supposed to inherit the throne, but he died early. Since Puwei was Zaicheng's adopted son, he had a claim to the throne.

After the Mukden Incident, Japan occupied Manchuria and contacted Puyi to establish a puppet regime. Puyi hesitated and did not agree immediately. Japan then asked Puwei to become Emperor. After hearing the news, Puyi left Tianjin and hurriedly took a boat to Lushun, but the Japanese still felt that Puyi's reputation was greater, so they established the puppet Manchukuo with Puyi as the Chief Executive, and Puwei lost another opportunity to proclaim himself emperor.

Family

Mother and father

• Adoptive father: Zaicheng (1858-1885), eldest son of Prince Gong Yixin, posthumously named Prince Gongguomin.

• Biological father: Zaiying (1861-1909), second son of Prince Gong Yixin, was given the title of Beile of Prince Zhong

• Mother: second Primary Consort Lady Heseri (继夫人赫舍里氏), Daughter of Heseri Chongling.

Concubines and wives

• Primary Consort: Lady Bilu, of Mongolia royal family (嫡福晉碧魯氏)

• secondary consort: Lady Jiagiya (側福晉賈佳氏)

• concubine:

　• Lady Zhang

　• Lady Zhou

children

• First son: Unnamed, deceased.

• second son: Yulin (毓嶙; 1905-?)

• third son: Yuwan (毓岏; 1906-?)

• fourth son: Yusong (毓崧; 1907-?)

• fifth son: Yufen (毓岎; 1909-?)

• sixth son: Unnamed, deceased

• seventh son: Yuzhan, Prince Gong (恭亲王毓嶦; 1923-2016) Born of Lady zhang

• eighth son: Yulu (毓嵂; 1926-?)

• ninth son: Unnamed, deceased

• tenth son: Yurong (毓嶸; 1930-?)

• eleventh son: Yuyong(毓嵱; 1932-?)

• daughter: Yunxia (蕴霞; 1934-)

生平

1880年12月30日出生於北京。生父載瀅早年曾過繼至叔祖父奕詥一系。至1900年時，父親才回歸祖父奕訢一系。而他則早過繼于伯父載澂。1896年，襲伯父爵。祖父奕訢在1898年逝世，溥偉承襲恭親王爵。當年發生戊戌政變，慈禧太后如何處置光緒帝是當時中國政治生活的焦點。各類傳聞中，他與載振、溥儁，皆是取代光緒帝，承繼皇位的宗室人選。1908年，溥偉曾被列為光緒帝繼嗣人選。慈禧太后死後，與攝政王載灃策劃誅殺袁世凱未遂。1911年辛亥革命時期，與肅親王善耆等人組織「宗社黨」，拒絕在清帝「退位詔書」上簽字，主張整兵一戰，是清皇族中的復闢派。

1912年2月12日，宣統帝退位，中華民國成立之後，溥偉先避居京郊戒台寺，後轉移到德國租借地青島。1913年他聯絡駐紮在兗州的張勳，策劃「癸丑複闢」未遂。1914年第一次世界大戰爆發，日軍佔領青島，溥偉欲借日本勢力復闢清室。在日軍的支持下，他和善耆發起「滿蒙獨立運動」，重建已被解散的宗社黨，還在遼東一帶召納土匪，秘密組織勤王軍。1916年2月，溥偉在青島期間曾收到前陝甘總督升允自東京送來的密函，信中敘述升允在日本聯絡上層力量支持復闢活動。見此信，溥偉遂和善耆加快了復闢步伐，並預謀六月中旬在遼南一帶舉事。可是6月6日袁世凱突然病死，日本政府寺內正毅內閣上台，隨之改變了對華政策，將宗社黨軍隊和蒙古騎兵解散。1917年張勳複闢，溥偉一旁觀望，沒有參加。

1922年2月善耆去世，溥偉復闢清室的希望成空。同年秋天，在德國的殖民地青島回歸中國之前，溥偉從青島移居大連，在黑石礁築室「星浦山莊」（今為大連星海賓館），閑居中廣交大連文人，賦詩作畫，以打發其惆悵無聊的日子。他的《春日》詩最能表達復闢無望的心情。

1931年九一八事變後，大日本帝國為誘迫溥儀早到東北籌建滿洲國，將溥偉從大連接到瀋陽，讓其當「四民維持會」會長，揚言要以溥偉為首建立「明光帝國」。日軍還讓溥偉穿上王服，在滿洲國警憲的簇擁下祭陵。溥儀得知這一消息，急忙來到旅順，順從地當了日本的傀儡皇帝。溥儀對溥偉心存戒慮，總是怕溥偉會奪去帝位，從沒給溥偉一個職位。

1934年（民國二十三年）1月，溥儀要做滿洲國皇帝之前，曾派溥偉到京津一帶，運動清朝遺老貴胄前往長春上本朝賀。溥偉到京津將其列名奏賀之本章收齊，並帶去故宮太監二十四名，預備三月一日，溥儀舉行登極大典時侍奉之用。儘管他竭盡全力支持溥儀，也只在登基大典之後和溥儀見了唯一的一面，對溥儀說的還是「有我溥偉在，大清不會亡」。但並沒有得到溥儀的重用。

去世

1936年初，貧病交加的溥偉到新京請求溥儀召見期間猝死於新華旅社內，享年五十六歲。時任滿洲國的皇帝溥儀受清皇室眾親貴諫勸，追謚溥偉為恭賢親王，並由第七子毓嶦承爵。第七子毓嶦赴新京溥儀所辦的皇宮私塾免費讀書。至此，妾室張氏攜帶自身兒女投奔親生兒毓嶦，並移居長春。外妾周氏也出於生計攜一雙子女改嫁滿洲張姓正白旗。

家庭

妻妾

• 嫡福晉碧魯氏，

• 側福晉賈佳氏，

• 妾張氏，

• 外妾周氏，

兒子

• 第一子：未命名，已逝。

• 第二子：毓嶙，1905年出生，已逝。

• 第三子：毓岏，1906年出生，已逝。

• 第四子：毓崧，1907年出生，已逝。

• 第五子：毓岎，1909年出生，已逝。

• 第六子：未命名，已逝。

• 第七子：恭親王毓嶦。（1923年－2016年）

• 第八子：毓嵂，1926年出生，已逝。

• 第九子：未命名，已逝。

• 第十子：毓嶸，1930年出生，已逝。

• 十一子：毓嵱，1932年出生，已逝。

女兒

• 毓嵋，1934年出生，已逝。

注釋