Yuyan

Pretender HH Prince Imperial Yùyán
Born	1918 Běijīng
Died	1997
Throne(s) claimed	China
Pretend from	October 17, 1967 – 1997
Monarchy abolished	1912
Last monarch	Xuāntǒng (Pǔyí)
Connection with	Cousin
Royal House	Qīng
Father	Prince Pu-cheng
Mother	Ching-kuei
Predecessor	Xuāntǒng (Pǔyí)
Successor	Hengzhen

Aisin-Gioro Yùyán (Chinese: 爱新觉罗·毓喦) (1918-1997) was a prince of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan in China and appointed heir to the Imperial throne of China by Puyi the last Emperor.

Early life

Yùyán was born in the Prince Dun Mansion in Beijing. He was the second son of Prince Pucheng (1873-1932) and Ching-kuei, a lady from the Manchu clan of Fuca. His grandfather was Zailian (d.1917), the disgraced eldest son of Yicong. Yùyán's great-grandfather Yicong, 2nd Prince Dun (奕誴) (1831-1889), fifth son of the Daoguang Emperor and elder brother of Yixuan, 1st Prince Chun, Puyi's grandfather.

In 1936 Prince Yùyán was summoned by his cousin Puyi, who had been enthroned as Emperor of Manchukuo in 1934, to join his court in Changchun (Hsinking). In the Manchu court he was very close to the Emperor and was known as Little Rui. His elder brother, Prince Yutai, born in 1894, died without issue in the 1940s.

After the Communist takeover

Pretenders to the Chinese throne since 1912 Puyi 1912–1967 Yuyan 1967–1997 Hengzhen since 1997 See also Qīng Dynasty

After the fall of the Manchukuo Empire, Yùyán was arrested by the Russians and imprisoned near Khabarovsk (Boli) in the USSR's Far East Region (1945-1950) along with Puyi, and later sent to China, where he was incarcerated in the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre in Manchuria (1950-1957).

In the summer of 1950, during their detention in the USSR, Yùyán was appointed as heir of the Qing dynasty by Puyi, who had no issue, following the imperial tradition which prescribed that a childless Emperor should choose as heir a member of one of the next generations of the family. This choice passed some eligible heirs, as his own nephews (sons of Puren), and Puyi chose Yùyán because he's "reliable" and "loyal" (From Emperor to Citizen by Puyi).

After his release from Fushun, Yùyán worked as a teacher of Chinese, and later at a haberdashery factory. He was arrested in 1959 and sent for hard labour at a public security detention centre near Beijing. When he was released, Yùyán did not enjoy his freedom for long, because he was arrested again in 1966, when the Cultural Revolution started, and sent to hard labour again in the Shanxi province. He was not released until 1979, when he was able to return to Beijing and found work as a road sweeper.

After years in prison

He was a talented calligrapher and poet, and in 1987 he was appointed a consultant to the state on the restoration of the Prince Gong Mansion in Beijing.

Prince Yùyán is the main character of the book The empty throne: The quest for an imperial heir in the People's Republic of China (1993), by the British journalist Tony Scotland where he looks for the heir to Imperial throne of China.

Family

In 1943, Yùyán married Jinglan (馬佳·靜蘭), a lady from the Manchu clan of Magiya, who bore him two sons:

• Hengzhen(恒镇), born in 1944, Married Tu Yanling and has one son.
  • Jin Xing (Born 1977)
• Hengkai, born in 1945, Married Liu Xiujuan has one son.
  • Jin Yinghui (Born 1980)

Princess Jinglan died in 1948 in Tianjin while her husband was a prisoner of war in Siberia. Years later, he married Chang Yun-fang, who bore him an only son,

• Hengjun, (Born 1966)

External links

• 愛新覚羅 毓嵒 – Japanese site with colour photograph
• Genealogy of Prince Yùyán