Emperor Puyi was born during the Qing Dynasty when China was dominated by foreign powers. He was named as successor to the throne at the age of three. When a rebellion overthrew him in 1911, he abdicated but continued to live in the Forbidden City.
The Manchus hoped to restore Puyi to his throne, and wanted him to have consort with Western powers that might help them achieve their goal. When the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931, Puyi accepted their offer to be chief executive in the new country of Manchukuo, becoming the emperor of Manchukuo in 1934.
Puyi was flown to the USSR and kept under house arrest after the end of the war, and returned to China in 1950 where he was imprisoned for nine years. He became a puppet for the Chinese government, and even married a Communist Party member in 1962 under the orders of Chairman Mao – the first time in history that a Manchu emperor married a Chinese woman.