Fake Forbidden City in Changchun
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This odd homage to China's final emperor, Puyi, is an eerie portrait of a troubled guy. Built by the Japanese for their puppet kingdom of Manchukuo, it was refurbished in 2002. Surveillance cameras, swimming pools and life-like dioramas make this one copy which is better than the original.
One thousand kilometers northeast of the Forbidden City sits an elaborate impostor. Though designed along the lines of the original, Changchun’s version has additions not included in Beijing’s, like a bomb shelter dug under a hill, an outdoor swimming pool and surveillance equipment used to spy on the emperor.
The impostor is the Puppet Emperor’s Forbidden City (伪满皇宫). It was built in the 1930s as a home for China’s last emperor who was used as a puppet by the invading Japanese in Manchukuo. It was fully restored in 2002. Read the story behind the restoration here. Visiting the fake Forbidden City is an eerie look at the dark life of its only inhabitant: China’s last emperor, Puyi.
The exhibition’s pity–even compassion–for Puyi comes as a surprise. More tabloid than op-ed, the halls are filled not with judgment, but with Puyi’s odd, grotesque personal details:
* his severe hemorrhoids
* his long rests on the toilet from where he would approve official documents
* his strained relationship with his opium-addicted empress.
The details paint a portrait of life behind the walls of the Puppet Emperor’s Forbidden City as tragic as the life-sized diorama of a drugged out Empress Wan Rong.
Puyi was unable to enjoy his elaborate palace. Royal tradition prevented him from baring his “dragon body” to enjoy the pool, and paranoia kept him from rooms he suspected were bugged by his Japanese overlords.
The tabloid view of palace life is a 180-degree turn for a country that could once only imagine what went on behind the walls of the Forbidden City. It’s an intense experience unavailable in Beijing’s version, making the fake Forbidden City–swimming pool, spy equipment and all–a rare case where the impostor is more fun than the original.
Thomas Talhelm
Stay: Chunyi Hotel How Much: RMB280 Tel: (0431) 8209-6101
