Li Yuqin

Li Yuqin was born on July 15, 1928, in Changchun, which was then the capital of Manchukuo. She was of Han Chinese ethnicity and came from a middle-class family originating from Shandong Province. Her father, Li Degui, worked as a translator for a local missionary organization, and her mother, Wang Xiuru, owned a small silk farm on the outskirts of Changchun. Both sides of her family had historical ties to the imperial court; her paternal great-grandmother served as a wet nurse to the daughter of the Xianfeng Emperor, and her maternal family were court physicians.

Following the fall of the Qing Dynasty, members of her family who had been associated with the imperial court were displaced to rural areas, resulting in their classification as commoners. Li Yuqin had two brothers and three sisters and experienced a childhood described as relatively happy.

She attended Nanling Girls' Academy in Changchun, which was known as Hsinking at the time. In February 1943, while she was a student, she was selected by her school’s principal, Kobayashi, and her teacher, Fujii, to have portrait photographs taken. Subsequently, the principal and teacher visited her home and informed her that Emperor Puyi, the nominal ruler of Manchukuo, had ordered her to study at the palace. She was taken for a medical examination and then introduced to Puyi’s sister, Yunhe, where she was instructed in palace protocols.

Li Yuqin became a concubine of Puyi, receiving the title of Noble Lady Fu (福貴人). She lived in the palace, enjoying a lifestyle with servants, though she stated that she and Puyi only consummated their relationship once and did not have further sexual relations. Her marriage to Puyi occurred during the period of Manchukuo's existence, which was a puppet state established by Imperial Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In 1945, with the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, the Manchukuo regime collapsed. Li Yuqin attempted to evacuate Changchun with Puyi and other members of the imperial court. They were transported by train from Changchun to Dalizigou, but Puyi continued by plane to Mukden, where he was arrested and taken to the Soviet Union. Puyi later recounted that Li Yuqin was frightened and wished to accompany him, but he assured her and Wanrong that they could reach Japan by train. Soviet forces soon arrested the group and sent them to a prison in Changchun. Empress Wanrong died in 1946 amid opium withdrawal symptoms. Li Yuqin was released that year and returned to Changchun.

Post-war, she worked in a textile factory and a library, where she studied Marxist literature. She visited Puyi in prison starting in 1955 and, after applying for divorce, was taken to meet him in a room with a large bed, an encounter she linked to efforts at reform led by Puyi's political handlers. She officially divorced Puyi in 1957.

Later, she married Huang Yugeng, a technician, and they had two sons. During the Cultural Revolution, Li Yuqin was targeted for persecution due to her connection to Puyi. She passed away on April 24, 2001, at the age of 73, in Changchun after a six-year battle with cirrhosis.