Reginald-fleming johnston sir james haldane steward lockhart

Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, ( zh, s=庄士敦爵士, p=Zhuāngshìdūn juéshì, "Sir Johnston"; 13 October 1874 – 6 March 1938) was a British

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...

who served as the tutor and advisor to

Puyi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...

, the last

Emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heav ...

. He was also the last British Commissioner of

Weihaiwei Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popul ...

. Johnston's book ''

Twilight in the Forbidden City ''Twilight in the Forbidden City'' () is Reginald Johnston's 486-page memoir of the Xuantong Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Johnston was tutor to the Emperor and an eyewitness to events in China in the 1920s and 1930s. Johnston was also a professor ...

'' (1934) was used as a source for

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

's film dramatization of Puyi's life '' The Last Emperor''.

Early life

Johnston was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland. He studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

and later was awarded a scholarship to read modern history at

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. In 1898, he joined the

Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

and was initially posted to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

. In 1906, he was transferred to the British

leased territory In international relations, a concession is a " synallagmatic act by which a State transfers the exercise of rights or functions proper to itself to a foreign private test which, in turn, participates in the performance of public functions and th ...

on the coast of the Shandong Peninsula as a District Officer, working with Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart. For his extreme industry, Johnston was noted from his superiors as a capable colonial magistrate. Johnston was a keen traveller, in 1902 exploring

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includ ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

and

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. In 1904 he visited

Kiautschou The Jiaozhou Bay (; german: Kiautschou Bucht, ) is a bay located in the prefecture-level city of Qingdao (Tsingtau), China. The bay has historically been romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English and Kiautschou in German. Geogr ...

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

and later Korea. In January 1906, he undertook a year-long journey from Peking to

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fou ...

, publishing an account of his experiences in 1908. A "militant anti-Christian" whose criticism of missionaries in China possibly hindered his promotion, Johnston was fascinated by Chinese Buddhism. In 1908, he had a private audience with the 13th Dalai Lama, one of the few westerners to do so. He wrote three books during his time in the service: ''From Peking to Mandalay'' (1908), ''Lion and Dragon in Northern China'' (1910), and ''Buddhist China'' (1913).

Tutor to Puyi, in the Forbidden City

In 1919, he was appointed

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

of thirteen-year-old

who still lived inside the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

as a non-sovereign monarch. As the Scottish-born tutor to the Dragon Emperor, Johnston and Isabel Ingram, daughter of an American missionary and the empress's tutor, were the only foreigners in history to be allowed inside the inner court of the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. Johnston carried high imperial titles and lived in both the Forbidden City and the

New Summer Palace The Summer Palace () is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill () Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of , three-quarter ...

. Johnston met the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

Imperial descendant, the Marquis of Extended Grace Zhu Yuxun and arranged for him to meet Puyi in the Forbidden City. More than a tutor, Johnston befriended the isolated adolescent. In his account of his time at the Forbidden City, Johnston notes the rampant corruption of the imperial household, with

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

s selling off dynastic treasures. He obtained a bicycle and telephone for Pu Yi, and against the wishes of the retainers, much-needed spectacles. After Puyi was expelled from the

in 1924, Johnston served as Secretary to the British China Indemnity Commission (1926). In 1927, he was appointed the second civilian

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

. He ran the territory until it was returned to the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

on 1 October 1930. Johnston tried to get the British diplomatic legation in Peking to host Puyi, and although the British authorities were not very interested in welcoming the former emperor, the British representative eventually gave Johnston his consent. However, he later discovered that Puyi - in view of the situation and that Johnston was not returning from his efforts - had taken refuge in the Japanese legation after being advised by Zheng Xiaoxu.

After China

Johnston was appointed Professor of Chinese in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

in 1931, a post based at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...

, to which he bequeathed his library in 1935. This library, one of the finest collections of Chinese and East Asian books in the country, consists of over 16,000 volumes. He retained his ties with Puyi, hosting one of his sisters and her husband at his house in Mortlake road, Kew in London during the 1930s. Johnston meeting Puyi's Sister at Tilbury in England

Johnston meeting Puyi's Sister at Tilbury in England

Johnston retired in 1937, having acquired the small island of

Eilean Rìgh Eilean Rìgh is an island in the Inner Hebrides of the west coast of Scotland. It lies in Loch Craignish, about off the Argyll coastline. The name is Gaelic for "King's Island", although which royal is not known. History The island has the r ...

Loch Craignish Loch Craignish is a sea loch on the mid-Argyll coast. Geography Loch Craignish lies between Oban and the Crinan Canal. Its opens into the Sound of Jura and provides a safe anchorage for small craft. Several islands lie within the loch, the larg ...

, Scotland, Pu Yi granted Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston permission to fly the Imperial flag of Manchukuo on the Island, making it the only location outside of China to do so, and grew and Chinese style garden.Knight Frank LLP p. 4 http://media.rightmove.co.uk/42k/41048/45266378/41048_EDN120116_DOC_03_0001.pdf Arnold C. Brackman, ''The Last Emperor''. New York: Scribner's, 1975, p. 206 After a short illness, he died in Edinburgh. In his will, he requested that no religious ceremony be conducted. In accordance with his wishes, he was cremated. His ashes were scattered on his island and the surrounding loch. He never married but was at one stage engaged to the historian Eileen Power, and was close to author

Stella Benson Stella Benson (6 January 1892 – 7 December 1933) was an English feminist, novelist, poet, and travel writer. She was a recipient of the Benson Medal. Early life Benson was born to Ralph Beaumont Benson (1862–1911), a member of the landed ...

. Elizabeth Sparshott, to whom he was engaged at the time leading up to his death, burned many of his letters and other materials, at Johnston's request. Johnston's book ''

'' (1934) describes his experiences in Peking and was used as a source for

's film dramatization of Puyi's life '' The Last Emperor''. He was portrayed by

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old V ...

in the film.

Published works

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References

External links