Jia, a neighbor of the "imperial relatives", lived in Dongsi since childhood. It used to be a place where the old Beijing flag people lived together, and there were many "royalty" living in the deep house compound. During the Cultural Revolution, he happened to read Puyi's My First Half Life, and was deeply attracted. Then, he lived next door to Puyi's widow Li, leafing through his family's books and sorting out Puyi's relics and diary manuscripts. 1980, Li was entrusted, dipped in white paint, and wrote an epitaph on the urn of Puyi pear flower with official script. These doomed him to have an indissoluble bond with the last royal family.
Over the past decades, Jia has interviewed more than 300 historical witnesses, accumulated hundreds of hours of precious audio-visual materials, excavated many first-hand precious files and collected thousands of historical photos. Now many historical materials have become precious historical "orphans".
Jia said: "I write history, and history must be true because it doesn't just belong to me." 198 1 year, he used his wedding leave to visit Liu Baoan, who lived in the same room after Pu Yi's amnesty. After a few days and nights, the old man gave Jia all the letters from Puyi, who was hidden in the kang cave during the Cultural Revolution. Jia is stupid. So he only has "exclusive" historical materials. His principle is that any controversial historical facts must be supported by first-hand historical materials, otherwise it will never be easy to start writing. For example, there are many unsolved mysteries in Puyi's life, and Jia has been trying to dig deep into historical details that Puyi people don't know or few people know. The exact time and content of Puyi's interview with * * * have always been controversial. He quoted Puyi's personal letter from his own library to fill this gap.
The difficult road for the royal family to make a living The rebirth of the last royal family began with the abdication of the last emperor Puyi at the age of 19 12, which declared the demise of the Qing Dynasty. According to the preferential treatment of the Qing Dynasty, after Puyi abdicated, she still retained the status of Emperor Xuan Tong and continued to live in the Forbidden City. The state allocates four million pieces of silver to the royal family every year. Until 1924, Puyi, who was 18 years old, was suddenly driven out of the Forbidden City, and the title of Emperor Xuan Tong was abolished immediately. At this point, the Qing royal family completely lost its political status, lost its supreme glory and completely lost its economic source.
In the turbulent history since then, in the last royal family, some people sold their property, took drugs to drag out an ignoble existence and died tragically; Some people put down their bodies and pulled carts in the street to support themselves; Some people regard the thief as their father, take refuge in Japan and become traitors; Some people keep their integrity, work hard and welcome a new life. Especially after the founding of the last emperor Puyi and New China, through labor reform and ideological education, he became a citizen and a self-reliant ordinary worker, which is rare in the world. So, how difficult is the road to rebirth of the last royal family? What other unknown secrets are there in the court of the late Qing Dynasty? And who are the representatives of the royal family who are reborn and constantly striving for self-improvement? Review the ups and downs in the book.
"Peking man is called Ye, even the tricycle is called Ye. How did this happen? In fact, it has something to do with two famous' car kings'. " "These two masters, one riding a tricycle and the other pulling a scooter, are still naked. Now, what Beijingers call Master Ban refers to people who pull flatbed cars with bare backs. It can be said that these two princes are typical representatives of the royal family. After the collapse of Manchukuo, Pu Yi's second sister Lu also experienced the same vagrancy as refugees, begging to return to Beijing along the way. Zai Tao, once one of the heads of the royal family, went to Shi Gui to sell second-hand goods with his wife before dawn every day. " At first, Zai Tao took his wife by bike, and later he sold his bike. When it snows in winter, they walk back to the market. "Life is very difficult ... In Jia's story, the back of the last group of members of the royal family is becoming clearer and clearer, and their tortuous course from" golden branches and jade leaves "to ordinary workers.
Over the years, Jia has written these stories of the last royal family into more than ten monographs in the series of the last royal family. Historian Yan Chongnian commented on Jia: "With decades of hard work and wisdom, taking dictation, archives, spectrum multiplication and access to materials as strengths, it was condensed into nine books in The Last Emperor Series, which became the history of Qing Dynasty, the history of the Republic of China, the history of nationalities, the history of Beijing and the history of Manchu. The novelist February River commented: "History is sometimes more exciting than novels. So is the history of the late Qing Dynasty. The documentary "The Last Royal Family" written by Jia with hundreds of hours of audio and video recording, based on interviews with more than 300 people since the late Qing Dynasty, is of great historical value. The protagonists are familiar with each other. It's a strange fate. Telling the inside story of the royal revolution is worth reflecting on the centenary of 1911. "
But in Jia's view, these books are not important "The historical records they left behind (referring to the last royal family) are much more valuable than these books. There are talented people from all walks of life. In the future, many talents will write better works than me based on these precious historical materials. I was fortunate enough to leave first-hand original historical materials. "
the last aristocrats
Over the years, Jia has collected a number of precious historical archives of figures in the late Qing Dynasty, including dozens of hours of videos, hundreds of hours of audio recordings, oral materials of hundreds of witnesses, and also collected hundreds of original foreign language books about China's court life in the late Qing Dynasty 1000 years ago. He told reporters: "There are so many historical materials that I can't finish reading them in my life." But he will continue to adhere to the principle of "taking history as a mirror" and resort to forgotten historical details.