“BOY EMPEROR.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19476, 11 May 1925, Page 7

“BOY EMPEROR.”

STORY OF HIS ESCAPE FROM CHINA, ENGLISH TUTOR’S RUSE. It has already been announced .that tb«f “Boy Emperor” of China has left Peking and taken refuge in the Japanese quarten of Tientsin (states a correspondent of the Daily Telegraph). The method adopted to ensure his flight to Tientsin is yet to bo heard, but the story of his escape from the Chinese city into the Legation quarter of. Peking has recently come to light. After Feng Yu-hsiang’s coup d’etat the young Emperor was removed from the Imperial Manchu Palace in the Forbidden City and placed in one of the minor Manchu houses in the Chinese city, under ai strong guard of Feng Yu-hsiang’s men. For; some time ho was not allowed to see anyone, and was, in fact, kept a close prisoner, notwithstanding statements to the contrary which appeared in an inspired press. Nona of his relatives, nor his English tutor, waa allowed access to him. After the arrival of Tuan Chi-jui and Chang Tso-lin however, the strict surveillance which had at first been maintained was relaxed a little, and it was intimated to the young Emperor that he would be allowed to select a residence in the east city. He was , even allowed to go for motor drives accompanied by his English tutor, but also accompanied by two armed retainers, who would perhaps be better described as warders, standing on the running boards of his car. He was never allowed out without this escort. The Emperor's tutor, a Chinese scholaß of distinction, naturally speaks “mandarin’ ■ fluently, and his conversations with the Emperor during their drives were intended for the ears of the guards. After the suspicions of the guards had been lulled by several uneventful drives, the tutor suggested to the Emperor that they should visit a house in the East City, which might be suitable as a residence. The house waa duly inspected and its merits discussed. “Let us visit the photographer’s shop and get the prints of the Summer Palace that were taken the other day,” said the tutor. According to the Protocol of _ 1900 no) armed Chinese troops are allowed inside ths Legation quarter, and the photographer’s shop in question is just inside its boundary. The car with its armed guard stopped just outside; the Emperor and his tutor strolled to the shop, chose some prints, and strolled back to the car and made as if to enter. With his foot on the step, the tutor said in a loud voice, to be hoard and understood by the guards: “The doctor’s consulting room is round the comer; vrtiile woi are here would it not be as well to see him about the internal disorder from which! you have suffered of late?” Upon the Emperor agreeing, they left the car and walked round to the doctor’s consulting room, which' is in the German Hospital, and well within the limits of the Legation quarter. The Emperor having been safely deposited there, the tutor, commending' him to the doctor's care, rushed round from Legation to Legation, asking if any of them would house the young Emperor. Fear of diplomatic complications prevented most of them from offering him an asylum, but at last the Jananese Legation was visited, and it seemed possible that they might consider the matter. In the end it was agreed that they would take him in; one of the secretaries’ houses was made ready for his reception, and he walked over from the German Hospital to the Legation, there to take up his residence. The guards in the meantime werd waiting at the car and wondering what had happened to their charge. They ard still wondering, if they have any heads tp wonder with! There is no doubt that the young Emperor's life was in danger while he was in his semi-captivity, and the general feeling amongst tnc foreign community of Peking was one of relief that he had escaped with his life. He was virtually a prisoner of Feng Tu-hsiang’s, the “Christian General,* and the fate of Tsao-jui, the last President's brother, was not calculated to giv9 confidence to any other “guests” of Feng. Jt is stated on good authority that Tsaojni was turned out into an open courtyard entirely naked, and left out there all night. In the bitter North China whiten, with about 30,1eg of frost, it is not enrprising that he developed pneumonia. Hft was taken into the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, where he died shortly] afterwards, as surely murdered as if ha had been shot through the branu Those who know the harmless and inoffensive nature of the young Emperor will rejoice that he has now made his escape into the foreign concessions of Tientsin, and is there comparatively safe from some of bis bloodthirsty compatriots.