The First Half of My Life
by Puyiliterary work· published 1960
Shop for this title via the links below.
From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi (Chinese: 我的前半生, literally translated as The First Half of My Life) is the autobiography of Puyi, the last emperor of China. The Bernardo Bertolucci film The Last Emperor is based on this book. The book has three editions: First Edition (1960): Written by Pujie, the little brother of Puyi. The account and narration in the book ends in 1957, and the book was published by Xinhua Bookstore in January, 1961. Second Edition (1964): Written by Wen-Da Li (Chinese: 李文達) and was thought of as the final version. Published by Qunzhong publishing house in 1964. Due to the social environment and political atmosphere at the time of publishment, around 160,000 words were deleted from this manuscript.
Adaptations (1)
The First Half of My Life was adapted into a 1987 film.
The Last Emperor1987 · film · 163 min · dir. Bernardo Bertolucci · IMDb ↗A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
