Reflections | German prince’s coup attempt recalls China’s last emperor Aisin-Gioro Puyi, who was reinstated and removed, twice
- The recent failed plot to overthrow the German government has similarities to the story of China’s last emperor, Aisin-Gioro Puyi
- Puyi was reinstated for 12 days five years after he abdicated, as part of a political power play, and again during the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo
Last week, German police foiled a right-wing plot to overthrow the country’s government. A few dozen suspects have been arrested, not just in Germany, but also in Austria and Italy, and weapons, including rifles and ammunition, were found at more than 50 locations.
If all had gone according to plan and the German government was overthrown, the minor aristocrat would have been installed as Germany’s new head of state.
While Germany does not officially recognise any royal and noble titles, all of which were abolished at the beginning of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), descendants of some of these aristocratic families still wield some influence, most of it benign.
Germany today is firmly republican. Only the most deranged would envision the return, after more than a century, of princes, archdukes, grand dukes and whatnot to the country’s political life.
China’s centuries-old monarchy was formally abolished on February 12, 1912, with the abdication of China’s last emperor, Aisin-Gioro Puyi (1906–1967), also known as the Xuantong Emperor. Five years later, however, Puyi was restored to the throne in a 12-day coup that was an early harbinger of the greater chaos that would afflict China in the next few decades.
