Puyi was a defendant at the Tokyo Trials, and imprisoned as a war criminal for 10 years. He escaped execution because Mao Zedong realized that Puyi was more valuable as a reformed commoner than a murdered emperor. After his "reeducation" in prison, he wrote his memoirs (with the help of a ghost writer) and became a titular member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the National People's Congress. His time in prison greatly changed him, and he expressed deep regret for his actions while emperor. In 1962, he married a commoner, Li Shuxian, for whom he had a deep affection. He died in 1967, and was ultimately buried near the Western Qing tombs in a commercial cemetery.