Evening star., 1931-12-06
BY LEONEBEL JACOBS.
IKE figures glimpsed for a mo-
ment in the light of ascending
flares and then lost again in

ment in the light of ascending
flares and then lost again in
IL darkness, the slender form of
Mr.. Henry Pu," last Emperor
Of China, Is revealed in momentary
news flashes from the F1owery King
dom. Now here, now there, the beam
plays on the phantom ruler" as he Is
moved around on the political chess
board Of Manchuria.
One day We read that under mid
night smoke screen of banditry and
rioting the Son of Heaven, wearing the
faded blue gown of a coolie, has fled
from the barrack- like building at Tien-
tsin. where he has lived, obscurely but
safely, for seven years, and has boarded
vessel for the Japanese controlled port
Of Dairen.
Again the light flashes and we see
him, still In disguise, being whisked
north by special express train on the
South Manchurian Railway, bound ap-
parently for Mukden. We hear that
new banners are being woven for him
by eager hands and triumphal arches,
decked with chrysanthemums, are being
erected. Japan, one surmises, is plan
ming to put Mr.. Henry Pu" back on the
throne of his ancestors.
Then the struggle in Manchuria be-
comes more intense and for few DAYS
we lose sight of this royal chessman,
only to learn, on November 10, that he
is not at Mukden, but at Tangkangtzu.
so miles away, and that the old Manchu
palace of the Ching dynasty there is
being prepared for his imperial occu-
pancy. Among the thousands of loyal
Chinese in this country, who have for
years contributed to his support, there
is rejoicing that the empire of the
rorth is once more about to be REIN
carnated.
But these rejoicings apparently are
premature, for two days later, on No
vember 81, we are told that the Cover
nor of Kwantung has issued q statement
intimating that Japan does not favor
the move to restore Mr.. Henry Pu-yi to
the throne of Manchuria; that Nippon
Is, in fact, so determined not to let him
be used as an excuse for political in
trigues that she is keeping him almost
a prisoner.
In Currents of Intrigue.
AS I write this no one can predict
what will finally happen to this slight
young man, who all his life has been
swirled hither and thither by the fierce
currents of international intrigue. The
tide may turn once more in his favor.
He may don for the third time the yell
low robes of state, be carried aloft by
LOG bearers in a glorious silk palanquin
and WELD the jade scepter of empire, or
he may remain in Japanese-protected
obscurity. To those who have known
the Boy Emperor personally-his Sc
cluded training and his almost childlike
pleasures-the vision of him in the CEN
ter of the Manchurian caldron Is fam
tastic and disquieting. 1t is impossible
to believe that he would enjoy being
thrust into such part.
first came to know the Boy Emperor
when I was staying at the Hotel de
Pekin In 1922. From the window of this
modern hostelry, with its steam heat,
private baths and other Western con-
veniences, I could look over the outer
walls and glazed yellow roofs Of the
Forbidden City. Somewhere In that large
and-for foreigners-almost inaccessible
domain lived the 17-year->i Son of
Heaven, his person surrounded still by
much of the wealth, beauty and cir
cumstances Of his imperial ancestors,
but entirely shorn of their power, since
China had become republic.
Pu-yi, crying, protesting infant Of
3, had been taken from his, bed one
midnight in 1908 by order of the then