From Imperial Guardian to Ordinary Gardener: The Remarkable Transformation of Zaifeng

When Beiping fell to liberation forces in 1949, Zaifeng made a striking gesture. Gathering his family in Prince Chun’s Mansion, he initiated something that would have been unthinkable decades earlier—he abolished the rigid hierarchical rituals that had defined aristocratic life and proposed that family members address each other simply as “comrades.” This single act signaled a profound shift in perspective. A year later, when faced with the decision to sell the sprawling forty-mu mansion, Zaifeng revealed the depth of his conviction. Foreign buyers offered a staggering 200,000 US dollars, an astronomical sum that could have secured generational wealth. Yet he refused without hesitation. Instead, he transferred the property to the National Advanced Industrial School, believing that transforming the historic site into an educational center held far greater meaning than allowing it to become a foreign private residence or remain as a hollow relic of the past.

The Weight of Power: Zaifeng’s Burden as Regent Prince

Zaifeng’s early prominence was inseparable from the declining Qing Dynasty. At merely 25 years old, he accepted the immense responsibility of serving as Regent Prince with the title of Imperial Guardian—a role that thrust him into the center of an empire in its death throes. His nights were consumed by reviewing state documents while battling ceaseless challenges: internal court conspiracies and external pressure from imperialist powers encircling the nation. These were years of relentless, grinding hardship that tested not only his administrative capacity but his moral resolve.

Standing Firm: Zaifeng’s Unwavering Integrity

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 became a turning point. As the old order collapsed, Zaifeng made a decisive break, resigning from his official post and finding profound relief in withdrawal from the political arena. He would never speak of politics again. This disengagement, paradoxically, became his greatest strength—it allowed him to preserve his personal dignity and national pride through the turbulent decades that followed.

This principled stance was tested most severely in 1934 when Zaifeng traveled to Manchukuo. The Japanese overlords, eager to manipulate the Qing remnants, offered him prestigious positions and lavish monthly allowances totaling 10,000 yuan. They leveraged the tragic puppet status of his son Puyi to increase pressure. Yet Zaifeng remained unmoved. He rejected every inducement, refusing any compact that would compromise national sovereignty, and immediately returned to Beiping. Later, when financial hardship forced him to pawn treasured antiques merely to survive, he never signed a single treaty or agreement that would have bartered away his country’s interests or his own moral authority.

A Life Reborn: Zaifeng’s Quiet Transformation

After Beiping’s liberation, while much of the old aristocracy lived in anxiety and uncertainty, Zaifeng perceived the arrival of a “new order” within the new policies of the emerging nation. He adopted a strategy of graceful adaptation: half the mansion’s sale proceeds supported his children in achieving self-reliance, while the other half purchased a modest siheyuan residence in Dongcheng District. There, under the assumed name Jin Jingyun, neighbors believed him to be nothing more than a retired schoolteacher—a perfect obscurity for a former prince. Remarkably, Zaifeng had already established the Jingye Primary School within the mansion grounds back in 1947, contributing his prized globe and his collections of plants and animals to serve as educational tools for the next generation.

The Dignity of Ordinariness: Zaifeng’s Final Years

Zaifeng’s later years granted him something precious that few men of power ever experience—authentic peace. His mornings were devoted to tending chrysanthemums, hands immersed in soil with genuine contentment. Afternoons found him absorbed in classical texts like the “Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government” or humming Peking Opera melodies as they drifted from the radio. In idle moments, he held his grandson while gazing through a telescope into the infinite cosmos—simple gestures that embodied a profound spiritual freedom. The prince who once stood unbowed before the German Emperor had finally realized his truest aspiration: to live as an ordinary man, unremarkable and at peace.

On February 3, 1951, Zaifeng passed away at the age of 68. His funeral was deliberately austere, with no ostentation or ceremony. The stone tablet at Fudian Cemetery bore only his name and the dates marking his birth and death—clean and unadorned. This final simplicity was no accident; it reflected the vision he had cultivated throughout his remarkable later years. Zaifeng’s life ultimately became a testament to a man who rejected power’s corrupting embrace and found genuine dignity in the choice to live as an equal among ordinary people.