Study Buddy (Challenger): History of Wenxiu, the unloved second wife who divorced China’s last emperor, became a newspaper editor, and died a pauper

[2] The 1987 movie, which won nine Oscars, including best picture and best director for Bernardo Bertolucci, was, for me personally, a 163-minute onslaught of multiple cringe attacks when I recalled how much I had loved the film when it first came out. But I was only an impressionable teen in 1987, I had to tell myself. I couldn’t have known any better.

[3] The life of Aisin Gioro Puyi, China’s last emperor, is fascinating, but this time round, I found myself drawn towards the secondary character of Wenxiu, his “No. 2 wife”, played by Vivian Wu Junmei. She was last seen walking into the rain, two-thirds into the movie, and out of Puyi’s life forever.

[4] Erdet Wenxiu (1909-1953) was born into an illustrious Mongol family whose fortunes were in decline. She was a fine student at school, but she was chosen as Puyi’s secondary wife just before she turned 13 and conferred the title Pure Consort (shufei), ranked just below Puyi’s principal wife, Empress Gobulo Wanrong.

[5] Puyi preferred the company of the more attractive Wanrong, and Wenxiu often spent entire days on her own, either reading, studying or teaching her palace maids to read and write. Wenxiu’s situation remained unchanged after the former imperial family was forced to vacate the Forbidden City in 1924. In their rented villa in Tianjin, Puyi and Wanrong lived in style on the first floor, while she had to share the ground floor with the servants. Puyi continued to ignore Wenxiu, even after she tried to get his attention with a suicide attempt.

[6] In August 1931, Wenxiu had had enough, and walked out of her home. Through her lawyers, she served divorce papers to Puyi. Following weeks of cajoling, pleas and threats, Puyi agreed to a divorce, which was finalised in October.

[7] After her divorce, Wenxiu changed her name and attempted to get on with her life. She became a teacher of Chinese language and traditional Chinese painting at a school in Beijing, but she was soon outed as the former Pure Consort, which attracted crowds and reporters to the school. She had to resign. She changed residences several times because people would always find out who she was. Her money eventually ran out, and to survive, she even sold cigarettes on the streets. Even then, the reporters wouldn’t leave her alone.

[8] In 1947, she found employment as a copy editor with the Chinese-language North China Daily newspaper. Soon after that, she married a businessman, a cousin of the newspaper’s publisher, and became a homemaker. On September 17, 1953, Wenxiu, 44, died of a heart attack at home. Her husband’s colleagues fashioned a crude casket out of wood and buried the former Pure Consort of the last Emperor of China in a pauper’s grave a few kilometres north of the Forbidden City.

Source: South China Morning Post, November 23

1. Which of the following best describes the writer’s attitude towards the film in paragraph 1?
A. dismissive
B. uneasy
C. fascinated
D. bewildered

2. What does the phrase “ahistorical detail” in paragraph 1 suggest about the film?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. In paragraph 3, what does the writer acknowledge with the phrase “I was only an impressionable teen”? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Find a phrase that means “decreasing” in paragraph 4.
___________________________________________________

5. In paragraph 5, the detail about the living arrangements in Tianjin reflects …
A. the power imbalance and emotional neglect towards Wanrong.
B. Wenxiu’s resilience, independence despite her circumstances.
C. Puyi’s unequal treatment of his spouses
D. all of the above

6. Which phrase in paragraph 6 indicates that Wenxiu’s tolerance for Puyi had reached its limit?
___________________________________________________

7. Did Puyi readily agree to Wenxiu’s divorce request, and why or why not?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. According to paragraph 7, was Wenxiu able to hide her identity after the divorce? Why or why not? (2 marks)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Decide whether the following statements are True, False or the information is Not Given in the text. (4 marks)
(i) The writer had a new-found appreciation for the film and its male protagonist when he watched it the second time.
(ii) The writer believes Wenxiu’s bright academic future was cut short when she became the Pure Consort.
(iii) Puyi initially resisted Wenxiu’s divorce request, fearing that it would be seen as a sign of his inadequacy and inability to maintain his position as an emperor.
(iv) Wenxiu encountered much hardship after her divorce, and she even had to resort to becoming a street vendor.

1. B
2. The film has factual inaccuracies or inconsistencies (accept other similar answers)
3. The author acknowledges that they were young and easily influenced and therefore, couldn’t make critical judgments about the film when they initially watched it. (accept other reasonable answers)
4. in decline
5. C
6. had had enough
7. No, because she had to plead with him and even threatened him to agree to sign the divorce papers.
8. No, because she was soon outed as the former Pure Consort after becoming a teacher at a school in Beijing and even had to resign and change residences several times.
9. (i) F; (ii) T; (iii) NG; (iv) T